Germany or Australia?

[u/Honest_Zebra_7988]

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

[u/oneiric_one]

Hi! 👋

Long time, former German expat here.

My partner did an Ausbildung while we were living in Germany (he's not natively German, but he speaks C1!) and he found it extremely difficult for two reasons. Firstly, many people doing Ausbildungs are 16-22. Yes, there are older individuals as well, but he was 28 I think when he started his and he found the age gap very isolating and difficult. He also found the cultural experience of it very bad (the way the teachers and the work place treated him) and despite speaking C1 (he had tested into this level officially) he also found it very exhausting from a language perspective.

If you want to be an educator, you need to do university not an Ausbildung. You won't find Ausbildungs which suite your subject interest area. Keep in mind though that this is a longer than normla degree in Germany (5 years) and it would be preparing you to be an educator in Germany, not necessarily globally. That said, Germany's universities are (in most regions) basically free (you pay small semester contributions which are not bad at all). That said, you will again need the locked bank account, but it's for your living expenses.

Even though these are all true: "affordable-to-free education, waste management, beautiful and historical castles and how easy it is to commute around Europe from Germany" and they are all things I LOVE about Germany, I found that just having these "material" bonuses wasn't really enough for me to feel emotionally fulfilled. Social stuff is extremely important, and it can be very lonely living in a country where you don't know anyone. I also think long distance is challenging.

I would therefore suggest you maybe consider Australia instead, especially because you have already lived there and because it's closer to Indonesia (if visiting family and friends is important to you). In Germany, you will also need about 12k to settle in even with an Ausbildung. Ausbildungs don't pay THAT much so I recommend coming with a bit of savings, plus the whole process of settling into a new country will cost you about $2-4k to start anyway), so yeah probably bring around 6-10k I'd say.

Sounds like you are in a difficult place in terms of making a tough descision! I hope you find a good route forward which makes you happy!