Is it good idea to give up Australian PR for a promising job?

Only you can make that call, but if it was me I think I would need to give it a go.

Australia is indeed a fantastic country, I've been living here for 3 1/2 years and me and my family love it. The thing is, one day that offer of PR will expire, you need to come here to validate it. And then if you stay long enough, you would qualify for Australian citizenship and then you could come and go as you please.

Ask yourself this, if you came to Australia and didn't like it so decided to return to where you live now, do you think you would secure another good job again? If your answer is probably yes, then you should probably at least try Australia. Otherwise, one day, you might just regret it.

Hi empty,

I would agree with BobinOZ that this difficult decision would have to be made by you. But I know personally that it is a difficult decision especially if where you are currently are located, you are financially stable.  What would be your reason moving to a country where you don't have a job lined up when you arrive since a requirement of local experience for Australian companies that you've communicated with? 

What you stated about the negative aspects for you and your family to move to Australia at this time is very true for many immigrants.  But many immigrants with perserverance to overcome obstacles,etc. have been able to reside in the new country and be financially stable. For some it can take awhile.  Maybe the one trait with some of the immigrants is that they want a better life for themselves or family. They are coming from a place that even though they had the education and professional job, the salary was just not enough to survive or save for the future.  Or they are leaving a country that they feel is becoming too dangerous,etc. It seems in your situation, you do not necessarily need to leave your current location.

So the question you should be asking to yourself is, at the current state of the country you are residing now, will your child have the same opportunity as you?  It would be difficult for you at this time to know what your child will end up doing when he/she grows up.  But in many countries, the occupation that is chosen has to be a specific profession in order to get a lucrative paying job... example :  doctor, lawyer, accountant, engineer,etc.. However, even if the person ends up doing any of these professions in addition to others, it doesn't matter when in their country there might not be enough jobs for everyone. Or basically the salary doesn't pay enough. This is why many people try to go abroad to find jobs that have better pay.

If your current job and its pay is very lucrative as you say.. and you want to still move to Australia. My suggestion would be .. only quit your current job until you can find a replacement job in Australia that has equal pay or more.  If it's going to be less, be prepared to have a change in lifestyle because you are no longer getting the same pay. In addition, the cost of living in Australia is higher than in most countries.

For you to be financially stable where you are currently located, you have to be realistic that you will need a job once you move to Australia.  If the jobs that you are interested in working for that is related to your current occupation is not working out... and you are not willing to do any other type of job, then it's probably not a good idea for you and your family to move.  I know of many immigrants that have moved to the US as professionals and end up doing jobs they never thought they would do. Sort of lowering their standards and a shot to their ego.  However, they did it to support their families. The parents made the sacrifices to provide better opportunities for their children.

You didn't mention in your post, but I'm assuming you and your family did visit Australia to validate your visas?  It states on the visa the date you are required to do this.

I'm not sure if you are aware, but you can renew your PR visa after it expires. However, there are requirements that you must meet before you can apply. I think for your case, you must stay at least 2 of the last 5 years as a permanent resident in Australia to qualify. Technically, your visa can expire without you having to renew it while you reside in Australia. It's just that you may not be able to return to Australia if you leave the country without a valid Australian visa. You can choose the other options of providing an explanation of why you have not been in Australia. But I think you will have to have a very good reason for being outside of the Australia for so long.

http://www.immi.gov.au/migrants/residen … bility.htm

Thanks Bob, thanks jb09 for your perspectives.

I got the PR two years back in May 2009 and yes, I already met the condition of entry requirement by visiting Australia soon after I was granted PR!

Hi Empty,

I just saw your posts and note that your case is so much similar to me. I and family (wife and two kids) were granted Australian PR visa in 2010 and we have already validated the visa.

Back home in Vietnam where business is growing fast, I have worked with a MNC for almost 15 years and now I am in the top job in the company. My wife and I received very good pay and benefits which I have no doubt that when I move to Australia, I have to down grade my standard of living. I love my current work and great family life status. I think if I can work in my home country for the next 8-9 years, I and my wife can retire and move to live in Australia. But, unfortunately, visa does not allow us to stay until then.

The negative things in Vietnam are that the education will not be great, even though my kids are attending international school. I understand that if my kids live and grow up in Vietnam, they won't have good opportunity like me and they also have less opportunity for career outside Vietnam. Other issue is the health care system. Although there are international hospitals opening here, the quality of services are not yet at international standard. I used to have an experience to evacuate my kids on air ambulance to Singapore and it was not really easy. Other issue which may not be a key issue is the political stability.

