Health insurance

Even if you're on a 457 sponsorship you might still apply for 6 months basic cover (doctor and emergency) if you're passport comes from a country with reciprocal healthcare agreement (RHCA). If that's the case, in Brisbane, in the Mayer Center there's the Medicare office, go there with your passport, bank details (not mandatory), your national health card and the paper provided from your country's national health care system. Open 9 to 5. An address is needed, ask your boss if you can use the office, you can later on update it calling 132011.

Another detail, health insurance is mandatory for this kind of visa, but I signed online with a company that first emailed me a pdf with my customer id, then told me they couldn't take my card (I guess because it was a visa debit), after I got the visa I got interested in the medicare RHCA...

• where: Medicare at the Mayer center
• when: 9 am- 5pm
• what:
  
  • passport
  • own country health plastic card
  • request for RHCA made in your own country
  • Australian address
  • bank details (not mandatory)

•  tel:
  
  • 132011
  • also for updates (when you have a real address and a bank account)
   
• time: 1 / 2h
• next: Medicard sent to your address (valid proof of address)