bogdan84

Got the visa, job lined up, flight booked for next week and now don't feel like going. I left my well paid job in London (no bridges were burnt though), left my flat and I'm home to spend Christmas with family but Christmas is the last thing on my mind right now. I'm ruining my parents time with my confusions, all I've been doing is thinking if I should go or stay...Throughout the day I change my mind a few times, every time I seem to be close to choosing a country I start feeling sorry about the other. Everyone now expects me to go and they are already thinking I'm insane as I already said goodbye to my friends, colleagues and my girlfriend in London.
I simply can't understand why I rushed to emigrate as the reasons I had 2 years ago when I kicked off the process from cold Edinburgh don't seem to be applicable any more. Or they just seem silly. I mean the weather is not a good enough reason to move so far away is it? Or the beautiful nature and wildlife? I can experience that on holiday, don't actually need to be living there. Despite being grey, weather in London is not that bad, summers are not hot but the mild climate allows you to still have a drink outside even in the winter. But I didn't see that while applying for jobs, waking up early for interviews over Skype or when I booked my ticket. The visa runs out in 2016 and I've only spent a little over one year in London. I'm not British by the way. While I was in London the only thing I could think of was moving to Australia and for this reason I never enjoyed being in London and I had quite a bad lifestyle as I was obsessed with saving money for the big move. I lived in a cheap flat which was damp and unwelcoming, didn't go on holidays although I could have afforded one or two weekend breaks every month abroad. Now I'm only thinking that if it hadn't been for immigration, I might have enjoyed living in London. Or maybe not, but I never gave it a chance. I now miss the places, reading the newspaper on my commuter train to work, the lovely pubs on the Fleet Street where I used to have lunch or having a pint of real ale in the West End or just going for a drink with colleagues after work. All I think of now is being isolated in a suburb in Australia and returning to London in 6 months to do what I haven't done while there. Oh and with the high living costs in Australia I wouldn't afford eating out almost every day as I used to, so will be worse off financially unless I start cooking. I don't even drive, how am I going to enjoy it without a car? Just to keep my mind busy until the New Year my flight to Oz has a stopover in London which allows me to back out. Perhaps I should have a chosen a different itinerary which wouldn't allow me to return to the UK so easily.
Well, some say it's normal to be feeling this way...

Bermudashorts

Well you have already partially made the break, leaving job etc, so I would be inclined to think you might as well give it a go and put your current thoughts down to last minute jitters. Why don't you stop weighing up the two countries now and only focus on making Australia a successful move.

Regarding weather and COL. I have not found the weather to be that great, it rains so much in Sydney, or has done the last 18 months anyway. I think I have seen more rain since I moved here than I had in the previous 40 years put together . I find it much harder to plan weekends in advance because of it. So no, I would not move for the weather.

COL. How do you know you won't be able to afford to eat out etc, you are not here yet and don't know what you will be earning. Housing is pricey in Sydney and possibly Melbourne too but it is not as bad anywhere else. And even in Sydney, other than housing the rest is swings and roundabouts. Plenty of us have moved here and still are able to go out and do things.

bogdan84

Well I know how much I will be earning as I have already signed the employment contract. My starting wage is $85k + super in Adelaide. Housing in Adelaide is cheap, around 300-350 / week so it wouldn't be a bad start as I don't need to spend my savings while looking for a job. My plan was to live in Sydney but it proved to be difficult to find a job there from the UK as, my guess is, there are lots of local candidates on the market. Had I been in person for interviews in Australia I would probably have found something paying a higher salary and based in Sydney but it's a tradeoff I had to make as I'm on a low budget and didn't want to take any chances coming over there with a job.

If I move to Sydney in 6 months time I could earn something like $110k-$120k there but that's going to be it. Software engineer salaries in Oz seem to be capped around $120k which, using the 2.5-2.7 conversion factor is equivalent to something like 45k-50k GBP. The future doesn't look that promising as if I worked for an investment bank in the City I could earn a lot more.

Bermudashorts

I had assumed you were on a PR skilled migrant visa and therefore would be going over without employment, as most people do. You have done well to find a job before you move over though.

Still if Adelaide wasn't where you wanted to be and you are thinking of moving to Sydney in 6 months time, I would probably have done things differently and used savings to tide me over in Sydney whilst looking for work in the first place.

You seem to be $ focused. I have no idea what software engineer jobs pay in either country, you were in London ... did you work for an investment bank and earn a lot more?

bogdan84

I am indeed on PR skilled migrant visa but because I had less than £10k savings I chose to find a job before moving. I have never worked for an investment bank as I dismissed all the opportunities I had because of the ongoing migration plan. I thought to myself: "what's the point in changing jobs if I'll move to Oz in a few months".

