Where to live in the world?
It’s index time, apparently, with the OECD Better Life Index & Vision of Humanity Global Peace Index coming out with their best places to live in the world annual surveys.
The OECD survey is quite interesting as it allows you to give weight to particular things you care about, be that quality of life, jobs, income etc. They do produce a summary report with analysis which makes fascinating reading.
Everything being equal, NZ only scores bottom in the ‘employee’s working very long hours’ category – which appears to mostly be driven by the relatively low average income. Although at least the Aussie’s & the UK score badly for that factor too. Turkey skews the average results a bit by having a very high level of weekly hours worked. So 10 out of 38 are ‘above average’.
At $18k USD NZ average income is below the OECD average. Interestingly this compares with being the seventh best in terms of levels of employment, and fourth ‘best’ for long term unemployment (i.e. fourth lowest).
(Another) interesting outcome is that NZ comes second, behind Sweden, for environmental factors. As it turns out this is actually a measure of pollution in the air in cities of over 100,000 people (NZ=7, Sweden=5). Which as a generalisation for the majority of the population is probably a fair assessment.
We’ve mentioned the GPI before, and this year it puts NZ second place – behind Iceland. So assuming you ignore the bankrupt banks, stagnant economy, exploding volcano’s – sure Iceland is a great place to be. We’ll ignore our own earthquakes, buggered-ish economy and the Rugby World Cup for the moment.
Funnily enough the NZ drop in score is for curious reasons;
More Police officers – delivering on a Govt pledge to put ‘more police on the street’;
More people in prison – possibly linked to the greater number of Police;
And an increase in involvement in International conflict! I hadn’t noticed NZ invading any other countries recently and I don’t think lots of Kiwi’s going to Aus really counts as an invasion let alone a conflict. Unless they were thinking of the international jousting tourney in Taupo?
ho hum.
Honestly – not the best policy ;)
Once again, a mother may be forced to leave New Zealand, meaning either he Kiwi born child has to leave with her and not see his father, or stay and be parted from his mother.
Ferisita Sapalia, who is Indonesian, and was married to a Kiwi Citizen (origianlly from France). They had a child, but thier marriage broke down last year. Ferisita did the right thing and advised INZ of the change in circumstances, as she was applying for residency under the partnership scheme.
Not telling INZ would mean effectively not passing the Good Character requirements necessary to immigrate here. Telling INZ means as far as they are concerned she is no longer eligible for residency.
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Immigrant carers are being kicked out of NZ after the Christchurch Earthquake.
Filipino rest-home workers say they feel “used” after working 18-hour days following the February earthquake, only to be discarded once New Zealand is “done” with them.
Several Filipino caregivers in Christchurch have had their work permit applications denied in recent weeks, with Immigration New Zealand saying there are Kiwis, made redundant because of the February 22 quake, who can do the job.
This is just so sad. The employers actually cannot find Kiwis available to do the work, the Filipino workers cannot find other work (or get a work visa for another job), and the Kiwis out of work because of the earthquake apparently do not want to work as caregivers.
So basically – everyone suffers, and sending the immigrants home won’t make the slightest bit of difference except that the people in the Care Homes will no longer have enough staff to look after them.
This is one of those situation where as Immigrants we just need to accept that political expediency will always be vastly more important than our personal need to be where we want to be. Immigration need to be seen to doing whatever they can can to ensure that Kiwi’s unemployed because of the earthquake are not disadvantaged. I do understand and agree with that – but what about when those Kiwi’s won’t do certain jobs?
I also think its vitally important that potential immigrants understand that Work Visas are for temporary work shortages. They are not permanent – and Immigration does have the right – and sometimes actually has no choice – to refuse to renew a work visa.
Those denied their visas were sent a letter saying they were overstayers in New Zealand, she said.
Well, way to go INZ! That is where I feel they step over the line. There is just no need to behave like that given the circumstances. Would it really kill INZ to give these people a visitors visa for a few months rather than label them “overstayers”? These people have to go through hell now – with their dreams shattered – and INZ labels them as criminals because they just have the sense to come up with a better solution. Clearly the careworkers have not broken any laws – they have – like many other before them – ended up in an illegal situation because of the Immigration Department and its nutty rules.
Immigration New Zealand head Nigel Bickle said work visas could not be granted when Kiwis were available to do the job.
