Moving vast distances and keeping app store purchases It looks like I will be moving shortly (From Australia to America) and I am wondering if it is possible for me to keep my app store purchases when I get a new phone in the USA. 

I currently have a 'few' apps that are paid for ( maybe $200+ worth ) from throughout the years, spread across my phone and a few ipads.

Last time I was in the USA I found great difficulty with installing apps on my ipad  (even though they had been previously purchased) due to not being able to connect to the australian tunes store. But that was a short visit.

I plan on doing a full backup/restore of my old phone to my new one once I have landed. 

On top of trying to keep my paid purchases I would also like to keep my data from said apps if possible.

I believe that I will not have the same issues with my mac in regards to updates for apps but the apps themselves should be ok.
First: keep your apple-id in one “Country Store”. Don’t change the country of your apple-id. Apple will screw it up, throw away your purchases or something of the kind. You can move an apple-id to a new country store (and back again), but it seems like an afterthought from Apple. You will only be able to see/access your purchases from the country store presently associated with the account.  

Stick with what you have for the moment. If you really need a new apple-id / iTunes account in the USA; Make a new one. Your old apple-id and purchases can live alongside the new on the new i-device and in the same iTunes library.