A change in Australian visa regulations provides an extra incentive for Irish visitors to stay on and make a life down under, writes Rachel Dugan.

When Carmel Sheehy packed her rucksack for Australia in early 2003, it was with the intention of getting away from her high-pressured career in catering and experiencing all that the land of Sheilas and surfing has to offer.

"I came here to not to do any chefing," she recalls. "To have a break from it and have some fun."

Things didn't quite work out that way. Within a few months of touching down in Australia, Sheehy found herself donning her chef's uniform and stepping into the kitchen of Shenanigans Irish Bar in Darwin. The initial intention was only to help out for a couple of weeks before continuing with her exploration of life down under. Three years have passed, however, and 26-year-old Sheehy is now head chef at the popular eaterie.

Her story is not unique. Last year, more than 12,000 Irish mammies tearfully waved off sons and daughters as they headed off across the world for a year free from responsibilities and routine, often as a reward for hard-earned exam results. A treat to be enjoyed before real life and a career began to take hold.

A percentage of those waved off do not return once their year of fun has ended. The lure of barbies on the beach, six months of sun a year and a lifestyle that doesn't have to revolve around the local watering hole often prove too much. Each year, many young Irish people succeed in extending their visas by way of sponsorship from Australian employers hungry for highly skilled workers. Meet the accidental emigrants.

Irish nationals who travel to Australia for their gap year generally do so by way of the reciprocal Working Holiday Maker Scheme, which was formulated as a means of enabling under-30s to take an extended trip to another participating country, funded by casual employment picked up along the way. The casual nature of this employment has until now been ensured by restricting its duration to three months per job, placing more highly skilled or long-term positions out of reach, but the Irish down under with visas issued after July 1st this year will be able to rethink their work situation, as the three months visa has officially been extended to six.

BRIAN DOWLING, WHO works with Visa First, a company which helps Irish people negotiate the paper trail often associated with visa applications, foresees this change in visa restrictions increasing the numbers securing sponsorship and, by extension, the instances of accidental emigration. "This change will certainly feed through to sponsorship," he says, "and that, in turn, will feed through to migration."

While admitting that the word about this particular relaxation of work restrictions has proved slow in filtering through, Dowling says his company has had a lot more inquiries since November of last year when the Australian government announced details of how to acquire a tempting second Working Holiday Visa.

You only have to walk around Sydney's Irish enclave in King's Cross for a few minutes before you will hear some poor Irish guy or girl lamenting the imminent end of their visa and wishing they could start all over again. Now that is possible. Since November, any working holidaymaker who spends three months of their sojourn down under involved in seasonal harvest work in rural regions becomes eligible for a second working holiday visa.

Seasonal harvesting work has always attracted a large number out of the cities and into the orchards and fruit fields of rural Australia. Being restricted to staying with one employer for only three months has seen highly skilled Irish people taking up positions they wouldn't consider at home. Fruit-picking, bar-tending, waiting and call-centre work are all part of the Oz experience.

This is set to change though, with the new visas allowing visitors to commit to any prospective employer for a much more agreeable six months.

Sean Brown, from Moycullen in Co Galway, is leading an idyllic life on the Gold Coast and working in his chosen profession of electronic engineering. He thinks the new terms of the popular one-year Working Holiday Visa will give the young Irish he sees hanging out in Irish bars a much better choice when it comes to jobs.

"I think this is probably going to mean that people get taken on for better jobs," says Brown (26). "Before, it was more difficult to get a skilled job, when you could only commit to three months."

But Brown, like the Darwin-based Sheehy, is now sponsored by an Australian employer, even though this was not something either of them had planned as part of their Australian experience. Like many young Irish arriving in the southern hemisphere, Brown was without any definite aims and, in keeping with the spirit of a year off, had decided to take each day as it came. More than two years later he is firmly ensconced in his Byron Bay home but is at pains to stress that this was not something he had expected.

So why are so many young Irish forgetting to come home, and how exactly does a year down under become a job, a career, a life? Lifestyle is the answer that is continually offered as an explanation for this inability to board that flight home. Brown relates how well he has integrated into the Oz way of life. Surfing and scuba-diving are his two main pastimes, and it's easy to imagine that if he was still at home in Galway, it would be hurling and soccer.

"There are about 10 beaches you can go surfing on near here," he says casually. "You know, depending on the weather. And there's a really good dive site about two miles from where I am living."

In contrast to those who emigrated to the US in the gloomy 1980s, work does not seem to be an overly important factor. Neither Brown nor Sheehy believes they would have difficulty finding work in Ireland, nor do they consider themselves better off financially in Australia. But Sheehy thinks it is easier to ascend the career ladder in Australia, where she has risen to head chef without being left gasping for breath.

"I am just so happy with work," she says. "If you are willing to work you can really get somewhere. It happens in gradual promotions, and it's really quite easy to move up the ladder, which keeps the work interesting too."

It is widely acknowledged that Australia is experiencing a skilled labour shortage and it would appear that plenty is being done to remedy the situation.

Jeremy Mitchell, at the Australian High Commission in London, admits that his country is actively seeking people in key skilled areas, such as trades or the medical profession, but is adamant that the recent change to the working visa is not part of that particular drive.

"An increase in sponsorship may be a consequence," he concedes, "but it's not intentional."

Intentional or not, being afforded three extra months to make an impression on a prospective employer, and the chance to work in a more responsible and less transitory position, will surely increase sponsorship.

The Australian High Commission expects the majority of working holidaymakers to spend most of their time having fun and travelling, but the reality may be very different.

Home still retains a strong pull for those who have unintentionally found themselves living thousands of miles away on the other side of the world. But the question of their departure from Australia is approached in the same unplanned manner as their arrival there.

"My mum's always at me to come home," says Brown, before stressing that staying in Australia is not a long-term option. He speaks vaguely about returning to Ireland in the next year or so. "I just take every day here as it comes."

His is one of many Irish mammies hoping that one of those days will bring him home.