My country doesn't want me back

Two years ago, when I decided to move to Japan temporarily to improve my Japanese and gain some first work experience, I didn't really prepare for my return just yet. I read up on the possibility that I may not be able to reintegrate into the social system, but I didn't care very much, because I knew that it wouldn't have an impact on my decision to move abroad. „I'll cope“ I thought.

When you open a newspaper or business magazine, chances are you'll see Austrian politicians and business people rave on about the beauty of overseas experience. „We want our young people to boldly venture to new shores, pick up lots of useful skills and then come back to put them to good use in their home country,“ seemed to be the general consensus. Little did I know the system didn't agree.

Led by the false belief that moving abroad temporarily would be a good move, I didn't seek employment in Austria after graduation, but invested all my resources into finding a job in Japan ASAP. I found an excellent opportunity in the Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme and my time abroad turned out everything I and all those enthusiastic Austrian politicians would have wanted it to be. I am now somewhat fluent in Japanese and have gained a lot of insight, flexibility and adaptability, which the international job market seemed so desperately to be in need of.

I enjoyed my time in Japan, but for me it was always clear that I wanted to go back home after two years or so and move on to something else. I started planning my return well in advance – six months in fact – and as my repatriation is drawing closer and closer, I am still none the wiser.

I have been actively looking for jobs in Austria for months and in general, the situation looks more promising than I thought. Still, I know that there may be a couple of months that I will be without a job, as jobs in my field are hard to find. Should something happen to me within these few months, I don't want to be showered in medical bills.

Insurance in Austria is compulsory. Your employer is obliged under law to enroll you into public health insurance. If you should find yourself unemployed for whatever reason, you are enrolled into public health insurance as soon as you file for unemployment. University students have the option to get cheap insurance via their parents; there are options for the self-employed, the part-timer, the stay-at-home-mum, the refugee, the immigrant – you name it. „So why wouldn't there be an option for the repatriate?“ I thought and phoned the employment centre. They informed me that I couldn't get insurance because I hadn't been working in Austria full-time for 18 months at a time and there was no bilateral agreement with Japan which recognised work in Japan.

„Fair enough“, I thought, „I'll just get my own insurance“ and phoned the public health insurance bureau.

„Can do,“ they said. „But since you haven't been working in Austria in the past two years, you'll have to wait for six months for your insurance to come into effect“. This means I will pay €70 a month into the system and should I get ill within the first six months, I will be just as fucked.

They suggested I ring the welfare department to find out if I could apply for public welfare.

So I did. The guy on the other end didn't get me any info at all. He suggested I get a random part-time job – that would allow me to apply for insurance right away. This seems like a splendid idea if you happen to have an uncle who runs his own business and can pretend to be employing you for a couple of months. If you don't – finding a random part-time job while you're still abroad is just as time-consuming as finding a real job while you're still abroad – and, as far as I'm concerned, I'd rather focus on the latter.

Then a loophole appeared! Since I'm under 27, my graduation lies less than 2 years back and my employment in Japan doesn't count as employment, maybe I can get insurance as a dependent via my parents! But before they could confirm it, the office wanted some documents. So I sent a bunch of documents from Japan to Austria and got my dad to run to the public insurance office in his spare time yet again. Once that was done, the same people who had informed him about the loophole a month ago, told my dad that it wasn't possible to get insurance this way after all - because I had been „employed“ in Japan.

Now this completely blew my mind! The employment centre denies me insurance because my employment in Japan doesn't count as employment, the insurance agency denies me insurance because my employment in Japan DOES count as employment.

I am now looking into private insurance. I do not want to file for welfare, because, frankly, I don't need the money (just yet). As such I don't want to take benefits away from people who are entitled to them. All I want is not to be strangled by medical bills at some point during my repatriation, which is a kind of insurance a modern European state should supposedly provide for its citizens – well, nope. If you decide to leave, you can stay right where you are, because Austria sure as hell doesn't want you back. All this „we want returnees to put their news skills to use in their homeland“-crap is uttered just for the sake of the media and to make the country look more international. Everyone deciding to move abroad should be aware of this – don't expect your country to welcome you back with open arms.

I don't regret having gone off to work abroad and I treasure every second I spent in Japan. My decision to move back to Austria wasn't made for financial reasons or because I thought I would find a better job back home. I made the decision for purely personal reasons – because I have a fantastic support network back in „my“ country, fantastic friends and a fantastic family that will always be my home and because I know that on a personal level, all of this is worth investing in. I am aware that things could be much worse. However, maybe those Austrians who are in the whole expatriation thing for the money or the benefits should just take the hint and stay where they are. Returning isn't worth the hassle.