Frenchmen Fabian Barau (left), Antoine Kunth and Nathalie Gasdoue in Paris, all plan to leave France to seek their fortune overseas. Picture: Alistair Miller Source: News Limited
EIGHT years ago, it was just an online message board for people in France wanting to swap photos and stories on adventures in Australia.
But at an Australian-themed pub in the heart of Paris, they are now queuing up out the door, literally, for help to migrate to Australia in what last year saw a bigger rise in the number of French nationals going Down Under than those from the UK.
And part of the exodus is to escape France's dire economic woes which one French government minister described this week as a ''bankrupt state''.
''Yes of course we are overwhelmed by the response because it started just with a place for messages on a website but now you can see a lot of French people want to go to Australia, G'Day Sunday organiser Cedric Barusseau said yesterday from the Australian themed Oz Cafe on the busy Rue Saint-Denis.
The latest Department of Immigration figures show 20,086 Working Holiday Maker Visas were granted in the last year, a rise of 8.4 per cent compared with rises to Australia for people from the UK of 7 per cent and 6.4 per cent for Germans.
The latter two nations accounted for more in real numbers but the rise of the French as a percentage was greater.
The rise in working visa for the French is also 50 per cent higher than just five years ago; in the last year the number of French coming to stay is also twice as many as Italians (9600 people) and all the Scandinavian countries put together including Sweden (4772), Denmark (1484) Finland (1181) and Norway (617).
Mr Barusseau said he now holds meeting four times a year and attracts between 400 and 500 people wanting to know about jobs, accommodation and Australians generally.
The meetings are held at an unrelated Aussie bar to give them that first taste from the Aussie bar staff.
Mr Barusseau said he had also now partnered with Etihad airlines and other firms to package the migration process.
Frenchmen Fabian Barau (left), Antoine Kunth and woman Nathalie Gasdoue in Paris. Picture: Alistair Miller
When asked where they were all heading, Mr Barusseau was clear: ''Sydney of course, it'salways Sydney, the Opera House and these things. At the beginning they just want to get to Australia and all they know is Sydney and kangaroos and Uluru and that's all. After, when they take more information, they discover other parts of the country. They go to Sydney first then move about the country to other cities.''
He said despite huge costs of living in Australia and the cost of the visas and economic hardship in France, young people particularly were still willing to travel.
''There is still a lot of different people, but mostly those aged early 20s, perhaps just finished university or taking a break of one year between degree years and a lot of people who simply can't find jobs in France and they think it easier in Australia so want to try.''
University Student Stefany Tapia doesn't know her final destination yet but her and boyfriend Marcial Gras just want to arrive in Sydney and start from there.
Like Elsa Ryan and Virgile Craplet (Craplet), they poured over maps of Australia to see where they could travel and work.
Her visa is for one year but there is an option to extend.
''We just want to go there and see,'' she said.
France's Employment Minister Michael Sapin caused controversy on Wednesday after he described France as bankrupt.
''There is a state but it is a totally bankrupt state that is why we had to put a deficit reduction plan in place and nothing should make us turn away from that objective,'' he said.
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