I am thinking whether I should give up my job first and move to Australia for 4 years to get Australia citizenship and then return back to Vietnam for a 5-10 years and then move permanently to Australia. If this is an option, I am afraid that I would not be able to get a good job as what I have now when I return back in the next 4 years, especially if I could not get a good job in Australia. In a developing country, there are not many good opportunities and they will not wait for us if we give up.

Given our cases are quite similar and if you have already moved to Australia, I would appreciate it if you should share your experience.

BobinOZ, I saw your blog and it is really great and helpful. Many thanks if you could share your comments in my circumstance.

Hi Tong,

Indeed our situations are very much similar. I have not yet made a move but with only two years of visa left, I have come to a point whether to use PR or leave it.

I am tentatively thinking to take a plunge either in coming August or next year. I am thinking if to take extended leave from office to try job market in Australia. However, I am skeptical if even 1-2 months is sufficient enough to secure a job. Some of the friends known to me have taken 6-12 months in getting a first job. So, if I take leave of 1-2 months, try job in Australia and if I do not get a job within that period may not mean that I will not able to get job in Australia.

So big question is whether I really want to move to Australia giving up the lucrative and high profile job. In either case, I need to give up one thing for another. It is as if whether I want to move to Australia or continue doing the present job.

Whatever decision I take, what I really believe is that it may take a time in getting first job, however, eventually I will be where I should be. It is just a downgrading lifestyle or career for sometime.

Negative thing I can think of Australia is that it is damn expensive country. In my country, I save half of my income after leading comfortable life. However, in Australia, most of my income will be spent - after all, I expect to earn just 50% to 60% of the exiting earning in entry level job in my profession in Australia.

I sometimes think Australia as too laid back country and isolated from rest of the world. For instance, I travel around the world for attending industry conferences where I have not seen participants from Australia.

So, I am still thinking and thinking, though I have just 2 years to decide at the latest though it is better to move when 2 years is still remain. However, I have found that there should not be a problem in getting RRV once you really move to Australia even though you move on the last date of your PR, as RRV up to 1 year is granted once you are in Australia once we can produce rental agreement, job contract, enrollment of kids at school etc. In case, RRV is not granted, we need to stay back in Australia at least for 2 years!!!

Having an option is tough sometimes.....

Hi Empty,

Thank you for sharing your thought. We are in the same situation.

I just came back from my second visit to Australia to further explore Melbourne and Sydney. Yes, the costs of living in Australia is very expensive.

I still have 4 years more to decide. The whole motive to migrate to Australia is not for myself, but for my children. I don't want to limit their future opportunity. Having Australian citizen at our generation will entitle the children and next generations to become Australian. Giving up the present job for 4 years could be seen as temporary. But, it will have an impact on our career too even if we decide to come back.

One to two months is not long enough to get an office job in Australia. Immigrants from developing countries should expect at least from six months to one year, I would not expect to save much although I can get an office work in OZ with annual package of 60k-70k. Unlike in Vietnam, I can save almost all income as the company paid almost every things for the expenses.

RRV could be a temporary option. Based on my understanding, there are two type of RRVs i.e. 3 month or 5 year RRV. The 3 month RRV is quite easy to get it as long as we move to OZ, rent a house, enroll the kids'school etc. But, the 3 month RRV is too short to do anything. The 5 year RRV is difficult to obtain if we don't stay in OZ for 2 years out of 5 years. It is possible to try to prove to DIAC that we have economic and personal ties to Australia. However, it is quite difficult to prove this.

I think another option is to have my wife and kids to move to OZ first before expiry of the visa. Once they are in Australia for 2 years, they can apply for 5 year RRV. When my wife can get 5 year RRV, I can also apply for 5 year RRV. Then, I have an option whether my family should move back or stay until they can apply for OZ citizenship. For this option, I will live separately from family for at least 2 years. Of course, I can still visit them regularly.

In summary, it is a very difficult decision whether we should sacrify for children.

My studies also show that people from developing countries take about 6-12 months in securing a job pertained to their area. I always wonder why? Do people really develop themselves during first 6-12 months so as to be ready for the job? If not, why this magic number 6-12 month, which can be damn too long without job in hand to survive in Australia!

