Everyone’s Moving to Live in Australia!

Australia is witnessing an immigration boom apparently!  In figures recently released relating to the rate at which the population ‘down under’ is expanding it seems that not for fifty years has Australia experienced quite such an expansion in terms of its population’s size!  So, everyone’s moving to live in Australia…

In this article we’re going to take a look at just what Australia has in its favour at the current time if you’re thinking of expatriating to live abroad, why it is proving so popular now, and furthermore we’ll examine what the latest population growth figures actually mean for the nation and for those hoping to move to live there in the near-term.

Whilst we’re already well aware of just how popular Australia is with emigrating Britons, what has changed recently to make it a number one choice for migration, and if everyone is moving to Australia, how much room does it have left for the likes of you and me?

In a report from GlobalVisas, they cite the Australian Treasury Intergenerational Report that has predicted that the Australian population is now on track to expand by 62% over the next 40 years instead of the previously predicted 35%.  This is a massive increase and is due both to a current baby boom ‘down under’ and also to the high levels of immigrants making the move to Australia.

Unlike in some nations where immigration policies are unclear, a large number of the migrants passing through Australian immigration are actually skilled workers.  They are individuals the nation has sought to attract, who will benefit the country economically and professionally speaking, and it is this fact among many that’s helping the Australian economy stay much more on track that the economies in Western Europe for example!  This is one major and seriously significant positive in the nation’s favour – that it has a more robust economy supporting employment and a property market.

Don’t get me wrong, to say Australia’s economy has not suffered from the bout of global fiscal flu that’s floating about would be a lie – but it is weathering the storm far better than the UK or the USA for example.  This is a reason that it’s continuing to attract strong levels of immigration.  However, there are those in-country who are complaining that the high levels of immigrants will cause environmental issues, others who are concerned about maintaining enough local jobs for local people, and finally, there have been strategic cuts to the skilled migrant programme so it’s not a piece of cake getting to Australia and you do now have to work far harder than ever at successful integration.

But is it worth it?  Well with the Governor of the Bank of England admitting that the UK’s banks were within hours of bankruptcy and Britain was therefore on the brink of going third world I can quite understand why Brits would want to leg it from the UK bearing in mind how poorly managed every critical aspect of the nation is at the present time.  However, moving so far away from home and making a new home from home is not easy.

If you do want to move to live in Australia you need to prepare yourself ahead of the move.  (Massive digression coming up - if any of you have been watching the ‘Alone in the Wild’ series on British television of late you’ll know how important preparation is.  The series followed Scot Ed Wardle as he went to live wild in the Yukon in Canada.  Unfortunately for Ed he was scared of bears!!!!  Also, he wouldn’t recognise a fish if it jumped up and bit him on the bum and he “missed people” so much that he got so depressed, failed to catch any food to eat (other than annihilating two porcupine with what looked like a sawn-off shotgun), had to have food air dropped to him, (“to me this food feels like kindness” – it was at that point I nearly collapsed in hysterics), and then after less than 2 months he had to call in his emergency rescuers to take him home!  He was finally pictured ranting on to himself in his bearded madness in a hotel room in Canada whilst stuffing his face with chocolate and cheese. 

Now, being a girl who favours comfy hotel rooms over a tent every time, I have actually wild camped in the Yukon and I saw more wildlife per hour than this bloke did in 50 days so I have a hunch he wasn’t exactly far from civilisation – what’s more, what an emotionally fragile man!  Who on earth agreed to let him lose in the ‘wild’ – and surely whoever did so did it as some sort of cruel but hysterical joke?  And finally, why the hell didn’t he take a Ray Mears book with him?!)

Anyway, excuse the massive digression - suffice to really say, you need to prepare yourself ahead of any move abroad, particularly one that will take you so far away from friends, family and familiarity as relocation to Australia.  It’s all well and good having your reasons for emigration, (state of the British economy, state of the British weather, state of the NHS, state of crime figures and so on).  It’s all very well having your reasons for choosing Australia for immigration (stronger economy, better weather and more pies), but you have to come to terms with what you’re leaving as well as what you’ll be gaining.

You have to learn to let go of one and embrace another and know that it is an ongoing process that you have to work on.  I.e., there will be times when you miss home so much and hate the unfamiliarity of your new surroundings so much that you’ll want to cry, (like Ed Wardle did all the time).  (By the way, my boyfriend, in learning that Mr. Wardle has attracted female admirers since his stint on TV, suggested that perhaps said admirers liked Ed’s feminine side – to which it was important to point out that Ed had a more dominant feminine side than Malibu Barbie).  So you have to be realistic about your move, know that it will not all be plain sailing, remember the bad about home and the good about your new nation that drove you to make the choice to expatriate in the first place, and you will survive.  What’s more, you’re clearly not alone in choosing Australia as your new home judging by the latest immigration figures from ‘down under,’ so at least you won’t be the only stranger in a strange land.