As the transnational movement of academics continues to increase, some are arguing it is time to look more closely at the challenges faced by new international academic staff. This article reports on a narrative research study exploring the experiences and perceptions of eight international academic staff at a large, research‐intensive university in Australia. The findings suggest that the difficulties faced by the participants were resolved over time, albeit at great personal cost, and with varying costs to the institution in terms of the quality of teaching, student learning and research. The implications of these findings for academic developers are briefly considered.