Immigration Stories:”Don’t dream your life – live your dream!”

One-way ticket to Sydney: Dreaming of Australia for five years – and then taking the plunge wide awake. Live your dream! CW, business economist, emigrated to Australia in 2011.

CW, business economist, migrated to Australia in 2011.

After graduating in International Business Administration in 2006, I backpacked Australia for six months. I was fascinated by this beautiful, endlessly wide country, and even after starting my career at Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt, the fascination never let go. Especially in the cold, dark winter months, I dreamed of the sunny beaches of Australia. But the way there turned out to be long.

In the consultation with“TN Visa Expert” it turned out that I would not get the coveted “Skilled Visa” with my job. To be able to live and work in Australia I would have had to find an Australian company that was looking for someone with my qualifications.

But I had doubts: could I master this from Germany? And did I actually know enough about everyday life in Australia? I only knew it as a vacation destination. My friends and family were also skeptical.

A few years (!) Passed before I found enough courage to take the next step to Australia. In 2011 I took a sabbatical and entered Sydney on a working holiday visa. It felt like I came home. I wanted to stay here! I started writing applications and eventually found an internship at the German-Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. With this perspective I flew back to Germany, quit my job and my apartment and flew back to Sydney with a one-way ticket.

Saying goodbye to my “old life”, to my family and friends, was not easy for me.

However, my courage to take risks paid off. After a short time, my internship was converted into a permanent employee. My dream of living and working in Australia came true.

Today, a year later, I am very happy that I dared this adventure.

I can’t rule out going back to Germany one day, but for now I’m enjoying my life “down under” – in my new home.

“Homesickness, what is that anyway?”

With two small children and 30 moving boxes from Germany to Canada. Take: good preparation, strong nerves and a desire for adventure.

RB cross-country skiing with her two children in Canada

RB, business economist, single mother, emigrated to Canada with her two adoptive children.

When I landed in Victoria (British Columbia) in May 2006, I didn’t know anyone, I didn’t have a job or an apartment. But after three very stressful months everything was fine: I found a job with the umbrella organization for the construction industry in British Columbia, an apartment, a school and after-school care for the children. Stella and Matti became fluent in English within two months, so they could go to school in September without any problems.

Unfortunately, not all is rosy on the job market in Canada. We’ve moved here four times in six years, so the kids are now in their fourth Canadian school. Fortunately, they have settled in here in Calgary, cross-country skiing training and swimming clubs have helped a lot!

Before I came to Canada, I was pretty well informed about the country because I was employed by the Canadian consulate in Munich. I also knew life in North America because I had previously lived in the United States for five years.

I can only advise all emigrants to learn the language very well! The cultural differences are still big enough, which is very noticeable at work. We Germans are more straightforward; Canadians are always polite.

And you shouldn’t underestimate the administrative stuff. The registration, all the papers, you have to take care of that in advance!

RB with her two children on the sofa at home

What you cannot know beforehand is whether everything will fit emotionally. Whether the decision feels right. It can take a while for everything to work out.

But I also think that you should be a little adventurous – and if it doesn’t work out, you’ve definitely tried it.

I haven’t even regretted my decision to go to Canada, even in the most stressful of times. I am never homesick. I don’t think I really know what that is.

USA – Canada – Namibia?

She has emigrated twice in her life and has come back to Hamburg twice. But the 74-year-old HM has not lost her thirst for adventure and is thinking about a life in Namibia.

Even as a child, I was always on the go. My playground was the port of Hamburg. I always wanted to get out and about. After school I did an apprenticeship as a saleswoman. But the wanderlust remained. Then I met a school friend again. She asked me: Do you want to go to America with me? As a nanny? I immediately said: I’ll come with you! That was in 1962.

She then gave me the tip to seek advice from “TN Visa Expert”. They even found a family for me in New Jersey. I didn’t tell my parents anything until I had saved up the 800 D-Mark for the crossing. And then we set off in fog and night, with the “Bremen”, only storm for 10 days. I was so seasick!

The first time in the USA was difficult. The family had eight children! But they hadn’t said that before. After three months I quit and looked for a family in New York through an agency. German nannies were popular and I earned quite well. I later found another family in Beverly Hills. In winter the oranges bloomed and we bathed in the pool. That was a wonderful time. The time in the USA made me much more free and I learned to approach others. But after almost three years I missed Germany after all. The small, cozy one. My family. As a nanny, I had saved money. With that I could pay back the crossing.

At first I lived with my mother again and got by with temporary jobs. Then I took a typewriter course and worked for the same company for 25 years. In between I was married for seven years, unfortunately we didn’t have any children. That would certainly have made me more settled. But so the thirst for adventure has triumphed again.

At the age of 49 I quit and thought: If you are already unemployed, you can also go abroad. In the evening paper there was an advertisement: Looking for household support, Canada, near Vancouver. Four months later I was on the plane with the contract in my pocket. I had locked my little room. The neighbors had the key. I am a humble person; I don’t need much. I’ve been living in my little one-room apartment in Hamburg for a long time, the bed is in the closet and can be folded out. But I still want to know what’s coming around the next corner. Maybe Namibia. There they are looking for German nannies. And I’m still fit!

I took advice from the “TN Visa Expert”. Yet again. With luck, I’ll soon be living as a grandma-nanny on a farm. This free feeling. I love that.