GUEST COMMENT: I am a buyside junior and I want to work in Sydney or New York

If you do not move now whilst you can, when are you going to move, when you have a wife and kids?! I worked in New York for a while and would highly recommend it, one of the best cities in the world to live and work, you will end up spending all of your wages++ although you'll have stories to match. I would agree with the other commentators in that you are best to try and move with a company or job already sorted as the visa issue is going to be a real problem, but do not buy into the 'keep your job in this climate argument', haven't stock markets been booming for 2 years now? If you are serious about doing it, make it happen. As for Australia, another fantastic place, great lifestyle, booming economy and a massively overrated beach at Bondi (my wife is Oz). Whichever one you choose you can't go wrong, enjoy!

Here are a few tips that I've used myself in the same situation over the last ten years...I've lived and worked in both NYC and Sydney amongst others.
Firstly - If you have your heart set on moving, just do it - nothing worse than having regrets, but do it in an intelligent way. Sort out what kind of life you want. Australia has more work/life balance. But in both cities it takes time to get a position
1. Decide on where you want to go
2. Sort out the visa's yourself: if US take the lottery approach (while hoping for an employer transfer) and apply for the online green card - http://www.dvlottery.state.... if it's Australia, apply for the skilled migration visa (permanent residency). The benefit of this is you go on your own steam, you're entitled to look for jobs like a local, indefinite stay and leads to citizenship. If you're under 28, have a degree and work experience (3 from the last 4 yrs) related to a skilled occupation of 55-60 points...then you should be able to get it. Prepare to cough up around 3k though in the process.
http://www.immi.gov.au/skil...
3. Get on a plane and do it. Nobody really wants to hear from you when you're abroad.

Moved from sell side in Hong Kong to Sydney for family reasons. I didn't have a job and getting anyone to take international experience seriously was hard, even with a blue chip Asian client base. Sydney is ultra parochial, far away from anywhere and has a few chips on each shoulder. Get a job first or you could spend months just trying to get in the door let alone get an interview. Once you're here and working though, you wonder why you didn't do it sooner. No regrets...

I agree with "Reality" and "someone". Basically, it depends on what you really want. If you are prepared to work as a waiter or a dishwasher if necessary, then go for it and I am pretty sure at the end you will not end up as a waiter. One memorable quote: "When you are young, the greatest risk of all is: Not to take any risk"

If you want to move to NYC, try finding a job at an American company's London office, with some management responsibility. After a year or so, you can get an intra-company transfer visa (L1-A) for a job in the US headquarters. With an L1-A visa, it's relatively easy to get a green card (I got mine in less than a year, although that was before 9/11) and you will then be able to switch to other employers. Other work visa, like H1's, are hard to get by in the current climate in the US, with 9.6% unemployment. Also, you are completely dependent on your employer with an H1. If you lose your job, you have to leave almost immediately.