shell0x

The series are also getting canceled after 1 season. I stopped watching Netflix originals just like you.

In Australia half of the content is not available since there are also local competitors. I use Disney+ and Netflix, but I’m tired of wasting hours to find out if that particular movie streams in my country or not.

At first we were progressing with online streaming but now movies are streaming across Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Binge, Stan.

I can’t be bothered to have that many services, VPNs are getting banned for paying customers due content rights, so I may as well just go back to Torrent/NZB, or don’t watch and read a book instead.

As an expat, I go there where I get treated best. Why wouldn’t I? Do I owe my country of birth anything?

As a German living in Australia, I’m shocked what happened to Germany.

Politics turned to Left-wing/Green party vs AFD and there is no middle ground anymore. The FDP basically disappeared and there’s a cliff in society over things like the refugee crisis and Merkel’s “everyone is welcome here” politics.

If I’d ever come back to Europe, I’d settle in Switzerland. It just is the better Germany(at least to me).

I lived in Singapore before and it's more run like a company and.

It has no personal freedoms, but on the other side they have HDBs(government housing) which is affordable for their residents.

Australia has no affordable housing alternatives at all and the government doesn't even seem to care.

Australia has more freedoms than Singapore, but far less than Europe.

You are not far off. China used Chinese students in Australia as a pawn in geopolitics to support the regime.

The previous generation of ethnic Chinese is better integrated, but the new generation is very patriotic and loyal to the communist party.

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/hundreds-gather-in-sydney-for-po...

The West always hoped China would turn into a democracy, but that turned out to be an illusion. As long as maximising profits regardless of the consequences is a priority, this will continue.

It's often forgotten that China is and has always been playing the long game where in the West policies can change after the next election.

Australia basically sold everything to China and gave the Darwin harbor away on a lease. The entire economy relies on selling real estate to rich foreign investors, international students, and mining.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-12/why-did-northern-terr...

Australia thinks it can control China, but without the influx of Chinese money the place is finished IMO.

When I landed at Sydney Airport in 2020, there were ads in Mandarin advertising EU passports for sale.

I think I'd rather take a pay cut and live in a place I actually like.

I have been working remotely for more than 2 years and I can't imagine going back to an office every day. The open-plan layout, the noise, the struggle to find a room to have a call, the slow internet connection(Australian internet is already slow, but at least at home it's just me using it).

I also heard that some people absolutely detest WFH, but they have kids or rent a studio apartment. A hybrid model seems to be the best solution going forward.

My favorite thing about Firefox is the "Multi-Account Containers" extension.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/multi-account...

It's really handy when having a private Microsoft account as well as an enterprise account. If I don't use this, my MS sessions get all mixed up.

It is a police state. I moved from Singapore to here and I can't even see any difference.

[ ] human rights [ ] press freedom [ ] privacy

It's more or less the same, except taxes here are higher.

Australia doesn't even have a bill of rights. Privacy is almost non-existent.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/why-does-austral...

Australia has agreed to abide by these conventions by protecting the human rights of its citizens and other peoples. However, we are unique among democratic nations in not having brought about a national bill of rights to make these obligations part of our domestic law. The best we have are the human rights acts in the ACT, Victoria and now Queensland. As a result, Australians are often left to complain to the UN when their human rights have been breached as they have no remedy at home.

Australia is not too bad as an expat, but I'd never encourage anyone to become a citizen here. It's basically the only developed country without a bill of rights. America has many issues, but at least it has freedom.

Paywalled for me. Here you go:

https://web.archive.org/web/20210806001110/https://www.japan...

The comparison between the seatbelt and a vaccination is already pretty odd. It doesn't harm me to use a seatbelt. A vaccination on the other side may have unknown side effects causing permanent damage.

I got the Pfizer vaccine myself, but only because I want to travel internationally as soon as possible, and proof of vaccination is an entry condition for many countries.

This is already happening: https://www.gov.uk/types-of-british-nationality/british-nati...

My friend moved on that visa this week. Before Hong Kongers could get a BNO passport and it wasn’t particularly useful. The British government changed the conditions a year ago, and now it’s an open residence permit with a direct path to full citizenship.

There are at least a million people eligible for a BNO passport.

I think it reached a point of no return. HK is still a very special place, but I see a lot of expats leaving for Singapore and Hkers leaving for overseas(BNO visa).

Singapore is more stable, but has even less freedoms than HK though.

Yes, the issue is that regular people are denied the same chance.