My immigration plan started out as getting the right to work in Australia, basically having another option which I may or may not use. That was 2 years ago. However, while waiting for the visa I was dragged into doing more and more research about Australia, reading the forums almost every day and some sort of spell made me yearn to go there asap. I can't understand now why I was so desperate to go 2 months ago. Sadly, I just feel like waking up from a 2 years sleep.

Bermudashorts

Well perhaps you just don't go then. Although then you could spend the next five years, until it expires, wondering whether you should go and you could be in a kind of limbo all that time too.

If your visa was taken away from you tomorrow, how would you feel?

rld1177

I can relate to what you are feeling. I moved from London last your to Denver, Colorado and have been back to London twice since. One thing how may realize is London is more fun to visit for a week or two vs live in. That certainly was my thought after each trip. When you get back, you can blow through money there, hit the clubs, pubs, museums, whatever it is you think you are going to miss, and then get back to Oz. This helps with the transition. For me I realized very quickly Denver was not for me which is why I will be out in Oz myself in two months.

You also need to ask yourself something more basic: do you enjoy international work and life (you said you are not British) in general? If so you will be happy as things will be different. That hit me on my last trip to Europe, it isn't so much that I missed London as much as being in another country - I enjoy every country I visit for that reason and it is why I elected to have an international career. The alternative thinking is how 99% of the world thinks - that being you only feel 'home' where you are surrounded by people that look, think, and act like you do. You have to decide which of these types you are and plan your life accordingly.

Alfresco

If you do move here to Oz, try and make a really good go of it, because moving here and then going back to the UK will cost a fair bit.

And don't move to Sydney. It rains a lot.

Tr1boy

I don't usually encourage people to move to Oz but,,, the old saying is:

If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got.

You've done the hard bit and got a job, broken your ties somewhat in the UK, at least give it a go.

Sherlock Holmes

Adelaide is a lovely place. A lot of people would give their right arm to be in Oz. Give it a go!

Dorothy

Adelaide is a lovely place. I'm not sure I'd give my right arm, but possibly my left leg to be back there. (I use my hands in my job so need both of my arms and need my right leg at the very least to drive ) Oh well, only 7.5 weeks until I get to visit again.

bogdan84

If my visa was taken away tomorrow, I'd probably reapply. I still want to go, but I just feel that I should have waited a few more years. At least I could have stayed in London only until I'd have done it all, visit all places in Europe that I want to see and other places overseas that are much cheaper to travel to from London such as the east coast of US and Canada.

I'm also concerned that from Oz my holiday would be spent going to Romania to visit family every year instead of travelling. In the UK they would visit me once or twice per year whereas in Oz they may not even get the tourist visa. Needless to say that I would pay $4k for 2 tickets instead of £300-£400.

NKSK version 2

If I were you I'd stay in the UK - at least for another year or so.

Some people adapt quickly but I think, from reading your first post, you might well have a hard time. After 6 years I still compare Australia to the UK and unfortunately apart from the obvious (I was at a beach today in Perth and I can honestly say that there is nowhere in the world that I'd rather have been), Australia frequently loses in the comparison stakes.

I think you'll be making frequent comparisons and I think Australia (and probably Adelaide in particular) would lose out to the UK and London.

The other way to handle it, if practicable, is to come out with the mindset that it would be for say 6 months.

bogdan84

I'm sure it is, I've been there last year and it's indeed a beautiful city. However living there is a different experience. It's one of the cities famous for being boring which wouldn't matter that much if I had a family. As a single 27 year old it may prove to be boring, especially since I don't drive and can't go visiting places around the city in the weekends. Unless I make some friends that I can join on their trips but that takes time. I also understand people don't go for a drink after work as in the UK or they only do it on Fridays. In the UK there were colleagues going out at least 3 days per week and sometimes we would even meet during the weekends.

bogdan84

I thought about that but thing is when you live somewhere temporarily, the following things may happen:

- professionally, I may underachieve as it would be hard to give my best, hard to focus on the long term evolution of a project if I know the job is for 6 months only;
- I wouldn't buy any furniture which and would probably end up spending more on rent;
- I wouldn't buy a TV and generally avoid any contracts longer than 6 months;
- making friends becomes less important.

Having said that, I may also get there and everything could be great and decide to stay for a longer time and all the points above would become irrelevant.