Continuing in our series of Migrant Tales, first had accounts of the migrant experience of New Zealand taken from places around the net.
Today’s tale was first published on a NZ forum which has since closed down.
The author, a New Zealand resident with advanced IT skills, has lived in the country for almost ten years. With an unease about what it means to be Kiwi, and affected by a severe drop drop in living standards, he doubts that he wants to raise his young children in New Zealand.
It Comes Down To People,Then Dollars Then Cents….
Having lived here now for nearly Ten years I can and often do pass for a kiwi, but that doesn’t make our lives any easier, now with two kids under 5 I ask myself this question: Do you want your children growing up here?
The answer is a resounding no, but arriving at it involved a long hard look at what we had been through to stay here and simply survive.
I arrived here as the country manager for one of the biggest I.T firms in the world, two years into my assignment I was injured in a road accident and then royally screwed by the NZ medical system (see any ACC forum as to how this is legally achieved). They seem to have a way here of vacuuming out the last cent from your pockets before casting you into the gutter from whence you came.
I never really liked it here to be honest, the scenery is in pockets that take lots of driving, the lifestyle is really what you can do for free and if this is godzone (godsown) Kiwi’s must be worshiping the devil.
When I was working full time my salary was mid 200s per year even with that the place was still expensive, now we manage on 52K per year with nothing saved and only the basics met. You do things to survive that suddenly become normal, live op shopping, dumpster diving and heading down to the tip to see what you can salvage and sell on or use yourself.
New Zealand teaches you to be a better thief, scammer and to hate yourself for lowering your standards just to get food on the table. I don’t much like the person I have become having to live here, and my children well I don’t want them growing up kiwi.
Everything people complain about here is true, from the people, the racism to the cost of things, the quality of housing to the wholesale rape of those people on the bottom rung (yes strong words but appropriate). Don’t get really sick here you will be enveloped by a system designed to protect the doctors and you are simple collateral damage.
So we are planning to leave, question is to where? and that is where we are stuck at the moment. My wife and I are both highly qualified in the IT sphere with current skill sets but we are now at the point for a blind jump, a case of anywhere but here. Would like your thoughts on where is good? Visa’s and access to any country in the world is the easy part, the tricky part is not making the same mistake. Thoughts? *note we simply won’t have enough funds to go on fact finding missions, just enough to get out and to live somewhere for six months well.
E2NZ.org 
After living in New Zealand for nearly 8 years now, I thoroughly agree with your observations. We are leaving sometime in the next few months, and we are very happy in our decision not to raise our child in NZ. By the way, my partner is a New Zealander, but he has traveled extensively, and lived for months at a time abroad. He finds is laughable and ultimately sad that people are sold the myth that New Zealand has a high standard of living. It’s actually quite the opposite. We do not struggle financially as my husband is self-employed, but we don’t like having to waste so much money feeding into a system dominated by crooks looking for a quick buck, which is how nearly every business here runs. It’s not true that everything is so expensive because of remoteness and low population. in fact some notoriously expensive goods are produced in New Zealand!
Unfortunately a lot of the negative things that people say are true.
Most kiwis head to Australia which is basically Nz with higher wages and a better climate however the cons are lack of sophistication. However if you want sophistication and culture move to Europe or the Uk where you can earn pounds, travel anywhere in the world really cheaply as its so close to everywhere and healthcare is free. It really helps to have family or close friends wherever you move as well to give you advice when you first arrive. Some people love living in the middle east as there are huge ex-pat communties and its really safe and incomes are tax free, but they might not like the heat and the isolation whereas others thrive. I also know people who have moved to Barbadoes and have maids and live this faboulous lifestyle in the tropics but this is also not everyone’s cup-of-tea. Equally some financial types thrive in large asian cities where money is there for the taking but the downsides are culture-shock, traffic jams and pollution. Many possibilities-remember “Fortune favours the brave”.
Very sorry to hear another story of someone fed up with life down there. I am a Brit who lived in NZ for 7 years and who is now living in Sweden. I highly recommend Sweden to anyone who wants to experience equality and high living standards. Sure you will probably live in a nice apartment rather than a house, but you will have excellent public transportation and of green space and parks for kids helping to make them more independent from you and able to grow up without being ferried everywhere by Mum and Dad. Couple this to good, reliable governance, low income inequality and generally good work-life balance with excellent support systems for new parents I would consider it. Yes, taxes are high, but one gets what one pays for in terms of government services and support. People can seem a little cold and distant but once you get to know them they are genuine unlike Kiwis. IT is in demand profession here and English speakers can definitely get jobs here. I, as someone who couldn’t get a job in NZ due to being “overqualified” am now settled here and my only regret is that my family is partly back in NZ. Thank goodness for Skype, though!