Emigrating to Melbourne for work

Thinking Of Emigrating To Melbourne For Work?

Thinking Of Emigrating To Melbourne For Work?  4 Top Tips To Help You Settle Into Your New Home

Melbourne was voted as being the world’s ‘most liveable city’ for 7 years in a row, only just knocked off the top spot this year by Vienna.  Alongside this, it is known for its inhabitants achieving a great work/life balance, having a vast array of exciting job opportunities and its’ booming economy, (27 years without a recession and counting!!), making Australia the perfect choice for anyone looking for the chance to live and work abroad!

So before you make the big move, let’s take a look at 4 ways you can seamlessly settle into the Australian way of life without a hitch.

Be Open To Making Friends

Aside from the classic after-work drinks with your colleagues, there are so many ways to make new friends in Australia!  With its history of mass, international immigration, it’s easy to understand why Australians are known to be so open and friendly to all of its visitors, and with such an amazing mix of cultures living in one place, you will feel right at home wherever you have traveled from!   With its easily discovered, varied mix of social groups within Melbourne, from board game enthusiast groups and business start-up societies to The Happy Hours Commandos, you are bound to find your way around the city with the help of some great new friends.

Top tip: free wifi is a rarity, so if you need to access the internet to find local meet-ups before it’s set up at home, be prepared to use up all of your 4G!  Alternatively, try your local McDonalds or the library for varying degrees of wifi success.

Forget Fosters – Grab A Coffee

With bouncers denying entry to partygoers for appearing drunk and in some instances for wearing shorts in the evening, it’s easy to believe that Australia failed to hit the top ten of the world’s heaviest drinkers despite carrying a reputation for enjoying a chilled Fosters – or ten, (which is a lie by the way.  It’s far from being an Aussie favourite and is, in fact, even unheard of in some parts of the country!)  Instead, it seems that the preferred drink in Australia is coffee – and we are not talking about the questionable tasting beans found in major coffee chains.  Their Australian taste buds are far more discerning than that!

In fact, the best cafes are found tucked away in the nooks and crannies of every Melburnian neighborhood, each with its own vibrant and varied style of service, decor, food and most importantly, coffee.  Find your local hotspot early on and get well acquainted with their hot drink menu!

Top tip: don’t tip.  The gratuity is included in the price.

Busy Home – Busy Life

Learning to live with less ‘stuff’ is a big part of the laid-back, go-with-the-flow nature which the Australian way of life is uniquely known for.  This lack of clutter is in part due to the more prominent availability of smaller homes which are being built in the communities developing around areas with the strongest transport links to the city centre.  So you may find yourself doing a huge declutter rather than trying to fit all your belongs into a smaller square footage than ever before!  But this is no hardship really when you consider that there is less to clean and you get an extra half an hour in bed every morning due to your proximity to the tram!  Another reason for feeling just a little more laid back (plus smugly well rested!)

Top tip: if an Australian says “no worries”, they mean it!  They really are more laid back.

Learn The Seasons And Dress For Them

It’s easy to be spotted as an Out Of Towner when you are dressed in a T-shirt when it’s hat, scarf and beanie whether in July!  It’s important to know that the Australian Autumn and Winter seasons fall between March and October.  Bear that in mind when considering what time of year you will be arriving in Melbourne.  But even in summer, you may find yourself in the middle of a rainstorm, so consider this before you leave your country and ensure you have packed accordingly for the classic ‘four seasons in a day’ weather which Melbourne is so famously known for.

Top tip: carry (and wear) a high factor sun lotion in the summer without fail, and better yet, wear a hat too.  In the Autumn and winter layer up so you are ready for whatever Melbourne’s Mother Nature throws at you.

Are you planning on emigrating to Melbourne?

Speak to our team today about Australian Skilled Visas, Australian Student Visas, Family or Parant visas or converting your Working Holiday Visa to an employer sponsored visa.

Visatec Legal are registered Australian Migration Agents in Melbourne’s suburb of St Kilda.

Photo credit @agathemrt