I thought the Australian visa process would be the easiest part of leaving

Watching the loading screen for the visa application

I remember sitting in my room, staring at the screen for what felt like hours. Everyone told me that applying for an Australian Working Holiday visa was simple—basically just filling in some forms and paying a fee. But when you are actually doing it, the cursor blinking on the screen feels incredibly judgmental. I paid the 650 AUD fee, which felt like a massive chunk of money at the time, and then just waited. The website was slow, and I kept refreshing it, wondering if I had clicked the wrong box somewhere. It wasn’t the logistical complexity that got to me, but the silence after clicking submit. I had heard stories about people getting approved in a few days, but mine just sat there, stuck in ‘received’ status for what felt like a lifetime.

Trying to find help online

I started searching for forums and groups to see if other people were experiencing the same delay. There were so many people posting about waiting for weeks, and some people were suggesting that the age limit changes had flooded the system with new applicants. I checked my email about thirty times a day, even though I knew the system wouldn’t send me a notification that fast. I looked into some local agencies like ALS, but then I felt stupid for even considering it. Why pay an agency when the process is technically something you can do yourself? Still, the doubt creeps in. I kept thinking, maybe if I had done it through a professional, I wouldn’t be staring at this static webpage wondering if my passport scan was clear enough or if the system glitched out.

The reality of living and working abroad

Reading about how many people are now combining travel with work in Queensland—about 25% of holidaymakers, apparently—made me feel less alone, but also more anxious. It felt like everyone was already there, running marathons in Gold Coast or picking fruits, while I was still trapped in my room back home. It is weird how these statistics make you feel like you are behind on a race that hasn’t even started yet. I saw news about Korean spending in Queensland hitting record highs, and I just kept thinking about my bank account balance. I had saved up about 5,000 AUD as a safety net, but every delay in the visa process made me feel like that money was slowly evaporating before I even left the country.

The quiet frustration of being stuck

My friends kept asking if I had heard back yet, and I started lying and saying it was ‘under review’ even when it clearly wasn’t changing at all. There is this weird social pressure to make the whole ‘living abroad’ thing look smooth and exciting from day one. In reality, it is mostly just bureaucracy and nervous waiting. I even looked up information on Japan’s e-visa and Canada’s programs just to distract myself, but that only made me feel more scattered. I had already committed to the Australian plan, so looking at other countries was just a waste of time, really.

Was it worth the stress?

Eventually, the grant email arrived, but it didn’t feel like the grand moment of relief I expected. It was just a PDF attachment in a standard-looking email. I had spent so much energy worrying about it that by the time it was done, I was just tired. Looking back, the delay wasn’t even that long in the grand scheme of things, maybe two or three weeks total, but in that moment, it felt like my entire life was on hold. I still haven’t booked my flight because the prices keep fluctuating, and now I am back to the same cycle of anxiety, checking flight prices and wondering if I should just book something random and deal with the consequences later. It feels like the planning phase is just a long, exhausting string of decisions that never really end.