I have struggled with this question myself, and one fine day just took a call to give it a shot! Things moved from there on, and I am here!
Got my PR in second week of July 2014, booked the tickets the next day, resigned from CSC, and started packing!
Took a Jet Airways flight on the 18th of September, and landed in Sydney on 19th of September! This is a good 10 months ago, and am at a place where I can share some bits about how this whole move feels like!
There are a few reasons why the whole “migrate to Australia” thought would come up in your mind
- Someone you know lives there, and has been feeding you with information about how great it is to move to the country; or
- You have been exploring countries within a stronger currency that the Indian Rupee, and opportunities of you moving there as a permanent resident. Australia might just come up in the top 3 that way too; or
- You have been seeking onsite opportunities at work, and know that there are decent opportunities out there, and when the office profile does not seem to be helping, you decide to give it a shot on your own; or
- You feel that moving to a different country will take you away from the mess that India is in (Not that its too different anywhere else, however we gain something and we lose something; a call you have to take at some point of time)
There are some other factors which make living it a foreign country (this time Australia) easier than India
- You start work early, and you leave work “on time” giving you actual evenings for yourself.. Spend it on yourself, your family, friends, exploring, whatever!
- You see your tax money being put to use, roads, infrastructure, garbage collection, electricity, water (and that you can actually drink from the tap), government processes, public transport and so on (note that I haven’t put education in this list)
- You get “time” to travel and/or relax or to indulge in hobby or passion if that is your thing
- You spend less time in traffic (use public transport like a significant percentage of people around)
- Learn to be way more objective at work
There are so many issues as well with living outside India, and some of them are fairly obvious
- Being away from family and close friends. Its like a fresh start! and it is scary
- Missing out on festivals and the festivities
- If you are in love with street food, God help you! and if you are a vegetarian and love street food, I don’t know what to say to you! End of an era for you I guess!
- Travel times and costs associated with trips to India. especially when you can travel to other amazingly good places in the same costs
- Work ethics and culture! It’s quite a steep path to climb at times, and to socialize is even more difficult! You don’t know the local jokes, local music, local sports, local TV and what not
- Time for the family to settle.. Its another one of those tough things to go through! Wives finding company, Kids finding friends and so on
Like I mentioned earlier, you gain some you lose some! its a call that every individual can take differently!
more to follow….
Post # 2 : About jobs in Australia
Post # 3 : Costs and Expenses associated with moving to Australia
Post # 4 : Speaking English 🙂
