What's It REALLY Like To Live In New Zealand?

What’s it really like to live in New Zealand?


Welcome to our series of Migrant Tales – chapters of immigrant’s stories and tales about  New Zealand that contain  first hand accounts of the migrant experience gathered various places around the net and some that have been sent in by readers.

What better way to find out what it’s like to live in New Zealand but from the experiences of others, the more you read the more you’ll see themes, patterns and commonalities emerging, from these you’ll have a good feel about how you’re going to fit-in to the country.

Some of the recurrent themes we’re seeing are

• Low salaries
• Problems finding work
• Xenophobia, racism, bigotry and discrimination
• Expensive, poor quality accommodation
• Problems with the education standards
• Feeling that NZ is actively mis-sold to outsiders
• Isolation, missing family, friends, old lifestyles etc.
• Crime
• High cost of living -especially food, “Rip off NZ” etc.
• Lack of culture
• Dangerous roads and drivers, drinking and driving, hoons
• No future for kids
• The ‘Kiwi way’, ‘WWINZ’ (won’t work in NZ) small mindedness, #8 wire mentallity, etc.

Use these tales as a starting off point for your own research as you endeavour to look behind the hype and discover what living in New Zealand is really like.

If you’ve already emigrated to New Zealand these tales may help you to realise that other people are having the same problems as you and you’re not alone in your experiences.

To read the stories look at the links under the tab “Migrant Tales.” on our Wordpress blog  There are now 6 chapters to chose from, with over 60 tales.

Here is a small selection. There is also another section called “What Kiwis say about NZ“ that you may find useful:

A Selection of Migrant Tales

UK qualified plumbers, beware
"God this is a mess" - Welcome to New Zealand
Non white Kiwi treated like immigrant in own country
Renting houses in NZ – a manual
Another work to resident visa issued from Shanghai
Effects of Christchurch quakes on expats
No Science or Skills Shortage in New Zealand
Trapped in NZ – father won’t let child leave
If you doubt discrimination in NZ read this…
Close minded Kiwis ruined NZ for us
100% Pure Rip Off
An American’s take on rip-off New Zealand
Studying in New Zealand
6 Years in, Stay or Go?
Two and a half years in New Zealand – NZ like South Dakota
What’s it REALLY like in New Zealand?
Heading home after 3 years
No work in Blenheim, moved to Christchurch
Education
New Zealand is like a postcard – “no sense of history or magic here”
7 months in and no work for tradesman husband
Three weeks in. An American’s first impressions of New Zealand
Teacher duped by the hype, couldn’t find work
Refuge from NZ found in a Muslim country
Why are people leaving NZ?
Economic suicide
UK qualifications not recognised
What we wished we’d known
NZ a more dangerous, more violent place
We chose to go with New Zealand. BIG MISTAKE
NZ without a job offer

Lastly, don’t forget to read the pages “What Kiwis say about NZ“

This post was originally published on our Wordpress site
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