Last year Rachel James quit her corporate job in London, packed a suitcase and booked a one-way ticket to Sydney. She had no job lined up and no fixed plan.

“I went for a fresh start,” said the 26-year-old from Surrey. “To take a risk and try something completely different. The worst case is that there will always be a flight home if it all fails.”

More than one in 10 UK university students now plan to move abroad for better opportunities after graduation. That is up from 7.8% two years ago, according to a survey of 15,000 final-year students.

A study by the Institute of Student Employers (ISE) found that competition for graduate jobs in the UK is at a three-decade high. Employers now receive an average of 140 applications per graduate vacancy. That is a 14% rise from 2025 and far above the 30 applications per vacancy recorded 20 years ago.

Where are they going?

There is no age-specific data on destinations. However, official figures show that Australia remains by far the most popular country for British adults who move abroad.

Australia’s weather and use of the English language are among the reasons cited. Its visa policy is another. Under its Working Holiday Maker programme, British passport holders aged 18 to 35 can live in Australia for up to three years.

Rachel graduated from Loughborough University in 2022 with a degree in English. She had worked for the accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers in the UK. She now works in marketing in Sydney for the gym chain Fitness First.

Her annual salary has fallen from £42,000 to £37,000. She now pays AUD 2,000 (£1,000) a month to rent a two-bedroom apartment with a friend. That is similar to what she paid in London.

Despite having less disposable income, she says she has no regrets. “The weather’s beautiful, even in the winter, and the walks on my doorstep are unmatched.

“People want to leave work at 5pm so they can go and do their hobbies, whether that’s surfing, running, watching the sunset, having a picnic or doing sunset yoga. I didn’t come here with career progression as the focus. It’s more about a different way of life.”

According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), around two-thirds of British nationals who emigrate are aged 16 to 34. The ONS said 75,000 more people in that age group left the UK in 2025 than arrived.

After Australia, the next most popular destination for British adults is the United States.

Charlie West, 25, from Cheshire, moved to the US in 2024. He went for better pay and opportunities in academia after completing a master’s in medieval studies at Oxford University.

West is now two years into a six-year funded PhD at Yale’s Department of Italian Studies, which includes teaching duties.

“I really wanted to do a PhD, but it’s difficult to get funding in the UK, particularly in the humanities. Funded stipends are about £21,000. I would have had to work outside academia at the same time to afford to live.

“In the US I’m paid $51,000 a year (£37,770), and that is about to rise to $52,000. It also comes with a lot more opportunities to teach and travel to conferences.”

The European option

The European Union also remains popular with young Britons looking to move abroad. Visa requirements introduced since Brexit have made the process harder.

One route into the EU job market is to study there. International graduates can apply for a permanent residence permit after their degree ends.

This is the path taken by Owein Iveson, 24, from Sunderland. He is about to graduate from Finland’s Aalto University with a master’s in design.

Iveson says he “fell in love with the country” after first visiting in 2020.

“Finland’s a beautiful country,” he says. “The streets are very clean. It’s a very quiet lifestyle. The nature is fantastic and the public transport works really efficiently.”

He lives in Espoo, a city about 15 minutes by metro from Helsinki, and does not expect to return to the UK any time soon.

“To be honest, the jobs market is not great in Finland, but there is high demand for IT workers. And if you can work across the EU, there are many more opportunities.”

John Kiely, an immigration lawyer and London-based partner at the international law firm Howard Kennedy, says the trend is easy to understand.

“When you combine student debt, high housing costs, relatively weak wage growth and uncertainty about future employment, the willingness to roll the dice somewhere else becomes quite rational.”

Back in Sydney, Rachel says the city offers a better quality of life than London.

“I don’t see life in Sydney as any more expensive than it would be in London, but personally I have found the perks in Sydney better.”