I have been here since 2007 August and after six years of being told "how welcome I would be, how desperately my skills were needed here, and that there was so much work to do I would be employed forever"....I moved myself and my cat here.
The abuse started the moment I got off the plane, and now 2.5 years later, I have been financially destroyed (I have not had a job here in 12 months), emotionally destroyed (I even had to find homes for my cats as I could no longer take care of them), I have not had a date with a woman since I got here (women here hate foreigners), and almost everything that I brought with me I have been forced to throw away, give away, or sell for nothing.
Last time I checked there were almost 100 jobs with the government that they could not fill because they could find no Kiwis who were qualified, and yet I could not have any of these jobs because "I am too over qualified" / "I am a foreigner" - we would NEVER hire a foreigner / "I am an American" - we would NEVER hire an American - this from the Electrical Commission, a New Zealand Ministry.
There is a HUGE underground of under-employed or unemployed highly skilled migrants who's only dream now is of escaping New Zealand. They are "frozen" out of their professions in New Zealand because they have committed the unforgivable sin of "knowing how to do their job!"
I never knew racism, bigotry, or prejustice until I came to New Zealand, which was 20 years behind the rest of the entire world in 2007. Now, barely three years later New Zealand is 30 years behind the rest of the entire world - a Third World country very quickly heading backwards into the Stone Age.
I have finally admitted defeat - all my life I was "Mr. Positive". I was the guy who could get the job done, and do it with a smile on my face, keeping everyone laughing, while doing a brilliant job - always under budget and ahead of schedule.
I don't smile or laugh much anymore.
I used to pride myself on the fact that I could get along with anybody. But Kiwis have stopped me cold. They seem to be entirely different from any other culture I have ever encountered. "Fantasy" is their way of life (the rest of us would calling it "lying").
I am only one of 400 people in the entire world with the levels of experience, expertise, qualifications, knowledge (etc., etc., blah, blah, blah) in IT, Corporate Governance, Service Management - I was told how invaluable I would be in New Zealand. And because of my knowledge and years of real life experience - I have been treated like filth every single day since arriving in New Zealand.
Lying is so embedded into the New Zealand life style that every Kiwi that I spoke to for the six years PRIOR to moving to New Zealand told me THE SAME LIES!!! That is truly astonishing, and why it took me 18 months after arriving in New Zealand to finally realize that "no, its NOT me - I am NOT doing anything wrong!"
I have gone back to rebuilding my international consulting business, and 2010 should be okay for me. But staying in New Zealand? Unless I can find income from overseas, and then go somewhere and find REAL WOMEN, and then back to New Zealand...I would really have to think hard about that.
New Zealand is a good place to be when the next war starts, and god knows the Kiwis will not bother me (the good thing about Kiwis is that they want NOTHING to do with foreigners – or each other, for the matter) but its not the only place.
There is a "New Zealand BS" website you might want to check out:
Good luck to you - I hope things get better for both of us.
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