Why would someone do this?

Underdraft

I had a friend who went to Australia back in jan2003 to live/work and apart from a couple of overseas holidays an a couple of trips home at Xmas spent a full 5 years (best I can recall) in that country. He showed no signs of homesickness or intentions to come home for work etc. He was able to gain citizenship by whatever requirements they have over there so he now has Irish/Australian joint citizenship.

Then In jan2008 he came back to Ireland for an entire year. He was living back home with parents and just spent the entire year complaining about Ireland and his situation so I can tell 100% his intention to move back to Ireland wasn't of his own choosing.

I would ask the guy occasionally why he was even back here but he would never answer my questions. Sure enough, when the one year was up he got back on a plane to Oz and has never been back to Ireland since to my knowledge.

I've since lost touch the guy so I couldn't try ask the q again now even if I wanted to. But it's been bugging me ever since to know what he was up to.

Anyone know what the reason might have been?

The Aussie

Some people (i hate this term but) "Click" into the Australian way of life easier than others they just get on with it make friends from various parts of the world, have a job that gives them a good lifestyle and take full advantage of everything on offer to them, and wish to return or stay.

Others dont, they hang around people from their own country/county/parish comparing to thing back home or just plain whinging and then go home and continue to compare or whinge, i suggest your friend was the former and not the latter.

This is a generalization but a rough enough summary of proceedings.

Underdraft

The Aussie wrote: »

Some people (i hate this term but) "Click" into the Australian way of life easier than others they just get on with it make friends from various parts of the world, have a job that gives them a good lifestyle and take full advantage of everything on offer to them, and wish to return or stay.

Others dont, they hang around people from their own country/county/parish comparing to thing back home or just plain whinging and then go home and continue to compare or whinge, i suggest your friend was the former and not the latter.

This is a generalization but a rough enough summary of proceedings.

So after almost exactly 5 full years there he decides he doesn't fit in, then comes home for exactly 1 year, lives at home with his parents, complains about how he hates living at home, hates Ireland and the Irish, hates his job in Ireland? Then exactly one year after that quits his job in Ireland and returns to Oz? I don't think that is just a case of the homesick blues. The opposite if anything.

The whole things just seems so symmetrical and deliberate that there to have had to be some sort of purpose to what he did? I guess the root of my question is is there anything in Aussie law that would require a person to leave after 5 years like this and then come back?

I know for example that an Irish person seeking Aussie citizenship is required to leave the country for a number of days and come back in (or at least that's what told me, so that could be total b/s! :rolleyes: ). For this purpose he said he'd spent a few days in NZ doing nothing more than killing time before coming back to Sydney.

Actually now that I think about it I remember now what his 'cover story' was. He had taken a big interest in writing and said he had come home because he thought he'd have a better chance of making contacts and getting published here rather than in Oz. That story never washed with me either as I reckoned if that was his idea he'd have been better off going to London or some bigger city with a track record for pubishing, so I already reckoned he was lying on that count. This guy was a bit of a 'Walter Mitty' character at the same time he knew how to run his own life. I definitely concluded he'd left the country for some specific purpose. I thought it could have been criminal at the time but the fact that he went back means that it probably wasn't.

So any ideas people?

The Aussie

So you want us to speculate on something your speculating about. Try asking his family, short of that post the thread over on the Conspiracy Theory forum and put the kettle on.

Underdraft

The Aussie wrote: »

So you want us to speculate on something your speculating about.

No, I'm the one guilty of speculating. I was hoping for someone who'd heard of something that might have matched this "in for 5years, out for 1year and then back in" scenario or who knew about a law requiring people to leave after 5years to tell me about it.

Try asking his family, short of that post the thread over on the Conspiracy Theory forum and put the kettle on.

Thanks. You've been a lot of help. I'd never considered the "suddenly homesick after five years in Oz but already cured of it and ready to go back to Oz by the time he stepped off the plane in Dublin" possibility before.

whydoibother?

Some people when they are away look at their home country through rose-tinted glasses. They come home for a while and realise that it's not that perfect and they were actually better off in whatever part of the world they were in.

Another reason is that when people get to settling down age, they may not want to be very far away from their family, as they know it may become permanent at that age if they have a serious relationship, children etc.

But really this is just stabbing in the dark. There are a million reasons your friend could have had a couple of changes of heart.

The Aussie

Underdraft wrote: »

No, I'm the one guilty of speculating.

Yes...

Underdraft wrote: »

Thanks. You've been a lot of help.

Anytime...

The Aussie

Underdraft wrote: »

Your username suits you.

Thank you, you are the polite one aren't you.

Underdraft

whydoibother? wrote: »

Some people when they are away look at their home country through rose-tinted glasses. They come home for a while and realise that it's not that perfect and they were actually better off in whatever part of the world they were in.

Another reason is that when people get to settling down age, they may not want to be very far away from their family, as they know it may become permanent at that age if they have a serious relationship, children etc.

But really this is just stabbing in the dark. There are a million reasons your friend could have had a couple of changes of heart.

Thanks. But I can assure you wasn't any of those things. I don't believe it was any sort of personal reason.

As such I'm wondering does anyone know of any legal or bureaucratic reason why a person might have to leave and return like this?

hussey

Mod OP there is no legal requirement to leave Australia if you are a citizen.
Otherwise it's just speculation as to why he left and came back