Hi everyone, I’m a french man of 31 years old going through a pretty intense depression after spending much of my 20s on the road. I am now in australia in a beautiful coastal town where life is sweet and people are incredibly nice. Thing is: I have been awfully depressed for the last year. I’ve seen most of my friends settling down, establishing themselves in France or australia long term through intense efforts to obtain their permanent residency getting married etc. I always saw myself living abroad, but never made so much effort to settle down anywhere. I’ve only worked in hospitality in the various countries I visited after obtaining my master’s degree in business (which I feel now is what people do when they don’t know what to do for a living). I consider myself open minded, speak three languages fluently, but I always had trouble with anxiety and self confidence. Now that I feel my travel life to be over, I am wondering what to do next. I feel like moving back home with my parents and look for a job somewhere in Barcelona or Toulouse where my family is. But I’m afraid my resume will make me unemployable anywhere. I’m also scared about my financial situation and my capacity to readapt to Europe after living in countries where life was so much easier. I feel like I just need a bit of shared experiences or encouragement. Anyway, it’s good to let it out.
Man i do get it. That field of work has a time limit I feel. Eventually you have to move on or you get burned out.
What visa were you even on all this time?
I’ve had a right roller coaster of a journey.
Came to Australia back in 2016 and did the usual backpacking route, over to New Zealand, South East Asia etc.
I ended up going back to Sydney on a working holiday visa, starting out sleeping with my suitcase in this basement hostel room.
Eventually found an advertising company to sponsor me but the government at the time were much more anti immigration and abolished most of the easier option, so it was strictly “temporary” for 4 years, with no pathway to PR.
I spend quite a lot on various immigration agents to explore potential ways round it but it was too risky and they were trying to charge me well over $12,000, with no guarantee it would work.
Then covid hit, complicating things further. I moved down to Melbourne for a while to try and reduce my living costs (whilst working remotely for the same company)
Then moved to a smaller town in Victoria as a last ditch effort to secure a regional visa (494) that would allow me to stay in the country before my current one expired.
Moved there and literally, one month before it was due to expire, the new labour government got in and changed a bunch of rules…meaning I was suddenly able to apply for PR.
It was honestly so much bullshit and sacrifice. Over 6 years of constantly moving around and worrying about losing my job and being kicked out, all for them to turn round and change their mind at the last minute.
So now I’m here, finally free of visa worries and will most likely apply for citizenship but was it worth the mental distress? Probably not.
I still have those same conflicted feeling as you, wanting to return home to family and old friends but I know it wouldn’t be the same as before.
I mean fuck I left when I was just 24. So much has changed since then and the majority of my former social group has moved on and have families.
Interesting that you still feel it after getting your PR. I think if I had it I’ll make money in Oz and spend most of the rest of the time in Europe. I’ve got about a year and a half of visas back to back. I could really try to move around and find a sponsor (I feel like I need to get out of my town) for the next six months, but with no luck it could be time to go home. I’d still have another year of whv to use in the next 4 years worst come the worst… tricky!