<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>A growing number of Americans are looking to move to Australia as a way to escape not just the authoritarian politics of Donald Trump, but also a "hustle culture" that is leaving them stressed and exhausted.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Migration agents and recruitment companies say they have noticed a significant surge over the last year in the number of enquiries coming from Americans wanting to pack up and move Down Under.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The uptick began as a tremor before the 2024 US election and has solidified into a steady stream since Donald Trump's return to the presidency.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/finance/inflation-australia-january-2026-cpi-interest-rates-implications/6b382a95-929e-4fda-9d88-1df3ed7cc0b0" rel="" target="" title="Inflation blow to hit millions of Aussie households"><strong><span>Inflation blow to hit millions of Aussie households</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Melissa Vincenty, managing director of Worldwide Migration Partners, has been on the front line of this shift. As both a US immigration attorney and a registered Australian migration agent, she divides her time between Hawaii and Sydney.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"There has definitely been an uptick," Vincenty said. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"It started probably 16 months ago with people anticipating the election. I've had more specifically political-based inquiries - same-sex couples or families with trans members who feel vulnerable."</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/national/why-burntout-americans-think-aussies-dont-know-how-good-they-have-it/f67e0e52-0366-44f3-ac67-4b1c4afbf849" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>However, she notes that while politics may often start the conversation, it's the attractive lifestyle on offer in Australia which usually sustains it, with key factors being concerns over healthcare costs in the US, gun safety at schools and work-life balance. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Healthcare is probably at the top of the list. That's what I get the questions about a lot," Vincenty said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h3><span>The hustle v the right to disconnect</span></h3></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Most employees in the US are given about two weeks of annual leave, compared to four in Australia. But, even then, the concept of "annual leave" was often treated as theoretical in the US, Vincenty said, adding that when she gives her American staff the same leave entitlements as her Australian team, they are "shocked".</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I have to tell them, 'Guys, please take your leave'. In the US, there's a stigma. If you take two weeks off, people grumble about covering for you. In Australia, nobody cares. You cover for them, they cover for you. It's normal."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The recruitment sector is seeing a similar pattern. Ellis Taylor, director at Real Time Australia, which recruits for giants like Google, Atlassian, and Canva, reports a staggering 350 per cent rise in US applicants over the past year.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"The demand hasn't just held steady; it's the new baseline," Taylor said. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"We see a measurable spike in applications almost every time a microphone is put in front of Trump. It's becoming a reliable indicator for our intake volume."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><strong><span>Do you have a story? Contact reporter Emily McPherson at</span></strong></em><span> </span><a href="mailto:EMcPherson@nine.com.au" target="_blank" title=""><em><strong><span>EMcPherson@nine.com.au</span></strong></em></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Taylor said employee burnout was another factor that could be seen as creating "hustle culture refugees" in the US.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Australia's right to disconnect laws often came as a welcome relief to the "always on" expectation in the US, he added.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Katie, who asked for her real name to be withheld for privacy reasons, is a high school teacher who moved to Sydney with her husband from Iowa in 2021. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Katie's father is Australian, however, she was raised solely in the US. As Katie is a dual citizen, her husband was able to apply for a partner visa to live in Australia.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The couple have had two children, aged three and one, since moving to Australia. While the move was originally planned as a two-year trip, the family have settled in for the long term.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Katie said life in Australia genuinely felt different, "and not just in a honeymoon phase way".</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I didn't realise how stressed out we always were in the US," Katie said. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"In the US, it felt like a daily grind ... work, dinner, bed, repeat. Here, work matters, but it doesn't own every hour of the day. My free time is protected."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Like many Americans, Katie was "on the hustle" in Iowa, working a second job tutoring during the school term and teaching at a summer school over the extended mid-year break.  </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I never really had a break, I was always working," she said. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I know Aussies sometimes say we have such a bad work-life balance here. I don't see it that way at all. I think Aussies have an amazing work-life balance."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Even the high cost of living in Sydney was not a huge deterrent, with groceries costing about the same as in Iowa, Katie said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>However, the cost of housing in Australia was "confronting", Katie said, noting $1.5 million entry-level homes. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I work with young Australians in their 20s who feel a house is unattainable. They tell me they're just waiting for their parents to die to inherit a home."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>But even with the "house poor" outlook and the "horrendously awful" distance from family, Katie said the trade-off was worth it for the sake of her children's safety and well-being.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h2><span>'Not a medical emergency away from financial ruin'</span></h2></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In the US, buying into her employer's offered healthcare plan for families would gobble up almost her entire monthly paycheque, she said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"In Australia, we know that we're not a medical emergency away from financial ruin, and that's a huge piece of mind that feels really invaluable," she said. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Katie experienced this firsthand when her eldest son was hospitalised for two weeks as a newborn at Westmead Children's Hospital.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Living in Australia and experiencing the healthcare here, it's phenomenal," she said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>As a school teacher, not having to worry about school shootings was also a big weight off her mind, although it was one she didn't fully realise until she arrived.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I remember my first school job here; I saw a long wall of windows and thought, 'That's not safe, where would the kids hide?'" she said. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I didn't realise I had that internalised stress about school shootings. Now, my biggest daily concern when I go to school is whether or not I'm going to get swooped by a magpie."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Despite the local grumbling over the price of a flat white or the rental crisis, Katie and many other US expats say - from their perspective at least - Australians do have it pretty good.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In a recent post on a Facebook group for US people looking to move to Australia, a worn-out American asked if the Australian work-life balance was "a magic fix" or just myth.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>After hundreds of US expats had shared their opinion, one Facebook user noted: "Reading some of the comments reaffirms that more Australians need to travel to realise how good we have it here."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><em><span>NEVER MISS A STORY:</span></em></strong><span> </span><em><span>Get your breaking news and exclusive stories first by following us across all platforms.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><ul><li><strong><em><span>Download the 9NEWS App here via</span></em></strong><span> </span><a href="https://apps.apple.com/au/app/9news/id1010533727" target="_blank"><strong><em><span>Apple</span></em></strong></a><span> </span><strong><em><span>and</span></em></strong><span> </span><a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=nineNewsAlerts.nine.com&amp;hl=en_AU&amp;pli=1" target="_blank"><strong><em><span>Google Play</span></em></strong></a></li><li><strong><em><span>Make 9News your preferred source on Google by</span></em></strong><span> </span><a href="https://9.nine.com.au/8x987w" target="_blank"><strong><em><span>ticking this box here</span></em></strong></a></li><li><strong><em><span>Sign up to</span></em></strong><span> </span><a href="https://login.nine.com.au/edm?client_id=nineatnine" target="_blank"><strong><em><span>our breaking newsletter here</span></em></strong></a></li></ul></div></div>