Record numbers of Britons moving to this faraway country for a better life

Perhaps someone you know has recently left the UK in favour of a sunnier – and possibly happier – life in Australia.

They wouldn’t be the only ones: a record number of young travellers flocking to Australia has turned the country into the world’s most desired destination for foreign working tourists.

Young people from the UK are leading the surge in Australia’s growing population of working travellers. According to new statistics, those from the UK have risen to almost 50,000, up from 31,000 in the year to last December and 21,000 the year before.

It comes after restrictions were eased on the working holiday visa, which now allows people up to the age of 35 to explore the country and work for three years. The agreement, which came into effect in 2023, raised the age of UK applicants from 30 to 35, and allowed them to arrive without any specified work requirements – lifting the long-held rule that meant British working holidaymakers had to complete 88 days of agricultural labour for every year they wished to stay on.

According to The Times, there were a record number of 213,400 people on working holidaymaker visas in Australia at the end of November, which is 43,000 more than last Christmas and 72,300 more than the pre-Covid level of 141,100 in 2019.

Two young Britons, aged 25 and 29, told the publication they had moved to Australia and found their income tripled, felt more appreciated at work and were leading a better quality of life.

In 2023, two of Australia’s major cities – Melbourne and Sydney – were named among the top five best cities in the world for quality of life.

The influx of working tourists has spawned several online trends, such as #vanlife, a lifestyle that sees young people transform vans into mobile homes to see the sights of Australia on the go.

While the influx of working tourists has eased labour shortages across the country, polls have suggested that resident voters are concerned about housing shortages, as well as rising pressures on schools and other public services.

However, skilled foreign workers remain in high demand in part due to their contribution to local economies.

Abul Rizvi, a former deputy secretary at the Department of Immigration recently told the Sydney Morning Herald that the working travellers provide a easy source of cheap labour but also contribute to the economy like a tourist.

“They’re an easy source of cheap labour in places where it’s hard to attract labour and then they go spend all that money, often in local economies,” said Rizvi. “In the evening, they’re a bartender. In the morning, they might go for a snorkelling trip in the Barrier Reef. They’re a boon.”