Tunisia Is Home. Italy Is the Next Step.

I met Mohamed Ali almost by accident.

I was traveling through Djerba, Tunisia, and needed to get into the town center. The owner of my hotel kindly offered to help me. When I got into the car, Mohamed was sitting in the passenger seat.

We talked briefly during the ride, then later reconnected on Instagram and stayed in touch.

When I learned that he was preparing to move from Tunisia to Italy for work, I asked if he would be willing to talk with NomaReina before he left.

Most moving-abroad stories are told once the ending is already known.

This one isn't.

Mohamed is 25 and lives in Djerba, an island off the coast of Tunisia. He works as an electrician, installing safety systems in buildings.

Now, he is preparing to leave for a professional opportunity in Italy.

But the idea of leaving Tunisia started before this particular job appeared.

“I started seriously thinking about leaving Tunisia and looking for opportunities abroad when I realized that, even though I was working day and night, my salary was still too low to afford the things I wanted and needed,” he told me.

Eventually, an opportunity came through Italy.

It was the first job opportunity he received abroad, but the offer came with more than employment. Mohamed would also receive training and the chance to study Italian as he prepared for the move.

“My goal is to have a better standard of living, develop my career, and build a stable future,” he said.

But when Mohamed talks about stability, he is not only talking about himself.

A better life means being able to help his family

Leaving Tunisia is complicated because Tunisia is still home.

“It’s not easy because Tunisia is my country, and my family and friends are there,” Mohamed said. “But I want to be able to support my family financially and give them a better life.”

When I asked what a “better life” or stability actually meant to him, his answer was practical.

Good work. Independence. Time for himself and his family. Being able to afford what he needs and what his family needs in everyday life.

Mohamed described salaries in Tunisia as often being difficult to stretch through the end of the month, particularly when someone has a family to support.

That is his perspective and experience, rather than a claim about every worker in Tunisia, but it is central to understanding why this move matters to him.

Moving abroad is not only something he hopes will improve his own life. Part of the goal is being in a stronger position to support the people who remain at home.

His parents understand that.

When Mohamed told them about the opportunity in Italy, their support came with one major concern: that he do it properly.

“My parents told me that as long as my move is legal, my job is legal, and there are no problems, they would support me,” he said.

“They saw it as a good experience for me to have in life.”

That emphasis on moving legally comes up repeatedly when Mohamed talks about leaving Tunisia. It is part of the advice his parents gave him, part of the route he is taking himself, and one of the first things he tells other people considering a move abroad.

His route to Italy started with a CV

Mohamed's path abroad did not begin with a remote job, an online business, or buying a plane ticket and hoping something worked out after he arrived.

He started locally.

“I submitted my CV and certificates to the local employment office,” he explained. “Whenever there are job opportunities abroad, they contact you and arrange a job interview.”

Eventually, he was selected for an opportunity in Italy.

Mohamed said the International Organization for Migration then provided training for the selected candidates, including training related to their fields and Italian language lessons.

He has since reached A1 level in Italian.

For now, he is waiting for the employer's approval before the next stage of the move.

That waiting period is part of this story too.

There is a tendency to talk about moving abroad as a single decision: you decide to leave, and then you leave.

In reality, there can be months of applications, interviews, documents, language classes, approvals, and waiting between those two points.

Mohamed is somewhere in that space now.

He has made the decision.

The life on the other side has not started yet.

Why Italy?

Italy was the first professional opportunity Mohamed received abroad, but he was also drawn to the country itself.

“I like the country, its culture, and its way of life,” he said. “I hope to find good professional opportunities and become more independent.”

He hopes the move will give him more confidence in planning his future.

It will also require learning another language.

Mohamed already speaks Tunisian Arabic, French, and English. Italian will be another language to add, but it is also the one he expects to need for his job and everyday life.

That makes it one of the things he is most nervous about.

“I still don’t speak Italian very well, so I might have some difficulties at first communicating with people and with my colleagues at work.”

It is a small detail that says a lot about what moving abroad actually requires.

You do not simply arrive in another country.

You have to work there. Understand instructions. Ask questions. Meet coworkers. Make mistakes. Solve problems. Handle an ordinary Tuesday in a language you are still learning.

For Mohamed, the professional opportunity and the language challenge come together.

The hardest part may have nothing to do with work

When I asked Mohamed what he expected to be hardest about living abroad, his answer was not paperwork or the job.

It was being away from his family.

When I asked what he would miss most about Tunisia, he expanded on that.

