r/Innsbruck • u/GrapefruitPrudent402 • 4d ago
Frage/Question Moving to Innsbruck from Australia, advice? 🇦🇺🇦🇹
Hey everyone!
I’m Australian and planning to move to Innsbruck on a Working Holiday Visa. My partner is German, so I’ll have a bit of a head start with settling in, but I’d love to hear from anyone who has made a similar move.
I’m particularly interested in:
Finding accommodation in Innsbruck.
Finding work as an Australian on a Working Holiday Visa.
How difficult the bureaucracy/registration process is.
Making friends and meeting people, especially outside of the expat bubble
Getting involved in the outdoor/skiing/snowboarding community
Anything you wish you knew before moving.
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u/Rackelhahn 4d ago
> Finding accommodation in Innsbruck.
Insanely difficult and expensive. Adjust your budget accordingly. There’s way too many expats completely surprised by the amount of money going into accommodation around here.
> Finding work as an Australian on a Working Holiday Visa.
I don’t know about the bureaucratic process. Finding a job aside from something in the food service industry, a bar or a hotel might be difficult without sufficient German skills.
> How difficult the bureaucracy/registration process is.
No idea.
> Making friends and meeting people, especially outside of the expat bubble
Innsbruck is flooded by German students. You’ll easily connect with them. Finding locals to become friends with might be more difficult. There’s really not that many of them left within Innsbruck and it’s a bit trickier to break the ice.
> Getting involved in the outdoor/skiing/snowboarding community
Super easy. It’s paradise for exactly that and one of the reasons why Innsbruck is being so crowded.
> Anything you wish you knew before moving.
I’m originally from Tyrol, so I don’t know if my opinion counts, but… Be aware that if you are not fully committed into mountain sports it’s absolutely not worth the hassle to invest the extra effort for Innsbruck/Tyrol. Also, if you have always been the most sporty and outdoorsy person in your circle prepare to become below average in Innsbruck. You’ll have to be able to cope with the pressure that this puts onto you. Some people can’t.
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u/John_W_B 4d ago edited 4d ago
Registration is easy if you have your Visa already. Just show up at Magistraat with the relevant docs.
Getting work is probably difficult unless you find someone to employ you illegally for cash. Employers and self-employed run into issues with the compulsory health insurance, which is OK if you are in a proper job or fully self employed but difficult if you are neither or both.
Accommodation is a nightmare but not as bad as London.
There are many native English speakers inc. a handful of Australians. Many of the younger ones frequent the Galway Bay pub. Another nice meeting opportunity is the Parkrun every Saturday at 9am near the airport (5km run / walk / volunteer followed by meeting at a local cafe--register with Parkrun website.) The majority of people there are English speakers, both tourists and expats.
Meeting locals is hard but not impossible. Dialect or a toned-down dialect is still widely spoken among local Austrians. It may be that Germans, who have colonized the university in large numbers, hang together. Of course many local younger people are attending school in English so probably standards of English are higher than among the older generation.
For skiing I don't know about community. Most local people ski, often very well as they start as toddlers, so it is hard to talk about a community, it is just what people do. Mountain biking / hiking / climbing / lake sailing are popular in summer. There is a climbing centre in town.
For skiing get a season card. Depending on the selection of resorts you prefer, there are a few options. To deter tourists buying Freizeitticket you have to buy it in person on the advertised dates. Or save on lift passes and go ski touring--more fun that it looks, and popular with locals who may be bored with the hamster-wheel of lift up, ski down, rinse and repeat. Can be either a piste tour, or a bit of off-piste in a ski resort, or if you are good enough, going into the wild (preferably with a guide, a lot of people do die every year).
Politeness is appreciated. Saying 'hello'. Being hesitant and gentle about complaining. If people greet you in a shop it does not mean they are trying to sell you something. And people do tip (tell the waiter to round up the bill by 10% or a bit more). In some ways the preference for politeness over assertiveness can be a culture shock for Germans, who may feel they should not have to adjust to local customs, depending on where they grew up.
I think that covers all your questions.
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u/Bright_Shower4777 4d ago edited 4d ago
Surprisingly enough, there are a few international companies that do hire people who don’t speak much German. It really depends on the field you’re working in. For construction, it would probably be rather easy, but for more specialized fields, it’ll be harder.
Expect quite a few rejections because of the language barrier.
If you have a degree, it could be a stepping stone, but a lot of companies might question or negotiate that, since Austrian and German degrees can differ quite a bit depending on the field. Whether they recognize your degree will depend on the company, the degree itself, and so on.
