Hey xoxlifestyle100, my opinions and experience as a CA qualified. Happy to share more experiences if you have further questions:

1. Yes, you can. I did mine through ICAA onshore back around 5 years ago. You can definitely apply for the skills assessment offshore through email or post, everything is quite clear on the PASA form (Pre-Application Skills Assessment).

2. Are you from University of Melbourne? I can only speak for this Uni as I’m from there and I know that QM2 will meet the requirement (or at least during my time). ICAA is quite clear on this as to which subjects exactly they need you to take. Just take a look at the list on their website (http://www.charteredaccountants.com.au/candidates/the-chartered-accountants-program/entry-requirements/accredited-courses). Go to Accredited Tertiary Courses 2016 and make sure you have all the required subjects covered. That’s what I did at the very beginning of my course when planning out my subjects all the way to Year 3.

3. To be safe make sure you meet all the subjects listed on “Accredited Tertiary Courses 2016” under University of Melbourne or whichever university you are from. Again, I speak from CA’s perspective, not sure if this differs to CPA but I reckno it should be similar if not the same.

4. My experience was smooth, make sure you prepare all documents listed on the PASA form and ensure you have met all the competency subjects they require. If you meet all of these, they will approve for sure.

Just my opinion and experience, may differ for other people:

1) Visa and PR is kind of the same thing in a way but to answer your question it is a PR if I understand your intentions which is to stay permanently in Australia. 189 superseded 885 and 175 which were the previous commonly applied visas. This visa lets you stay for 5 years from the date you get granted which at the end you can renew (subject to certain conditions you must meet for renewal).

2) I'm not in your field but not uncommon to hear that sort of story. There are a lot of graduates from all over the world here so you really have to fight tooth and nail for your spot here. However, it's not all doom and gloom as I've seen many had a break through even after as long as 3 years into their field finally if you stick to it. A bit hard to say, I'll leave this to the others who hopefully has had a successful experience with similar circumstances to yourself. I went through the education route so might differ quite a bit.

3) This is based on Melbourne market, you're looking at around 500k-600k for an apartment (2 bedroom) or around 650k-750k for a townhouse so it can vary. You would want to avoid paying LMI which is very costly so this means you're looking at around 80% LVR (in general), base case of 110k for 20% downpayment if you go for 2 bedroom apartment. If you have a partner to help you out it's very doable but will definitely take you at least a few years to prepare especially first home unless you're already sitting on a pile of cash. Alternatively, you can find financiers who can do up to 90% LVR or buy and rent it out till you are ready to move in (there are tax benefits for this).

We usually think the visas (at least for myself) as PR or TR. Do you satisfy the point eligibility for 189?

On your 3rd point, this is based on guesstimates using my own as well, very consistent with what Shazam gave u:

1. Internet - $70 monthly (just taking iinet as an example)
2. Water ($40 monthly on average; just beware that if you are a homeowner it wil be approx $100 monthly because of surcharges)
3. Electricity ($100 monthly average, winter would add anothe $50 assuming you're going to use heater during winter but don't go crazy on this)
4. Gas ($50 monthly average assuming you plan to cook and you use gas stove)

Houses in Melbourne has been rising a lot because of the increasing population and foreign buyers. If you dont mind living further out, you can get cheaper prices than the ones I've quoted. On the plus side, interest rates just dropped recently is expected to dropped furher in the 2nd half of this year. We're currently in a historically low interest rate environment.

Are these figures pre tax or post tax? Aus tax is high it might be better to talk in terms of net take home pay which is what you will get to spend. My first thoughts are those equivalent figures are high, as other people have alluded to local experience is preferred here so the equivalent is expected to be lower at your earlier years but you would catch up eventually and can go higher assuming you work hard and smart.

Petirbuas, does it have to be Hunter Street specifically? Seems like you're just after Sydney CBD area, Surry Hills is a nice place and very close to the city as well, I can recommend the apartments opposite Harmony Park as a good spot. Rent is going to be really expensive however unless you can share.

Yea, I think you are right and agree with you big money or split the big money through sharing.

I'm in the Sydney CBD area, renting for $650/week; not sharing. Higher end cause it's a brand new apartment and it's close to 60sqm. I've seen a few other rooms in my building sharing with multiple people so I reckon $150-$200 is doable too.

Lol, reminds me of one property I inspected before I got my current one. It was priced at $600+/week but the place was absolutely wrecked as about 8 people stayed in it without the landlord's approval (they got kicked out hence vacant), 2 double deckers and 2 queen matts. I think the highlight of the damages were *burnt* the benchtop despite having a large kitchen and there were big holes in the wall (fighting maybe?).

It's a 1 bedroom apartment, so the whole unit. If you saw a place you really like maybe you can get some of your family or friends to inspect for you?

Otherwise, Airbnb or a temp accomodation would be a choice for u