Economic strife forcing workers to emigrate to Australia without families

The economic crisis has caused a huge rise in the number of fathers leaving their families at home as they move to Australia for work.

A company offering migration advice to potential emigrants has seen a 70% increase in the number of fathers that are heading off to Australia — with the intention of bringing their partners and families over at a later date. In the past year, up to 2,000 family men obtained visas for Australia.

Visafirst say the vast majority of these men work in the construction sector.

“They usually travel out four to six months before their family members,” said Visafirst migration expert Edwina Shanahan. “While they are there for the first few months, they look for accommodation, schools, child-minding facilities, etc. At the same time, they send money home for flights and other costs associated with moving.”

Many of these emigrant families still have to pay mortgages after they leave Ireland, and so rent out their homes while they are away.

“The spouse that remains on in Ireland often does so because of the school year of their children, and often they have to organise renting out their own home,” said Ms Shanahan. “Australia’s favourable exchange rate is good news for them as they get more euro for their dollar. We always advise clients of when the rates are in their favour.”

Employment in Australia grew by 38,900 last year, with huge numbers finding work in mining projects. The dollar has also increased in value as growth for the quarter rose by 1.3%.

Visafirst says Canada is also popular, more so with fathers whose families are not re-locating, due to its proximity.

“Because of this, we have noticed that Canadian employers are actually factoring this into people’s employment contracts, and many are even including a few flights home in their package,” said Ms Shanahan.

Last month, the Irish Examiner revealed as many as four families a week are emigrating. In the 12 months to the end of March, 39,490 Irish people lodged tourism visitor visa applications.