Continuing in our series of Migrant Stories: first hand accounts of migrant life in New Zealand, taken from locations around the net.
Todays Tale is taken from a thread on The Straits Times website, in which Singaporeans discuss the current campaign targeting them to come and work in New Zealand. This poster lives in New Zealand and was eager to tell readers that living in a country is very different from visiting it. Most of the issues raised in this post can be found on this forum and our mirror site, links may be found at the end of this page.
“Travelling in NZ versus living in NZ is a totally different experience! Depending on what you do, where you live … it’ll change your opinions about NZ.
Crime rates are getting higher in some cities … all you hear in the news are depressing news like murders, burglaries, assaults etc. Alcohol and drugs are huge concerns here and are major social problems in NZ! Law and order? Number of prisoners reaches new high! http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/number-prisoners-reaches-new-high-3083396
Make sure you are secured with a job if you intend to migrate here under Skilled Migrant Category because it’s very, very hard to find a job here. And of course, not forgetting about the certain degree of racism and discrimination that we have to face here!
Living standards? The proposed increase in GST from 12.5% to 15% will definitely have an impact on living cost. http://www.3news.co.nz/Poll-and-survey-find-majority-against-GST-increase/tabid/419/articleID/141957/Default.aspx
Although health care is free but … unless you need urgent immediate attention otherwise you can join the long queue in the waiting list! Read this article about the recent health cuts. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0908/S00210.htm
For those who have children, your children may feel less stressful studying in NZ but you really have to think thrice if that’s what you want for them! It’s their future you have to consider! Unless you’re very sure that they have self-discipline … Read this article about the chaos created by Otago University students annually and decide if you want to send your children here.http://www.odt.co.nz/on-campus/university-otago/73781/undie-500-chaos-a-student039s-view
Do you think Kiwis are happy here? Read this article about the high suicide rate in NZ. http://www.socialreport.msd.govt.nz/health/suicide.html
We can go on and on and on …
Of course, if you retire here and don’t have to deal with many people then it’s a different story! You probably will enjoy the quiet lifestyle here and the weather (except during the cold winter months) is definitely better than the hot and humid Singapore!
We’ve recently heard of Singaporeans getting as far as the final interview stage for Permanent Residency and being refused. They are turned down for PR and aren’t even offered Work to Residence as a back-up. Bear in mind the high fees involved in the visa application process and it’s understandable why are starting to call the whole thing a ‘scam.’ Read this thread on an immigration forum
“PR VIsa Rejected!!! And not even granted a WTR link”
Please click on Comments for further discussion about this post
For posts tagged
Crime – see links
Jobs for Kiwis –see links
Racism – see links
Healthcare – see links
Suicide rates – see links
“That’s cold – exploding the myths about sub-tropical New Zealand” – link
see also: Transitiong.org: immigration-singaporeans-eyeing-new-zealand
E2NZ.org 
We must’ve missed out when the Kool-Aid was served 🙂
Hey, you are committing the crime of NOT SELLING NEW ZEALAND.
Everyone has to sell New Zealand. Because that is just what you do. You can’t complain about New Zealand. It’s not allowed. Everyone knows it’s the coolest country on Earth.
http://www.newzealand.com/travel/trade/training/training-modules/modules/how-to-sell-new-zealand-1/section-two/common-misconceptions.cfm
Thank you Charlie, the truth ain’t pretty but it has to be told.
So many others are in similar situations to yourself, you’re not alone. You may wish to visit Expatexposed.com
Your comments deserve their own blog post so we’ve taken them and made them into a migrant’s tale.
Thank you!
Thank you for telling the truth about New Zealand!
Before coming here – I was told for six years what a wonderful place this was, how “forward thinking” the government and corporations were, how “progressive” the culture was, and how “friendly” the New Zealand people were.
As a high end IT and Corporate Governance Professional with 24 years of experience, I was tired of the hated in the USA, and after being told for those six years of research that I would be welcome in New Zealand, I packed up my cat and came here.
Well, after almost three years, and being unemployed for the last 16 months, and having lost everything in the world I had – I must admit that I have failed completely.
This has been the single greatest tragedy of my life.
One of many examples: The Electrical Commission (a ministry of government) told a friend of mine that they had just hired (a German), that “we would tolerate a German – but we would NEVER hire an American.” At the time they had 97 jobs open that they could NOT fill with kiwis.
I have been told that the reasons I cannot have a job in New Zealand is:
“You are too over qualified” (this should be the national anthem of New Zealand – as every foreigner I know has heard this over and over again).
“You are a foreigner – we would never hire a foreigner”.
“You are an American – we would never hire an American.”
As for being friendly – I have not had one date with a woman since I arrived here. I have been told repeatedly, and with no hint of regard or regret that: “Yes, we’re kiwi women, we hate American men!”
