Australian expats on the down under in the UK

Photo: Ewan-M

Australians, long-time cousins of the Brits, are no longer coming into the conutry in such great volume. The number of Oz working visas issued by the Home Office has halved in the last eight years to fewer than 15,000, reports the BBC, while the number of Australian residents in the UK fell by almost 10,000 between 2011 and 2012.

The impacts have been felt in a range of industries, from Antiopdean travel magazine TNT entering administration in September last year and Australian-themed bar chain Walkabout closing branches in the face of declining workforces and clientele.

Why are they on the Down Under? Is it something we said? Not quite, although changes to the UK visa system in 2011 has certainly deterred many. For the last two years, the general visa category, which many Australians used to apply for residency in the UK, has been scrapped, while the number who can be sponsored by British employers is now limited to 20,700 - with a further 1,000 only granted to those with "exceptional talent".

"Previously Australians could get sponsored to stay beyond their visa when working in hospitality-management roles>" Dave Hancocks, manager of Walkabout in Reading, tells the BBC. "That's not possible now though so we've lost many experienced managers, which has negatively affected many of our venues and also deprives the UK of positive contributors to the economy."

At the same time, the relative economic conditions have become far more favourable back home.

Hancocks adds: "Australia's strong [economic] growth has continued while the UK has struggled. As the Australian dollar is now worth much more, Aussies don't have to work here so much to travel Europe for a summer, after which it's much more tempting to return home where they can easily be paid twice as much for doing the same work."