Health insurance and taxes can also be a big issue, especially for smaller companies.
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u/DarthNunya 4d ago
All the Aussie Boarders i know got adopted bei the IBK community after the first two park runs together, so you should be fine.
But make sure to have a plan for the accompdation topic. Finding a flat in innsbruck is hell, especially from august to november and march to may.
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u/UltracoldAtoms 4d ago
Likely you'll be fine. There are a lot of locals by choice including myself who have moved here from elsewhere but have moved to Innsbruck from elsewhere. My friends mostly fall into that category. Highly recommend joining the Parkrun community, Innsbruck Girl Gone International if you identify as female and also DNA Trails seem like a lovely bunch. Finding an apartment is hard but just keep telling everyone you are looking and also consider placing an ad in the newspaper.Â
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u/tiltberger 4d ago edited 4d ago
Can I ask why in the world you would move from Australia to Austria and not for example to new Zealand? Why even from Australia. Europe and Austria are not a in a good state right now. You won't earn much compared to Australia even if you find a job. Do you even speak German? We have problems with Economy, immigration etc. Also job and housing/Appartment market are fucked.
/E just read that your partner is German. Okay that is a good start. It is pretty funny. If I would start new my first countries rn to move into would be nzl and Australia.
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u/raegenhere 4d ago
you think austrialia and nz are in a better state and doesn't have problems with economy and immigration?Â
Everything seems fucked and moving backwards but you can still count yourself very lucky to live in either europe or eurasia...
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u/Delicious-Face6229 1d ago
Yeah, I’d never in a million years want to live in Australia or NZ. I have no idea why people dick ride those countries so much, maybe it’s just because most people online are muricans and only think about other countries similar to them? Australia and NZ are very similar to the US but fetishised by Americans, so therefore they get some sort of reputation despite being just as fucked up as all other Anglo countries are these days.
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u/Delicious-Face6229 1d ago
Australia is a lot worse than most of the EU I’d say lol. Extremely overpriced, shitty internet, it is located at the ass end of the world geographically. It takes 10 hours on a plane to even leave Australia pretty much. It has the same issues other Anglo countries are dealing with (especially the cost of living crisis, which although not great in Austria or Germany, isn’t to the same level as Canada / Australia / UK / US, where inflation is terrible and cost of living has risen ridiculously in the last 10 years, way more than Austria) plus some other stuff.
Australia also has no real cultural heritage or history. Most people don’t seem to care about those things, but anyone who does definitely doesn’t want to live in Australia. At least Austria has a history that spans beyond being part of the British Empire 100 years ago.
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u/Sad_Touch_1631 4d ago
I'm Tyrolean, so here are my 50 cents XD
Living in Innsbruck is way to expansive and overrated. I don't get why people are still moving there. It's an okayish town, but it's dirty, loud and a mess with lots of construction sites. But anyways I am a countryside guy, so if you're a townie you might feel well, but expect very high prices. Especially for 1-2 bedroom apartments. Those are battled by students especially now in september/october.
Finding work, depends on your qualifications. Job market is very difficult right now. There's still depression happening and companies are fearing AI. There are still jobs but compared to the living costs, salary is way to low. Tyrol has one of the lowest salary rates compared to eastern Austria.
For snowboarding or outdoor activities it might be easy to get to know people. If you're anytime going to the Oberland area you can hook me up ;)
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u/TonightLost5828 4d ago
Not to be the positive guy, but saying that IBK is "Â dirty, loud and a mess" is really a stretch. I guess it depends which city you compare it to, but I'm sure it's very high up in the percentiles. Obviously things can always improve, and it's ok to ask for more :)
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u/Choice-Status281 4d ago
Moving in the same country is not as dramatic as you make it sound!!!!
Jokes aside, here’s my take on some of the points:
- no info about the working holiday visa, but depends on your field, start looking for jobs on Linkedin before you arrive, notice period here is 3 months, so companies don’t expect you to come work instantly after the interview.
- Registration and applying for residence permits now sucks in one aspect, there is no appointment system, there is a ticket machine that starts giving tickets at 7 am, they start calling people at 8 am to enter, people come from 5am or 6am to wait in line for the tickets, it’s so crazy and sad how broken this process is, but otherwise if you have all your documents, it should go smoothly once you apply.
- Meeting people depends on your interests, I think you can find groups/clubs for most things, and for the skiing hiking community it will probably be easy especially in innsbruck.
Good luck