LO_in_aus

Yes apologies, I probably get a bit too touchy on this subject as I've been through so much in the past few years trying to stay. I understand and appreciate where you were coming from!

Thank you!

Thanks so much

I have had mine renewed by the same company (as have my friends) and with a very respectable team of immigration lawyers. I'm not doing anything illegal thank you. Unsure why you're researching this when I'm leaving anyway and it has nothing to do with the topic posted? Maybe rather than having a problem with me/ people who are on temporary visas, try and see things from our perspective. I've worked here for 5 years, paid taxes and contributed to the economy. In return I have very few rights here, including being able to visit family overseas right now (only citizens and PR's are allowed to leave and come back) and we haven't seen our families in 2 years. Thanks for your input

Yes, massively. We have been trying to hire in our TA team for months. So many recruiters moved back overseas during Covid. I also get multiple LinkedIn messages every day about roles, and they're often offering double the salary I would've got for before Covid. There's a massive shortage of people in tech too, which is why you get so many messages. Anyway, this is very far away from the topic I posted about. Thanks for the 'support'

I've had it renewed once, I have friends who have had it renewed 3 times. Immigration want to keep us here, as they are very short on talent (especially in the field of tech recruitment which I work in) but they don't want to give us permanent residency because they want to appear to have a hard stance on immigration and keep their 'Australians first' persona.

Thank you so much. Yes actually that makes total sense that they may feel threatened, and are probably trying to convince themselves that staying in Australia is the right decision. I hadn't really thought of that

Unfortunately our careers aren't on the skilled shortage list meaning we wouldn't be able to get PR even if our employers wanted to sponsor us for it. We can only renew our temporary visas every 2 years.

Thank you so much! This is so reassuring. We're moving home in 3 weeks , terrifying but I know we're doing the right thing.

Thanks so much. This is the decision I came to, I'm moving home in 3 weeks eek. Fingers crossed it all goes to plan.

Thanks so much. This is very true and I hadn't thought of it from this perspective. There's more to life than nice weather and good beaches. I decided to take the plunge and I'm moving home in 3 weeks. Eek!

Hey everyone, Hoping you can help. I've lived in Australia for 5 years and I'm moving back to the UK in 3 weeks. In my heart, I know I'm doing the right thing. My partner and I are both on temporary visas with no path to permanent residency despite living here and paying taxes for half a decade. We are both unhappy in our careers but can't change jobs because they are tied to our visas. We both know what we want to do (he wants to be a property developer and I want to go back into Communications) but we can't. Staying here would mean settling in careers we aren't happy in. Plus there are a lot of things I'm excited for in the UK. Being close to my family, going on country walks, going to the pub, the live music scene, the food. Plus we are able to travel so freely as we're so close to everything - the only place I've travelled to aside from the UK in the past 5 years is Bali and I LOVE travelling and exploring new cultures. We also want to buy a house and invest in property, get a dog, go travelling (we're going to Central America for 6 months in January). We can't do any of this here because of our visas. However, it's so so hard giving up our life here. We live in an apartment right on the beach, get paid very well, have made some good friendships here and (besides our careers) are generally happy. Everyone keeps telling us we are crazy for moving back to the UK which makes things harder. The worst thing is, we know that if we do regret leaving then we might not be able to ever move back because we don't have Permanent Residency or citizenship. Although my current employer is gutted I'm leaving and has said he would sponsor me and re-employ me if I ever wanted to return (although I am moving away to get out of this job). I guess I'm just looking for reassurance that I'm making the right decision as everybody keeps saying I'm mad for leaving which is so frustrating. Has anybody ever been in a similar position? Any positive returning stories? Thank you!

I really need some advice. I've been living in Australia for almost five years now, and while I love my life here (I live right on the beach in Manly), I'm so restricted due to my ongoing visa issues. My occupation is only eligible for the temporary skilled shortage visa route, meaning my employer renews it every two years and there's no path to permanent residency. As a result, I'm stuck with the same employer and in the same occupation (recruitment) which is making me miserable. I only got into recruitment in the first place to get a visa. Back in the UK I used to work in Journalism and Public Relations which I loved but I couldn't get sponsored in it out here, so I fell into recruitment which isn't for me at all. I'd love to go back into Communications but I'm trapped. I'd also love to do more travelling, buy a house, get a dog etc, all of which I can't do because I'm in constant limbo because of my visa. I am thinking of going back to the UK in December, before doing 6 months of backpacking across Central America (Covid permitting) and building a copywriting portfolio while I'm out there so I can try and get a job in communications when I get back to the UK. This plan really excites me as I can't go on like this. I also really miss my friends and family, I have really struggled making friends out here and have very little support network. But on the other hand I'm so so scared of regretting it and missing Australia as I do love it here, but can't deal with the lack of freedom anymore, I need to move on with my life. What should I do?