When I applied, I had the plan to move to Australia soon after getting PR. Just before getting PR, I got very good job opportunity and on the top of that there was GFC, so that was good excuse to defer the plan then. During this time, my mind constantly fluctuated between moving to Australia one day to settling in home country, hence I could not make decision or should I stay I decided to buy more time to stay back in my country. 

Three years of analysis has left with me only 2 years to make a decision. More I defer, I know for sure, more difficult it is going to be to decide to move. At one point of time, I too considered sending my spouse and kid to Australia but I finally thought that is not the way I would like to live life. I doubt if I can get RRV if my spouse spends 2 out of 5 years. I guess, in that case, I need to apply for dependent visa, that involves lots of paper works, restrictions etc.

So, given my situation, it is likely that I may regard PR as just a back up plan in case...... I may accept job in Australia with a step back in position and pay, but even for that, if it takes 6-12 months, I would really question the move.

I may regret later for not having moved but at the same time I wonder if I would regret having given up lucrative job for the sake of PR. So dilemma continuous.....

It is that same that the more I delay, the more difficult to decide as I will make more and more money in the home country.

Sending spouse and kids to Australia first is the only good option to buy more time before moving. The spouse will be able to get 5 year RRV easily if they stay 2 out of 5 years. If I choose this way, as a husband of a 5-year RRV holder, I can apply for the same RRV without any difficult. The only thing I need to do is to prove that she is my spouse (by showing the marriage certificate) and she has a 5-year RRV. It states quite clear in DIAC's website.

It is really hard to predict which option is best. But, my feeling is that I should move to Australia to get the citizenship  for the whole family first and then return back. As you said, I may regret if I don't move and this is the only chance that I have to decide. For career, there are still chance to restart again although it may not be as great as if I continue the current job. I have thought all the cases that may happen in our home country. Political system is not stable as in Australia, health, education etc. The important thing is health care system.  If we have health problem, let say at age 45-50 YO and need long term health care, it will be very difficult for us in our home country.

I have a friend who has migrated to Australia and gave up his lucrative job. He spent 1 and half year to get a permanent work in his area. Net income is not that great as in home country, but he said that he has no regret for his decision to move and he has no plan to return back to the home country.

For me, it is about 60% chance that I will migrate to get AU citizenship first and see if there is similar opportunity in Australia after obtaining citizenship. If not, I may return back to my home country to restart my career. Frankly, it is very difficult to move back if my family is settled down there and kids enjoy their school.

Thanks for sharing your thought process.

I would like to move to Australia within a year time from now. Reason being I had not been that decisive in moving to Australia, I happened to invest in real estate in my home country and hence my liquidity situation at the moment is not that great. In a year time, I expect to have comfortable liquidity position to move to Australia.

However, by then I will have only a year of my PR left. Within the validity of the PR, there should not be problem, however, after PR is expired but before completing two years of stay in Australia, if I need to go out of Australia, there may be problem in getting into Australia. However, with a year of stay in Australia, I will have enough attachment to be shown to immigration - say, job, rental, enrollment of kid to school etc and hence getting RRV for 1-3 months should not be a problem.

I'm a computer engineer living in Jordan, I'm planning to emigrate to Australia (Skilled Visa), but there are some hard procedures such as IELTS (7) in each band, Bank statement and a state sponsorship. I know these assessments vary from country to another but are there any other way to get there and work in anything, even if it is apart of my field,meanwhile I can proceed my immigration process. then I can provide my IELTS score according to experience.
I need your advises urgently, however a new polices will be applied in first of July 2012 and immigration will be only by invitation, so it become harder.

You can refer to the link below for detailed point test system

http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/general- … bility.htm

It is a lot more difficult to apply for the PR visa now.