Corporate management in New Zealand is directly out of the “kindergarten school yard” – I was black listed after two newspaper articles came out on me, asking “why can’t this IT Whiz find a job?”
Gen-i (Telecom) hired me immediately – only to fire me five months later.
I have been told time and time again that Kiwis: “hate, loath, despise, and fear” foreigners – and the higher your level of professional background is the less likely you will every get a job here.
I came here by myself, so I feel so very sorry for the families that came here, believing in that lie of a “quality of life”. There is no “quality of life” here – not even for the kiwis themselves.
I have never seen a people so terrified of “reality”. And I did not think it possible to have an entire culture based on “lying”.
Why? Because you cannot be afraid of reality and tell the truth.
New Zealand is a collective “fantasy world” which – because of fear – is falling backwards through time at an exponential rate: in other words, its dropping like a rock towards the Stone Age.
One of the many shocks I suffered here when I got off the plane in August 2007 was the realization that New Zealand was 25 years behind the rest of the entire world.
And now, barely three years later – it is 35 years behind the rest of the entire world – and no one cares.
I know foreign PhD’s here who came to be part of the “quality of life” and are scrubbing test tubes and mopping floors (based on the fact that actually have real experience in their profession).
I know doctors and executive managers who are driving taxi cabs (based only on the color of their skin).
I know industrial designers who are making beds (based only on the color of their skin).
I know Project Managers who are pressing sheets (based only on the color of their skin).
And always, there is the “rage” – that rage that is barely beneath the surface of all kiwis. It comes from being afraid all the time. It is the only way they can express themselves.
Go to a “Sevens” after party on Courtney Street and you can see it (or after midnight any night). They are going to have a good time – and they do NOT care who they hurt.
And the streets are a sea of broken beer bottles – and we all KNOW not to be out after midnight. That is when what little control the kiwis have over their rage is let loose.
The crime rate here is off the charts, but because that does not sound “good” – it is never reported.
I worked for ten months for one small company here, with 15 employees. Two of them had been attacked by drunken gangs with empty beer bottles (the kiwis’ weapon of choice) on two separate occasions. What are the odds of that?
Over one million kiwis have fled New Zealand. The “best and the brightest” that New Zealand has to offer are gone. So, if the “best and the brightest” are gone – who does that leave behind?
An additional 100,000 kiwis leave every year – those coming up through university, and those who just cannot take the abuse any more.
Again – living in a fantasy world means you can never face “reality” – you can never tell the truth.
I am an aboriginal in my own country, but I never knew bigotry, prejudice, or racism until coming to New Zealand.
To this day, I still get emails from New Zealand Immigration that say things like: “yes, its true that skilled migrants with proper work visas and job are randomly being deported, but that’s no reason for you not to come!”
The new Prime Minister, Mr. Key, made a statement last year about how New Zealand did not have enough “high end professionals” and that was why the corporations were loosing money.
He then went on to say that he would pass a law that would make it easier for high end professionals to “bring their money with them”.
After reading that – I was physically sick for a month. I then wrote to Mr. Key, assuring him that I was already here, was a high end professional, and I needed a job.
I went on to say that I could easily find him all the high end professionals that he needs – they are already here: washing dishes, cleaning toilets, and digging ditches.
Why? Because they have been “blacklisted” by the very corporations that Mr. Key was talking about.
In New Zealand, if you actually know how to do your job, you are considered a threat, and must be removed from sight.
This same story about “not having enough high end professionals” was told back in 2007 after I first got here, and which is why those newspaper stories were done on me. They got me two jobs, and then cost me everything I had.
Please encourage your friends and families to speak out here, and in your own countries. Convince people NOT to come to New Zealand.
Let’s see if we can prevent other innocent people from being hurt and harmed here.
I can speak out now because I know that I have no future here, but those foreigners who are trapped here in dead end jobs with no hope dare not speak out.
Because we all know how vindictive the kiwi is.
Great discussion, thanks for the link. Some astute people questioned why Singapore was being targeted. This post was from “Anyone”:
Ah Saio responded:
But are any of them asking why migrants are still being targeted despite NZ’s unemployment being so high and ‘Kiwi first‘ policies applying to jobs that temporary migrants (ie. those who apply for PR but instead are given WTR) will be applying for? Unemployment in NZ is at 7.3 per cent, nearly 2 per cent higher than Australia. 168,000 Kiwis are now unemployed. Source
The Philippines consul-general in NZ, Emilie Sh, has already cottoned on to what’s happening and openly criticised Immigration New Zealand for not doing enough to warn would-be applicants about the difficulties of finding a job or telling them that Kiwis will be given preference by employers. See Philippines warns citizens about work to residence scheme.
Are migrants, like international students, seen as nothing more than cash cows?
http://theonlinecitizen.com/2010/02/many-singaporeans-want-to-migrate-why/
discussion