I came to Australia as an international student from India and worked four jobs to survive. It’s unfair to blame me for the housing crisis

An engineer who came to Australia as an international student says it’s unfair to blame people like him for the housing crisis.

Joel Coelho came to Australia from India a decade ago, aged 17, to study engineering at the University of Wollongong, south of Sydney.

The 28-year-old mechanical maintenance engineer, originally from Mumbai, said Australia’s rental vacancy crisis was more complex than blaming international students.

‘The housing crisis is much more than just international students, personally,’ he told Daily Mail Australia. 

‘International students, from my personal experience, they do get the short end of the stick just because of the circumstances they’re in.

‘They don’t really have much opportunities or as many options as other people do.’ 

International students are only allowed to work up to 24 hours a week, which means many of them are working casual jobs without the employment security that provides higher hourly rates.

‘I won’t lie, it was pretty tough financially coming here as an international student,’ he said.

An engineer who came to Australia as an international student says it’s unfair to blame people like him for the housing crisis

Mr Coelho said his parents saved up $50,000 for him to move to Australia in 2014, the week he turned 18. 

He then worked four jobs to survive, including delivering Uber Eats and working at a restaurant. 

‘At one time, I was working up to four part-time jobs to make ends meet, and living pretty frugally,’ he said.

‘I had multiple casual jobs. As you come into the country, you have to show you have enough funds to sustain yourself.’

Mr Coelho’s comments about international students and housing come after Education Minister Jason Clare has flagged a plan to cap annual international student visa numbers at 270,000 in 2025.

The country’s national rental vacancy rate still ultra-tight at 1.3 per cent. 

Why I came to regional Australia to live and work 

Mr Coelho has worked at BlueScope Steel in Wollongong since graduating in 2018. He is now a mechanical engineer in charge of supervising blast furnaces that melt metallurgical coal and iron ore at 2,000 degrees Celsius to make steel.

For him, Australia offered a better life than India and he hopes to have children and raise a family in Wollongong.

‘It was definitely the lifestyle, having the work-life balance,’ he said. 

Joel Coelho came to Australia from India a decade ago, aged 17, to study engineering at the University of Wollongong south of Sydney

‘Now that I’ve lived in Australia for the last 10 years, I can actually see the decision that I’ve made where that’s led me to.’

Mr Coelho is in Australia on a five-year 419 skilled visa enabling him to live and work in a regional area, and is hoping to ultimately get permanent residency.

The young man is an example of skilled migrants helping Wollongong maintain its steelmaking capacity, with Newcastle’s old BHP plant retired in 1999.

‘I’m quite proud to say that I work in steel manufacturing plant,’ he said.

‘It is made locally and it’s one of the only ones in Australia that are around – local manufacturing is definitely something that I’m proud of.’ 

Wealth lesson

He now has $175,000 in shares, through investing in exchange-trade funds (better known as ETFs) that are linked to the indexes of share markets in Australia, the United States, Japan, India and China, preferring them to shares.

His journey started with $1,000 in shares in Western Australian mining services group MACA, which Thiess Group now owns, and top ups every few months. 

‘You just buy the whole basket of eggs so if, for whatever reason, any of those companies in my basket was to suffer or go bankrupt, it wouldn’t affect my portfolio as such because I have other shares in my ETF that would cover that cost,’ he said.

The 28-year-old mechanical engineer, originally from Mumbai , said Australia’s rental vacancy crisis was more complex than blaming international students

The investor did a course with Paridhi Jain’s SkilledSmart group, in 2020, on the fundamentals of investment and the importance of boosting superannuation.

‘It definitely gives you an understanding or a brief idea of what investing is and how it can be beneficial.’

Mr Coelho is hoping to build his portfolio so he can retire from engineering when he’s 45 and become a financial counsellor.

‘I believe, based on my current investment, that my number at the moment is 45 – always working to bring it back if possible but if things change, that number is flexible,’ he said.

‘When I say retire early, I think in context it is to do things that I enjoy doing and it is to help other people with their finances so I’d love to retire early and then start my own business as a financial consultant or work in financial counselling to help support other people through their finances.

‘I wouldn’t be doing it necessarily for the money.

‘If I’m financially independent, then I don’t have to worry about a pay cheque.’ 

The renter is also aiming to save up $180,000 within the next two years so he has enough for a 20 per cent mortgage deposit to buy an apartment in Wollongong. 

‘I haven’t got a concrete plan yet but I would love to buy a place in Wollongong and live in it so I have a home, a place to call home,’ he said.

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