Migrant Stories – Making Ends Meet

Continuing our series of Migrant Stories. This well written post was published on an on-line immigration support forum. It’s a not unusual example of how many skilled migrants from Western countries (in this case Britain) find life in New Zealand’s low wage/high house price economy a struggle, despite their very best efforts they cannot find…

Migrant Stories – Skilled Migrants Must Drive Taxis To Survive

We’ve heard it many times – migrants have qualifications approved to gain permanent residency and then find NZ employers won’t employ them because they won’t recognise those same qualifications. It’s madness, or perhaps xenophobic protectionism. Here’s an article by David Kemeys in The (North) Shore Times to demonstrate the problem. Mehmet Mohammed has problems. He’s…

Migrant Stories – What They Wished They’d Known

The question asked on one site was “Name one thing you wish you’d known about BEFORE you moved to NZ“. Most responses covered the familiar issues of poor quality/damp houses, how expensive some things are, how cold it is, foodstuffs, dogs and access to the countryside, plus a number relating to a serious issue that…