Continuing in our series of Migrant Tales – first hand accounts of the migrant experience of New Zealand, taken from places around the net.

This tale came to us via a link left by one of our readers.

It originally appeared on an NZ emigration forum. The author relocated from the UK  eight years ago and works in IT, his partner is a legal secretary. Unfortunately they both were the victims of assault in New Zealand and we let down by a justice system that allowed a violent offender free to attack again.

He talks about some common problems migrant experience in New Zealand : violence; feeling that they’re taken advantage of financially; not being able to find work; problems with a culture of falsehood, abuse and small mindedness; racism; she’ll be right attitude and being suckered into buying a leaky home.

Perhaps we’re just unlucky but it’s too much
Since moving to NZ we’ve been:

* Assaulted and hospitalised by a young white native NZ’er
* Had our house turned upside down by the IRD
* Had our car broken into within a 5 minute window while popping into a shop
* Been ripped off by an MTA assured garage – MTA would not action a complaint
* Been ripped of by a clueless car valuer (no alternative)
* Been caught in the ‘Leaky homes’ debacle despite having a good quality property
* Worked for some utter bastards – you’re not as friendly as you’d like to have the world believe
* Repeatedly turned down for work despite having a solid I.T. work history and skills
* Openly been called a ‘Pomme Bastard’ in anger
* Had to leave employment because company partners don’t have the balls to deal with two-faced, backstabbing problem employees
* Met too many ‘Christian’ Kiwis who’s behaviours and attitudes are far from ‘Christian’
* Been blatantly mis-represented by the Police, and found them to be liars and self serving
* Found real-estate agents to be generally clueless and have botched the sale of our house for almost a year in total

Generally, Kiwis are small-minded and lack general consideration for other’s property inc. cars, houses etc.

This is just a snapshot of our experience since we moved to NZ from the UK around eight years ago. I have to be honest, we’re done here and won’t be recommending NZ as a place to live.

We’re both over 35 and are as straight as you can get, we don’t drink or do drugs, we work reasonably hard (but not live to work) and care about the quality of service we provide to our respective employers.

Hand on heart, I will say that between the law firms my partner has worked in and the I.T. related positions I’ve held (in Auckland), we’ve seen numerous instances when your peers resent you for ‘caring’ about your work – especially when it unintentionally highlights their poor work ethics.

The IRD overturned our house because my partner worked as a secretary for a law firm here in NZ who it seemed was indulging in unlawful practices (yes – a law firm should know better). These guys are serious too, turning up with police, confiscating mobile phones so you can’t make calls, talking down to you and treating you as criminals when in fact, you’ve done nothing.

Our police involvement was as a result of an assault on me and my partner in broad daylight. With the offender in custody everything was fine until we asked a friend and lawyer to act as our nominated point of contact and then the officer’s attitude changed – becoming frustrated with us on the phone because we wouldn’t agree to diversion for the offender. The police officer refused to correspond with our nominated point of contact, put the phone down
on us and our point of contact and even told the lawyer they didn’t know their job.

Months later, a police complaints inquiry acknowledged mistakes were made but even the inquiry was poorly handled with case files going missing, or case investigators being relocated and ours being shelved until we called to check on progress.

So, the offender is ‘let off’ because the police never took follow-up victim impact statements so there’s no justice and no victim support – and we really needed it! Victim support basically said sorry we can’t help – perhaps see your doctor.

About six months prior to all this I’d already been put on anti-depressants because of work. I’ve taken myself off them now and dealt with all the side effects.

I’m leaving with a few good memories (Overlander, Tongariro Crossing and skiing on Mt Ruapehu) and only a handful of trustworthy friends – some have already left and some are planning to when their financial situations allow it.