Hi Tong & empty,

I was in the same situation with you guys. I know this forum was about 2 years old. I was holding a senior management post in my home country (Malaysia), the same with my wife. When I got my PR, it was 187 class, regional employer nomination scheme, which means I had an employer to sponsor me to work in regional australia. The position offered was slightly lower than what i was currently holding. The pay also, dollar-to-dollar basis, it was lower. Since getting an AUS PR is like striking a jackpot to me, I went there to work and stabilize, and my wife and kid still in Malaysia. These are my experience
1. first few months it will be very very very lonely....without family
2. processed foods are not cheap, raw ingredients are cheap
3. foods sold at restaurant, even though claimed as authentic asian cuisine, don't taste the same..you will definitely miss your home country food
4. health care is not really free or perfect...medicare only covers certain aspect...most aussies will top-up with private insurance,
5. education...quality wise, we need to define...aussie students don't bring much homework back..and they are not trained to withstand stress...in singapore or malaysia, students are loading with homeworks especially in mathemtics and science subjects to make sure students are really well-versed in that...
6. work culture...not really great...when you are holding a high position, you have achieved certain level that allows you flexible working arrangement...from there, i started from bottom..clocking in about 60 hrs a week...
7. safety...it's not really safe...ppl got attacked while jogging in the park..or attending new year's eve celebration..drunkards occupy the street after 11pm...carjackings are common...
8. home...aussies have different standard when it comes to residential property....fire is a great risk...every house must install min a smoke detector...i m a civil engineer, and in my home country, we have reduced the risk of fire...further to that, aussie homes are easily infested with molds...and the spores from the molds are great risk to children health
9. political stability....yes...taking about this, aus is really a political stable country..
10. racial discrimination...once a while you will still get some sort of racial discrimination..well, i guess everywhere is the same..
11.car ownership is cheap..and great for those who likes autos
I went there for about 6 months and came back to my homecountry and worked back holding senior post in the industry...

Lesson learnt,
1. if you are coming from 3rd world country, yes, aus is a great country to move out from poverty and have a better life.
2. if your total income threshold above certain limit, it doesnt matter where you are...the income should be able to let you live a comfortable life..in aus, i had to think everyday on my meals budget..and you will be paying top bucks for food that doesnt even taste the same..curry that tastes so sweet like a syrup....in my home country, i have to think of what to eat, budget is totally not a consideration..
3. education...as in no 2 above, you can send the child to international school, then send them oversea (maybe to aus) for tertiary education...and if they like the life there, they can opt to apply for PR on their own..
4. healthcare...as in no 2 above, in my country, healthcare is tip top...we have neighbouring countries coming over to get treatment here..so not much of concern...
5. retirement...well, if you have all your friends over here, getting retired and old age together, still have some frens to chat with, is great stuff..over there, it is going to be lonely..don't expect to be with kid as they would want to have a life on their own.
6. political stability...well, this is very subjective, poltiical scenario can turn into nightmare or better..no one knows...but as you have achieve certiain income threshold, i am sure you have sufficient money to flee the country if political instability occurs...
7. economy wise...even european country, i.e. greece, can fall into bad economy..and the US too..Aus is smart coz invest their economy in BRIC...the emerging economic nations..NZ was in deep shit coz they were too reliant with european and americans.
8. I was told the work is great, well, for those a middle management level, or junior management level, like project engineer, technicians, site engineer, maybe going over there is good as they get better salary and working hours. But keep in mind, a struggle at this stage is necessary to climb up to higher post...this is the stage where we learn..

So the final decision is yours...it depends on what you want to achieve in life.

Hi petertang,

Thank you for sharing your experience in detail, which I totally agree with having experienced most of them myself. I had taken a sort of career break for couple of months to see myself what Australia held for me, after all, for me as well, it was sort of jackpot. Apart from few things I really liked Australia (hygiene, health care, safety, public transport and service), I have more or less similar experience:

1. Services, both private and public, are great in Australia; however, all follow standard protocol, without any human touch.
2. Medicare provides free medical facilities, but does not cover all and they can be damn expensive to afford. Back in country, everything would be provided for by employer; not the case in Australia
3. Job market I find is very terrible. Australian employers are very fussy in recruiting candidates without having local experience. They do not give any considerations to international experiences.
4. Australians boast everything, what insignificant, it may be. In reality, they may lag behind with rest of the world.
5. Cost of living is very expensive. Rent is very expensive, so is the price of property. Rent can cost up to 1/3rd of the income.

I came back and continued my high profile job and stayed happily ever after.

Learning:

1. In this age of IT and technology, it does not matter much where you are
2. When you earn better earning in dollar to dollar basis, moving to Australia is not justified for the sake of so called quality of life
3. Whilst 3rd world countries are becoming richer, richer countries like Australia have challenges in years ahead. For example, mining bust, phasing out automobile plant in Australia by almost all major global players in automobile
4. Identity crisis is the major issue. I could not believe I could stay there permanently without having identity crisis.