“Definitely my family, my friends, and the atmosphere of Tunisia and the feeling of being at home.”

But there is another fear beneath that one.

When I asked Mohamed what he was most afraid of losing by moving away from Tunisia, his answer surprised me.

It is an uncomfortable possibility built into some decisions to leave home.

What happens if the new place gives you something the old one couldn't?

What happens to the way you remember home?

What happens when love for a place exists alongside frustration with the limitations of living there?

Mohamed does not know yet.

But he is already thinking about it.

His other fear is more immediate.

“I’m also afraid of losing a family member while I’m away and not being able to see them one last time.”

That is a different kind of cost.

Career opportunities can be compared. Salaries can be compared. Documents can be prepared. Languages can be studied.

No spreadsheet makes missing something important at home feel manageable.

The feeling of being at home is harder to prepare for than a visa or a language class.

You can organize documents. You can study Italian. You can learn a new commute.

It is harder to recreate the familiarity of living somewhere where the language, people, routines, food, humor, streets, and everyday rhythms already belong to your life.

Mohamed is not describing Tunisia as somewhere he wants to escape.

He is talking about a place he loves and a future he hopes may require leaving it.

Both things can be true.

“Tunisia is more than just a tourist destination”

When I asked Mohamed what he wished more people understood about Tunisia, he brought up something that comes up often on NomaReina: the difference between visiting a place and living there.

“Tunisia is more than just a tourist destination,” he said.

“I think people sometimes only see the tourist side and don’t know enough about everyday life and our culture.”

Djerba itself attracts international visitors.

I was one of them when I met Mohamed.

But the version of Tunisia I encountered as a traveler and the version Mohamed experiences as someone trying to build a career and future there are not the same thing.

The beaches are real. The hotels are real.

So are salaries, jobs, families, bills, friendships, responsibilities, and the ordinary calculations people make when deciding what kind of future feels possible.

The postcard is real.

So is everything behind it.

Why Mohamed thinks so many young Tunisians look abroad

Mohamed believes the desire to leave Tunisia is common among people his age.

“If you stopped almost any young person in the street and asked them about their dreams, one of the first things they would probably tell you is that they want to leave the country.”

That is Mohamed’s observation, not a statistic about all young Tunisians.

His explanation for it is straightforward: opportunity.

“I think many young Tunisians feel that moving abroad can give them more opportunities, especially professionally.”

His own route reflects that.

He is not planning to arrive in Europe and figure everything out after he gets there. His move is tied to a specific job opportunity in a skilled trade he already works in.

He already has a profession.

He already has experience.

The move is supposed to build on that foundation.

His advice is not “just go”

When I asked Mohamed what advice he would give someone who wanted to move abroad, he did not tell them to be fearless or follow their dreams.

He told them to prepare.

“My advice to anyone who wants to move abroad is to have a qualification or a diploma in a specific field and some experience in that field.”

Then he added what he considered most important:

“Make sure that you move abroad legally and have all the necessary documents.”

It is a much less glamorous version of moving abroad than the one that usually performs well online.

Get qualified. Get experience. Make sure the paperwork is right. Then go.

There are plenty of ways people create lives abroad. Remote work is one. Studying is another. Family, entrepreneurship, seasonal work, teaching, and skilled employment can all become different routes depending on the person and the country.

Mohamed’s route starts with a trade.

That matters because mobility does not have one job title attached to it.

What he hopes the next five years look like

Five years from now, Mohamed hopes Italy feels much less unfamiliar than it does today.

He wants a stable career with more experience and responsibility in his field.

He wants to speak Italian fluently.

He wants to feel integrated.

And he wants to have built a comfortable, independent life.

Whether Italy ultimately gives him everything he currently imagines is something neither of us knows yet.

That uncertainty is exactly why I wanted to document his story now.

Most moving-abroad stories are told backward.

Someone leaves. Time passes. Eventually the experience gets turned into a lesson.

It was the best thing they ever did.

It was harder than expected.

They came home.

They stayed.

They wish they had done it sooner.

But the ending inevitably changes the way the beginning gets remembered.

Mohamed is still standing at the beginning.

Right now, he knows what he hopes to gain: a stronger career, greater independence, financial stability, and the ability to help his family.

He also knows what he expects to miss: his family, his friends, and the familiarity of home.

And now there is another question sitting underneath all of that.

What happens if leaving changes how home feels?

The rest has not happened yet.

And that may be the most useful part of documenting it.