Surprise! Young Commonwealth Citizens Are Down To Nix Working Visas

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Published

March 13, 2016

The idea of Australia as a republic is damn enticing. A new constitution! Updated currency! No more allegiance to Ol’ Lizzie!

That’s all well and good, but a new survey commissioned by The Royal Commonwealth Society has highlighted one of the key perks of, uh, being in the Commonwealth: more often than not, its members are down for granting others special privileges.

In this case, those possible perks pertain to visas, and the ability of us Aussies to conquer the classrooms, bars and ski slopes of New Zealand, Canada, and the UK itself. A majority of respondents from all four nations said they’d be chill with living and working in other member nations without a visa. Like, at all.

via The Royal Commonwealth Society / ABC.

Unsurprisingly, 80% of Australian respondents under the age of 35 indicated they’d be down for the concept. It’s obvious why, too: young Aussie expats living in the UK, who are also sponsored by UK companies, are currently required to return here to change or obtain a visa. Which is awkward as hell.

Lord Howell of Guildford – yes, really – acts as the Society’s president, and he wrote “the views and wishes of these fellow Commonwealth friends [are] in strong support of closer ties.

“Governments must find ways to build them and to remove obstacles that stand in their way.”

If that all sounds very European Union to you, you’re not wrong, and such a system would be a pretty huge shake-up to the way we currently deal with immigration. We’d also be opening our borders to fellow Commonwealth nations, allowing even more Poms, Kiwis and Canucks to float through Bondi, St. Kilda and the like.

The report calls on the various governments to do research on the issue, and emphasises the whole “labour mobility” deal. That’s all well and good, especially if it allows even more of us to fulfill our lifelong dreams of working as glassies in Shepherds Bush.

Source: ABC.
Photo: Dan Kitwood / Getty.