The days of eager Antipodeans pouring into the UK may be coming to an end as exchange rates and visa restrictions bite. Joanne Christie meets Aussies on a boomerang career path

British employers have long welcomed Antipodeans into their workplaces. Many have expressed a fondness for the Australasian work ethic and easily transferable skills and qualifications, and of course it's always nice to have someone to heckle when the intense sporting rivalry swings in the Brits' favour.

But while Australians and New Zealanders once flocked to the UK for the opportunity to gain experience and return home with some valuable pounds, the booming Australian economy and a sharp appreciation in the Australian and New Zealand dollars against the pound, has led many to give up on Britain in favour of what's on offer back in the southern hemisphere.

Home Office figures show that the number of Australian citizens entering the UK for employment has dropped by 35% over the past three years, while the number of New Zealanders has fallen by 40%.

Rethi Scaife, 31, an Australian who came to London in 2004, is among those who have recently decided to return. She took with her a British husband, Sean, 32, whom she met in the UK and married in 2009. "I wanted to come back and spend some time with my family and we were finding the UK quite depressing with all the recession stuff," she says.

"Sean is an urban planner and he was finding it very depressing in his industry as there were a lot of projects that were being cancelled. He has come to Perth now and is working on projects he would never have had the opportunity to work on in London."

Scaife spent six years working in PR and marketing in London and, after a bit of networking prior to departure, she secured a tourism marketing job before arriving home. Sean found work in urban development consulting within a week of landing.

"It certainly seems like we've come back to a land of opportunity, as cliched as it sounds," says Scaife.

"Sean's salary is about £30,000 more than he was earning in London. My salary is at least £10,000 more, so both of us are doing much better than we were in the UK."

Wages on a par

Karla Chapman, 30, a chartered accountant from New Zealand who moved to the UK in mid-2007, is also preparing to move to Australia. "At the moment it seems to be booming. With the exchange rate at the moment, wages seem to be on a par with the UK. I've been looking at job sites and getting weekly emails from recruiters in Australia. I think I can go home and have a better lifestyle, be closer to home and also have a good career."

Scaife has a British passport on account of her father being Welsh and Chapman has an ancestry visa, which allows those with a British-born grandparent to live in the UK for up to five years and then apply for permanent settlement. Both could have remained in the UK as long as they liked, but increasingly, people like Scaife and Chapman are leaving, says Simon Taylor, director at Venn Group, a temporary recruitment firm that has placed many Antipodean candidates – including Chapman.

"We are certainly seeing the number of Antipodeans approaching us for work, or extending their existing contracts, declining," Taylor says.

"In recent years, when the exchange rate between the Australian and New Zealand dollar to the pound (currently 1.5 to 1 and 2 to 1 respectively) was very favourable, we were seeing an influx of Antipodeans seeking employment, knowing that they could work and save at the same time. Due to the recent fall in exchange rates there is less incentive for candidates to remain in the UK," he adds.

Kevin Ellis, chief executive of TNT Multimedia – which publishes TNT Magazine, the long-running free weekly aimed at Antipodeans and South Africans in the UK – says money is definitely a factor. "For Aussies and Kiwis, it's financial. The reason Australians are going home is because their economy is booming and some of these professionals can earn a lot more back home," he says.

Visa restrictions

It isn't just the strength of their homeland that is driving away many of those from Commonwealth countries – a slew of visa changes over the past few years have also taken their toll. The working holiday route has long been the most popular point of entry for young Australians, New Zealanders and South Africans.

Although it has been rebranded the youth mobility visa and now falls under tier 5 of the points-based system introduced by the government in 2008, it remains essentially unchanged for Australians and New Zealanders and allows those between 18 and 30 to come to the UK and work for up to two years.

South Africa, however, has been cut from the programme. "This was a mistake by the government and one that needs to be re-looked at – South Africans want to travel and by not allowing them, the industry and the government are losing out," says Ellis.

What has changed for Australians and New Zealanders, however, are the options available to those who want to stay on. In the past, after their two years were up, many found their employer was willing to sponsor them for a work permit or that they qualified for a highly skilled migrant visa. After the points-based system was introduced, these visas were incorporated under the general category of the tier 1 visa, while employer-sponsored visas fell into tier 2.

In April this year, the government set a 20,700 annual cap on the number of tier 2 visas and a 1,000 limit on tier 1 visas, restricting it to entrepreneurs, investors and people of exceptional talent. It abolished the general category under which many Australians, New Zealanders and South Africans had applied due to what it described as "widespread evidence of abuse".

Cat Cavanagh, 28, an occupational therapist from Australia who came to the UK two years ago on a youth mobility visa, is among those who would have loved to stay in the UK but is now having to return home. "I have settled here at the moment and I'm really enjoying the lifestyle and the travel opportunities. I am going home just because my visa has run out and I would definitely have liked to stay," she says.

"If I was here two or three years ago I would probably have been able to qualify for a highly skilled migrant visa. But now they have restricted it to people who earn a lot of money and a couple of categories for sports people and entrepreneurs.

"And even if I did find a job that was willing to sponsor me, because of the cuts to the tier 2 visa I'd have to be really lucky to get one. There needs to be no one from the UK or Europe who could possibly do the job. I might be more qualified, but if there is someone who could possibly do it, then I am not even eligible."

Professional restrictions have been taking their toll on healthcare workers generally. Previously, it was relatively simple for dentists, pharmacists and nurses to work in the UK with qualifications from countries such as Australia and New Zealand, but in recent years, more stringent measures have been enforced on those from outside the EU.

Dominika Schmidt, 29, a dentist from Brisbane, ended up going home less than a year after arriving on a two-year visa back in 2008. "If you graduated after 2000 you can't work in London as a dentist without sitting the international qualifying exams which take one-and-a-half years at least, which doesn't really work for a two-year visa.

"Because of that, my only real option was to work as a dental assistant," she says. "I would have stayed longer if things were better on the career front, but the pay was terrible compared to Australia. I was getting £8 to £12 an hour as a dental assistant. If you just worked normal hours, on average an Australian dentist would earn AU$150,000 [£98,000] a year."

According to Adam Franks, manager of the Walkabout, an Australian-themed bar in Shepherd's Bush, London, Schmidt's decision to leave is not uncommon.

"The length of time people are staying has decreased. Because the Australian dollar is quite good to travel on now, people are coming over here for just 12 months and not necessarily having to work all the time," Franks says. "The people that are coming seem to be older as well. Back in the day it was more 22- or 23-year-olds but now it seems to be closer to 30."

With Britain's graduate unemployment problem gaining so much press, it is perhaps not surprising that those fresh out of university are staying away. Given that the minimum wage is Australia has now risen to AU$15.51, it is unlikely we will ever see a return to the days when Australians were happy to pull pints in bars for the UK's minimum wage of £6.08.

The difficult job market is also having an effect further up the employment chain, says Taylor. "Candidates are finding it harder to find employment. There is no doubt that the quality of Antipodean candidates is very high. This feeling very much remains with British employers and they still value their contribution and work ethic. Unfortunately they just do not have the same volume of roles to give them."

If the British economy continues to lag behind its Commonwealth peers and immigration policy carries on in the direction of ensuring employment opportunities go first to EU citizens, Antipodeans may well become a dying breed in the British workplace. At the very least, it will probably be much harder to find one next time England is in a position to gloat about winning the Ashes.

An endangered species?