Hi Empty,

I am from Nepal as well. It was really interesting reading your comments. I am on the same stage as you were. I have been granted Aus PR and planning to fly to Sydney with my wife soon. I am also working in a reputed company with a good pay and I save almost 80% of it.

Now the problem is, even though i have decided to migrate, I still have few doubts about the current job market and the happiness level. i will be sacrificing my social life (with frens and family), and I am sure I am gonna miss my colleagues. However, as for every individual, I look for change and I want to explore the world and the cities and people.

I would like to ask is it really that bad there? I am scared that I will be depressed if I wont get job in the first 2-3 months. I  have already resigned from my job and there is no way looking back now. But still, I need some motivations to satisfy myself that the decision I took is a better one.

Thanks

Hi Dilemma, don't know which profession you are in, but expecting to secure job within 2-3 months sounds too ambitious to me given the present state of the Australian economy. This may mean that you are likely to be frustrated very easily after moving to Australia. As you have already tendered resignation, you don't have much to lose. You already have opportunity to see it yourself, and decide then.

empty wrote:

Hi all,

I was granted Australian PR two years ago but have not made a move to Australia given the great job in a MNC in Nepal.

It's not that I do not value Australian PR that gives wonderful opportunity for quality life and good environment for upbringing my kid. Little bit of research made me clear that Australian job market is too very fussy about local experience and having to struggle life from scratch in Australia puts me off. I feel more so given the fact that I am holding comfortable position with lucrative pay in my home country that is the result of long career development in this region.

I am married with a kid and in my thirties if that matters.

Any thoughts, inputs and answers are welcome. Thank you in advance.

Hello empty,

1). You are free to travel and relocate anywhere you want.
But please do not do it like everybody else does it.  Make sure you take your yacht with you. 

2). The 'path of least resistance' suggests you go and do whatever comes easy for you.
Save your money, grow as smart as to attract success and then go again anywhere your heart desires at that time in the future.

3). The wheel is turning and top countries today will become bottom countries while bottom countries today will become top ones tomorrow.
If you fail at logic (like most of us do from time to time), at least you will do what the heart tells you.
The heart is never wrong. 

Hey, Empty. It seems to me that Australia is the safe option. Why would you want to adopt the safe option at this stage of your life? Seems to me you're doing just fine in Nepal. It's a huge world out there, man!

I'm a former Australian, and remember the place with fondness. But it's just one country among hundreds.

Are you already a PR? In that case you can always come back on returning PR visa. Check for more informationon the immi website.

Goodluck

Dear All

I have been away from this blog for quite a long time. It is good to see it is still active and it is good to see your sharing of real experience. I still haven't decided to move, but have visited Sydney and Perth to explore more. What you have shared are absolutely true based on my own experience. At this level of career in home country, it is a real downgrade of your lifestyle to move to Australia. The new migrants from the developing countries will face difficulty to get the first jobs. It is quite common that it will take at least one to two years to get a permanent job.

I have two friends who were granted AU PR and decided to move to Australia. They share the same experience. One of them bought a house after securing a permanent job after two years of migration. In overall, he is quite happy with the life there, but he said, with the current income earned and the cost of living, he will have a struggling life trying to work hard until his retirement to pay off the house mortgage. It is different from the home country where they have all support and bought the house outright. There are good things about Australia as you all have mentioned. So, there are pros and cons with move.

I also have another Australian friend who is also working with me at the same level. He has been away from Australia for more than 10 years. He really wants to move to back to Sydney to reunite with his relatives there and for his kids to attend school in Australia. However, he could not move because of the significant downgrade of his income. He has tried to apply for jobs in Sydney, but the offer was too low for him to accept. It is like 4 times lower than what he earns in Vietnam.

For us who are the PR holder, we have a choice whether to give up the PR or to move. I am still very hesitate to give up the PR. No one know, we may really really need it at one point in a life time. There are a lot of uncertainty in our home country and any things can happen. Or our children may need it and may not have a chance to get it. The rich people in China have tried so hard to get the PR in AU or Green card in US.

I am thinking the option that my wife and kids will move first to get the citizenship. We will need to stay apart for 4 year until they can get the citizenship and decide whether to come back or to permanently live there. Living apart from family for 4 years is not short. For this option, I can visit them for every 1 to 2 months. It is a tough decision though. My wife and kids and live and study there without working during their stay in Australia. I can support without problem. I am not sure if we can survive with this option.