Not exchanged, but considering Australia and America are both immigrant countries, you may be able to get an Italian or Irish passport based on ancestry if your ancestors came from there.

While $2350 is expensive, compare that to Australia. My friend got sponsored by his partner for a partner visa and the fee is AUD7,850 for most applicants.

https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/getting-a-visa/visa-li...

It's a huge rip-off like everything in this country.

The $2350 seem to be cheaper than fees for filing annual tax returns for the next 50 years :)

This was a good read. It's interesting that you decided to stay in HK after the protests/hostile takeover in 2020. My partner and friends all left HK for the UK, Australia, and Canada.

The lockdown works pretty well in other countries. It's just people in Sydney being ignorant. There are still house parties and carefree people. The anti-lockdown protest didn't help, but it wasn't totally unexpected considering the incompetence of the NSW gov. A lot of Aussies don't want to get vaccinated too, which is an important part to reduce infections. I got my Pfizer shot months ago, because people either didn't turn up or cancelled.

When I lived in Singapore, I got an American Express cashback card with 3% cashback on the first $5000 and 1.5% unlimited cashback for everything > $5000. They waived the annual fee and there was no minimum spend.

Another card(the annual fee got waived too) gave me free access to the airport lounge in Dubai, which was great, because I could get a free meal, free drinks, and take a shower during my layover.

I'm not American, so I have less insight than you perhaps, but I'd say America is much more affordable than Australia. In Australia most jobs are in Sydney and Melbourne. Perth is mostly for mining and Brisbane doesn't have many tech jobs.

Real estate prices in Sydney and Melbourne are in the million(s), but incomes are ~100+k AUD. Some people earn 200k+ as a principal engineer, but that's pretty much it.

In America you have much more cities where you can find a decent job and different lifestyle. If New York is too expensive, you can move to Raleigh, NC. I don't think that exists in Australia.

There is also a very low degree of innovation in Australia, it's all related to real estate and mining.

Personally I just feel like it's not worth building a life here unless you get a large inheritance, but for an immigrant, America is a much better place to build a future.

Sorry, I should have said Germany instead of Europe since the European market is pretty diverse.

The German word for debt is schuld(Schulden), which has the same meaning as guilt and is associated with something bad.

Oh wow, I didn't know that :)

As a foreigner in Australia, I can't help but to think that Australians really don't know how to handle finances and are too irresponsible to use a credit card, so Afterpay and Zip stepped in.

Maybe it's because I grew up in Europe, but "Don't buy it if you can't afford it" has served me well. The majority of people I know just use credit cards for the perks but never miss a full payment.

I wouldn't say it's bad, but the government is doing a pretty terrible job to run the country

https://www.smartraveller.gov.au/COVID-19/leaving-Australia

There's a ban on overseas travel from Australia. If you're an Australian citizen or permanent resident, you can't leave Australia unless you get an exemption to travel or you're travelling to a destination that's exempt from the ban. Foreign citizens are able to depart Australia at any time.

Australia is the only Western country which has an exit ban on citizens. There are so many people who got rejected and can't leave Australia despite having dual citizenship.

The whole situation made me reconsider applying for PR and moving to Canada instead.

Thanks for the tips. Are you based in Toronto as well?

I figured I apply for the Canadian PR as soon as possible and after that I'm more flexible with location and may just do some remote work for an US company too. The work visa is the easiest way to get to Canada in the middle of a pandemic :)

Thanks for the answer. I will be moving with my partner.

If I accept the offer I got, I'd be on a work visa, so I don't plan to buy a car and live near a subway line until I get permanent residency.

The company is in the business of IT consulting and said the bonus can be 2 months, but this didn't get paid out last year due COVID.

I'm a German citizen living in Sydney on a work visa. You are right the weather is good, worker rights are better too(4 weeks annual leave guaranteed etc.), but to me Australia feels a bit monotone and isolated. I have lived in Sydney and Melbourne, but both places are getting really expensive and salaries just don't catch up.

Canada sounds more fun! I can drive to the US if I want to and flights to Europe don't take so long. I also miss having real seasons.

Thanks, much appreciated!

Upvoted. Thanks for pointing that out. As someone who lived in Taiwan and has friends there that's a big issue.

Taiwan has democracy, doesn't threaten its neighbours, has a working legal system, respects human rights, and has an educated population with access to the free world.

Calling it part of China is highly offensive and bowing down to the communist propaganda is simply unacceptable. They have Huawei as a client so choose money over morals.