Expat reveals ‘expensive’ cost-of-living trap tripping up those moving to Australia: ‘Hold you back’
A British woman who recently moved to Sydney on a working holiday visa has revealed the common cost-of-living trap catching out expats. Thousands of British people come to Australia each year, and some have found the price of life Down Under to be a shock.
Gabby Watson is currently on the third year of her working holiday visa (WHV) in Australia, having previously done her first two years a decade ago. The 35-year-old, originally from the East Midlands, told Yahoo Finance she’d found the cost of living, job market and rental market weren’t nearly as bad as everyone made out to be online.
“I’m staying in Strathfield, which everyone is super surprised at, since most people on a WHV tend to base themselves in Bondi or Coogee, but these areas are super expensive and really aren’t ‘real’ Australia,” she said.
Watson said she secured a room for rent in a sharehouse within the first week of being in Australia through Flatmates.com.au.
“It costs me $250 a week, [and] is on par with what I was paying back home, which is wild when you compare the most expensive city in the country to a small market town in the midlands in the UK,” she said.
Watson said location was important for both accommodation and when applying for jobs.
“Forget Bondi or Manly or Coogee, you can visit them anytime, but they’ll hold you back if you’re serious about finding a decent job without the competition of other backpackers, especially in hospitality roles,” she said.
Finding work ‘not impossible’ on working holiday visa
A total of 193,922 visa applications were granted in 2023-24 for the working holiday program, up from 178,306 the year prior.
The United Kingdom was the most popular country to be granted Aussie visas, followed by France, Ireland, Japan and South Korea.
Some expats have found it tough to find work when they land in Australia.
Northern Irish man Jordan Morris said he was forced to leave the country after being unable to find a job or accommodation after three weeks in Sydney.
Watson said she was initially a bit worried she would struggle to find work in Australia given the current economic climate, but ended up finding a job within a week of arriving.
Watson said finding a job on a WHV was “not impossible” and recommended people base themselves in a large city and contact recruitment agencies.
“Calling them first gives you a bit of an edge over other people and they can get a feel for your experience.”
Is it tough for people on working holiday visas to find work?
Superior People Recruitment director Graham Wynn told Yahoo Finance those on working holiday visas could face difficulties finding work, depending on the industry.
“If you’re happy to go into retail or hospitality, it’s not a problem because they do have casual staff in those industries,” he said.
“If you’re looking for something where the employer is looking for long-term or career-driven people, you’ve got no chance on a working holiday visa.”
“That kind of industry has a lot of burnout of staff, it’s a tough job,” he said.
“So to find someone with experience, they’re going to grab that person and even if they only get six months out of them because of their visa situation, they’ll take it because they are struggling to find people.”
Wynn recommended people on WHVs looking for retail or hospitality jobs to physically hand out resumes to businesses that are hiring.
He said it can be worth exploring recruiters, but to make sure you found one that specialised in temporary or labour hire, not permanent recruiters.