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My girlfriend and I took a 3 week trip to New Zealand and Australia in December looking at a possible relocation from the U.S. and we passed. Speaking as an al
by maxdemarzi 15y ago
My girlfriend and I took a 3 week trip to New Zealand and Australia in December looking at a possible relocation from the U.S. and we passed.
Speaking as an almost ignorant visitor:
Immigration is not an issue, the point system will take care of that. Salaries in NZ are much lower than in Australia, and it seems people jump to Australia if they can. Auckland is great (if a bit industrial in areas) but once you've seen the country, going anywhere means taking a flight and $.
Australia taxes are high (and permanent, taxed on world wide income if you become a citizen) and salaries for professionals seem to have a narrow range so that there is a strong middle class, but you need to be in finance to reach salaries in the 6 figures.
Sydney is amazing, but very expensive. Melbourne is a nice second and more affordable, but salaries are also lower. We didn't checkout Brisbane.
Great vacation, not so sure about leaving the US for it.
- bartonfink 15y agoIt's interesting that you bring up the financials as a negative compared to the U.S., because the picture you paint sounds almost exactly like what I'm living right now. Barring folks who run their own business, salaries for developers in my experience really don't rise to what I would call the upper-class. Just FYI, the U.S. also taxes worldwide income on its citizens, although you get something like a $90k automatic deduction, plus the ability to deduct money you pay in foreign taxes.
- muruke 15y agoInteresting, I'm in Australia and in IT and know many people in IT making salaries of 6 figures. That being said I've heard similar things about US. Clearly everyone will experience something different. Also for Tech, US clearly has more (not that we have none) opportunities.
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]