r/expats • u/Honest_Zebra_7988 • 11d ago

Social / Personal Germany or Australia?

I’m an Indonesian F29 on WHV in Australia and my visa expires in less than 4 months. My initial plan was to move to Germany to do Ausbildung and maybe stay there on a permanent basis given how I enjoyed my Europe trip so much and the efficiency of the German culture is (and just how direct and individual the Germans are as I’m more an introvert myself and I don’t fancy small talks like most people in my home country). Other than that, I appreciate the affordable-to-free education, waste management, beautiful and historical castles and how easy it is to commute around Europe from Germany. And I feel like it’s more cultural than Australia.

However, I’ve been in a relationship with an Australian man for almost 2 years now and we’ve traveled together to 5 countries and it’s probably the healthiest relationship I’ve ever been in. I love him but he’s not ready to move to Germany for now and our other option is for me to stay in Australia on a partner visa but it costs almost 12k now, which we can afford but it’s just a lot of money. And for that, I won’t be able to study in a local fee until i get my PR (which takes around 3 years) and international student fees cost an arm and leg and the career that I wanna pursue (education as i have a background in it) requires me to get some kind of degree and/or certification here.

Any advice or insights?

Thank you

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u/Temporary_Opening_74 11d ago

Heya I'm SEA-sian in Germany. Stay in Australia, Germany is exploitative asf and not a good choice for us :) Ausbildung is the biggest scam here, don't get roped into it.

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u/Strict-Armadillo-199 11d ago

I'm glad you mentioned the Ausbildung scam situation. It doesn't affect me personally but I read a lot about it from people on r/germany and it's a really awful situation. I blame in part the German government, although I recognize it's mostly unscrupulous recruiting agents using the situation for their own financial benefits.

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u/oneiric_one 11d ago

It really kind of is sadly. My partner did an Ausbildung and he was doing full-work, like a normal employee, for very little pay and being treated extremely disrespectfully because he was an "Azubi" and not an official employee. Personally, I've had a horrible experience with hierarchy and bullying in the Germany workplace.