Regards

Tong

Hi everyone,

Would like to share my experience with you guys. I lived and work in Malaysia for over 8 years. Like many of you, I was granted Australian PR and I moved from Malaysia to Melbourne in 2011. I studied in Melbourne back in 2000 and totally fell in love with Australia. Great country, friendly people, fantastic culture. I was lucky enough to land a job before I moved over to Melbourne. Just like Tong, things are really expensive in Australia. Cab ride cost a bomb, food are not cheap (but pretty good quality), economy are not that bustling as compared to asia (especially in the financial industry). Education wise, I would say its a different system. Aussies do not stress thier kids during early school days which I totally agree. Unlike Education system in Malaysia, is really competetitve where kids are expected to excel in school (my 7 year old nephew can do multiplications as compared to my colleague's kid in Melbourne, she yet to know how to tell time).

There's no doubt that you will miss home especially your family and friends. However, it is important that you need to have a healthy social in Australia. Australians are really friendly people, even the expats that work in Australia. As for Tong and Empty, if you guys do take the plunge and move over to Australia, do mix around with your neighbours or join some clubs available around the local community. I manage to befriends with a few good fellas at gym and through random weekend golf. Hangout at pubs after working hours and took trips to see around Australia with a bunch of colleagues. Aussies are really amazing.

I did took a pay cut (dollar to dollar perspective) and it wasn't a good idea. Taxes are relatively high and with the currency conversion from Ringgit to AUD ain't that rosy (1AUD = RM3). So when I moved over initially, everything cost 3 times more. It was a struggle at first but as I said, I was lucky enough to have a job in Aus before I moved over, so my cash flow were not that badly affected, but still it wasn't easy.

After working in Aus for 2 years, I decided to come back to Malaysia mainly because of the economy. While in Melbourne, I worked for a consultancy firm providing services to Financial Institutions. Man, it is a scary experience. It is a daily affair that you see people being laid off in banks. It didn't help where we did not get enough projects (industry issue), and quite a few of my colleagues were laid off too. There are times I was afraid that one day I might get laid off as well. Fortunately, my pay was not as high as the rest and its relatively cheap to keep me around even though I was on the bench almost 60% of the time.

Tried to look for jobs elsewhere, but wasn't fruitful. Guess it was timing issue for me, so in 2013 I decided to resume my career back in Malaysia. Politically, security, work life balance and quality of life in Malaysia are no where comparable to AUstralia, but it is my home.

If you ask me, will I do it again? I will say yes. Its an invaluable experience for me to live and work along side with amazing people with 1st class mentalities and capabilities. I wasn't that afraid if things didnt work out in Australia right before I took the plunge as I know I will be able to find a job back in Malaysia or Singapore if I decided to come back as the economy in this part of the world are really rosy.

I met a girl (my neighbour) whom moved from Singapore to Melbourne. Just like many of us, she is a PR as well and she wasnt so lucky. She has been trying to look for a permanent job for over 15 months. But she is a fighter, she took up data entry, work in retail part-time etc to earn some pocket money etc. So, guess everyone wil have different experiences and difficulties.

I do still miss Australia alot, unfortunately I wasn't that comfortable with how my career was heading. There's no such thing as you can have best of both world (great job in Australia + your current life in your current country). There's no doubt that you will have to sacrifice your current comfort zone.

However, I enjoy the life I am having in Malaysia. Get to take care of my parents, spend quality time with my nephews and hangout with my childhood friends. Its pretty good eventhough the political situation and Malaysian governments are really hopeless.  My take is, never try never know. Cheers.

YihKeat

Welcome to Expat.com and thank you for your insightful informative post. 

The grass is not always greener elsewhere.
I have been informing people who wish to migrate to Australia of the high taxes and living costs. Some say I am being negative but I am just trying to let them know the pitfalls of moving here.

I hope people will read you post and understand what I have been telling them.

Hi Stumpy,

You are right, The grass is not always greener the other side. I couldn't stress more that one need to sacrifice something for something else. You can't never have best of both worlds. It all depends on your personal goal. Its tougher if you are married with Kids. Their future depends on your decision.

