Aussie a la mode for French 20-somethings Parisian Sonia Segura Martins, 27, at work at Le Petit Cafe in Sydney's Coogee, never wants to go home. SONIA Segura Martins feels so at home on Sydney's Coogee Beach, there are moments she could almost be in her own neighbourhood in Paris. Working as an au pair and a waitress at Le Petit Cafe, Ms Segura Martins's main intention for travelling to Australia in March this year was to learn and practise English. It's quite hard to practise English here because there are so many other French people on working holiday visas. I see and meet French people almost every day," Ms Segura Martins said. And it's no surprise. In the first three months of this year, 26,000 French citizens arrived in Australia for a short stay -- that's more than twice the number 10 years ago and a third higher than five years ago. With the unemployment rate in France reaching 10.4 per cent in the first quarter of this year -- the highest level since 1998 -- youth are looking for working opportunities outside of their country. Also the ability to speak English is viewed favourably by European employers. Right now, the economic situation is bad but it's not as bad as Italy or Spain. Some of my friends have gone to Germany and others have gone to England -- they are popular choices -- but all these places are too close to France and they are European," Ms Segura Martins said. I wanted to go to Australia because it's far away and it's exotic. With concerns expressed by the French President, Francois Hollande, over youth unemployment in Europe and messages from German Chancellor Angela Merkel to youth to leave the country, Ms Segura Martins said more and more French citizens would make the decision to relocate -- albeit temporarily. Owner of Le Petit cafe Tarita Botsman said Australia was becoming the fashionable choice for French youth wanting to work and travel. "It was the fashion to go to the US but now it's all about Australia," Ms Botsman said. It's also a lot easier for people to apply for working visas here than it was 20 years ago. I get French people wanting to work for the cafe all the time. Many French arrivals are settling in the eastern suburbs of Sydney and find work in cafes around Bondi or working as au pairs for families with children at Lycee Condorcet, the International French School of Sydney. With a similar spike in the number of working visas granted to citizens of other western European nations -- a 7.3 per cent increase for Italians and 12.3 per cent for Germans -- Ms Segura Martins said she had made many friends from many different nationalities. Everyone's so friendly and I've met so many people. It's winter but it's sunny; people are at the beach, playing sport," she said. I never want to go back.