To add on to my job search experience, I was looking for a job 6 months before I even decide to move to Australia. Sent my cv to many recruitment agents. It is really important that you are friends with them. Well, they acknowledged my experience and skills, and also highlighted that I worked with international recognized consultancy firm here in Malaysia, but most of them said that I do not have Aussie experience, which makes it hard for them to sell this to thier clients. So, for 5 months, there were nothing.

Fortunately, I met one of my ex colleague here in Malaysia, and he is working in an International Consultancy Firm and told me they are expanding thier resources in Australia. I sent through him and got the job. It was pure luck for me.

What I am trying to say it, landing a job in Aus is not easy especially you do not have Aus, Europe and/ or American work experiences eventhough u work for a large international MNC. Unelss you holds some pretty awesome certifications like SAP certified, CFA, ACCA, CPA etc.. Aussies are paper crazy, which is a good thing.

Well, as I said, don't try don't know. At least I can say I have no regrets, eventhough I would love to have made it in Aus and resides permanently in Melbourne. Fabulous country, beautiful cities, great people and culture. Love the weather.

I might try again after a year or two again. Tong and Empty, sometimes all it takes is just bite the bullet and do it. It's tough to uproot everything from your home country and restart from ground up in a foreign country. But, that's inevitable. If you are willing to go through that ordeal and painful process (mentally painful), then pack your bags and go. If not, there's no harm to stay put and continue to build your career where you are.

Cheers.

I have been dropping in and reading these various posts, partially because they shed immense light on my own situation right now. I arrived in September 2014(this year) to acknowledge the permanent residency and plan to move out of Australia in early December. My plan is that if I can secure a research position here in one of the universities (I was an academic who got my PhD in Canada and then went onto lecturing in Japan for a few years), I will return. However, if not, I will probably apply for the 1-year RRV (resident return visa) prior to this. Personally, I found that the Australians are extremely picky about 'local experience', because it has closed me off from many jobs, and I have been stuck mainly in some odd jobs or casual stuff like retailing and selling stuff in stores on an on-off basis, which is barely above minimum wage by a few dollars. The drop in salary is a big one, and the ego and self-confidence in one's abilities take a big blow as a result of all these.

My ties to my own home country of birth, Singapore, have not been particularly strong, and to be honest, after having left it mostly for around 9-10 years, getting back there is probably just like another trip to get me preparing to get out of it again. I read the posts by some Vietnamese or Malaysians here on this thread, and they commented on the volatile political situation which would affect their job chances and so on. Singapore is a relatively stable country politically and would probably be regarded as a country with a better economy than Australia's, although my quarrel is that I have no roots or connections there to get me into the door for my job, as well as a rather competitive market which is slowly contracting or disappearing in my area of work. I envisage moving out again as it is, somewhere in Asia, although the chances are not clear until I try once again.

My advice to those who are contemplating whether to just give up AUS PR for a promising job is that if you never try, you will never know. Of course, before coming to Australia, it is best to be prepared with a certain amount of money, somewhat akin to sustaining you at about 2,000AUD per month, and be prepared with about 6 to 15 months or so of this amount per month(that would be around 12-30 thousand AUD or so in total, and it would be better to err on the side of "too much", as in, 35 thousand and more, which lasts a person for about maybe a year or less to be careful). Australia is not a cheap country, and what you expect to spend in the way of sustaining a 'luxury' lifestyle in countries like Malaysia or even South Korea and Japan is but meant for sustaining an 'average' or 'survival' lifestyle here in Australia. The advice about dropping your expectations--which I apply to myself--holds, but more so, remember to trust your gut instincts. The first few months will always be tough, and after that, if you still feel that this country is not the place where you want to be long-term, you can leave and return to your home country, or go somewhere else. My own plan is basically the latter, as in, holding out for a few more months, and then get to my home country, and then move again somewhere else from there.

In this relatively globalized age and world, you will not actually experience so much difficulty in moving around places, as far as it concerns me. The only catch is survival and living a happy life. You can be very poor and unhappy, and you can be making lots of money and unhappy too, and happiness is really dependent on what you seek as a priority in life. But until you try it, don't knock it down! (A Canadian friend of mine, formerly Singaporean and gave up his Singaporean passport more than 10 years ago to retain his Canadian one, told me constantly about his desire to immigrate to Australia, but I warned him constantly about the reality of the situation. Just because your--his, that is--business is not doing well in Canada itself as a result of the global financial crisis, it does not mean that moving to Australia a new country is going to solve things magically for you. A balanced perspective on things is always required to make decisions.)