“available” to do the job and willing to do the job are two entirely different things.
About 600 rest-home staff were made redundant after the February quake.
And I would those people would be stepping forward to take the places that INZ are making available to them. Because this is what INZ are seeing – there’s 600 care workers who need a job – and they cannot allow an immigrant to take that job instead.
Work Visas – despite what many people will have you believe – you are never guaranteed that they will be renewed and you have no right to stay permanently. If you come here on a Work Visa – or anything that isn’t a Permanent Residence Visa – make sure you have a plan to get back home .
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Why are migrants in New Zealand still ending up as Taxi Drivers?
Wellington’s new mayor Celia Wade-Brown is the papers today saying that the city has too many taxis. It seems this is because there was deregulation back in 1989, and the local authority is no longer able to put a cap on the number of licences sold to drivers.
The depressing thing about this is the number of times the oversupply of taxis in the city is blamed on migrants getting licences (presumably because they cant get work in the area they are qualified in). Also, it seems that WINZ (Work and Income NZ – the department that deal with unemployment and benefits) is in some ways funding this happening.
Celia Wade-Brown believes part of the problem stems from “overqualified” immigrants being funded by Work and Income into an industry that has hit saturation point.
The outcome of this is that there are too many taxis for the demand, which results in lower wages for the drivers. Not a good outcome, and not the point of immigration.
But to me the question is why – and how – is this happening? When the New Zealand government brought in the Skilled Migrant Category (7 years ago now), the whole point of it was to stop highly qualified immigrants from taking low paid and low skilled jobs. Ironically – driving taxis was the job used to illustrate the point – with physicists and doctors mentioned regularly. Originally – it was touted as ensuring this wouldnt happen because you would not be able to get residency unless you had a job. At the time, we wondered how anyone in the Department of Labour, or the government hadn’t spotted that with a minimum points level of 100, there were bound to be highly qualified people who could immigrate without a job.
But ho hum – no one asked our opinion!
And then when they get here, especially given that it is not cheap to live here – what the hell else was going to happen – they need work to live. And if you have residency (as opposed to a work visa) you can in fact do whatever job you like, so what the hell else are people gonna do?
So it like if nothing else, scrapping the old immigration and replacing it with a brand spanking new one didn’t really have the desired effect.
So, to the Immigration Staffer we spoke to at one of the expos in the UK before we applied, who snottily informed us that if we didn’t have enough points to meet the cutoff (195 at the time), because we couldn’t get a job,it was clearly because we were not good enough and only people who were good enough to get a job would get in:
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Seems the ombudsman gives a crap about some immigrants.
Filed under: Getting to New Zealand, NZIS & Immigration issues
While they may have done absolutely sod-all about how INZ treated our case, and basically let INZ walk all over them, they have just beaten INZ up over their treatment of a load of Pacific Islanders who were also let down. These were people who were “advised” by the now defunct “Pacific Division” set up my Mary Anne Thompson, and disbanded after issues of corruption were highlighted by the Attorney General.
13 people – who have been in New Zealand illegally -have now been granted residence subject to police and medical checks.
Now, it’s all very well doing this – its the right thing: INZ let people down and behaved appallingly. The division was badly run, and applicants were badly advised.
The Ombudsman ruled that the information the families were given during the 2005 meetings was confusing and misleading.
Um – but so are hundreds of other people applying to immigrate to New Zealand. INZ still continue to give misleading information , still treat some applicants like crap, and they still get away with it (as do licensed advisors). While I am glad the Ombudsman has at least done something for these people, I fail to see why they can’t be bothered to do it for the other applicants like us, who have suffered mistreatment at the hands of INZ. This is at the end of the day grossly unfair, and still does nothing to force INZ to ensure that the information they give to all applicants is correct, and hold them to account when it isn’t.
Especially when many of us, when faced with INZ misinformation – still do not overstay illegally.
Somedays I do get really fed up with staying on the right side of the law, and really can’t always see the bloody point.
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Can the Exchange rate actually get any worse?
Filed under: Economics, General Budgeting, Getting to New Zealand
Having lunch with mum the other day, she told me that she had been checking the exchange rate, looking to bring a bit more money over, and seen that it have actually gone below $2 to the £!
She was right. On the third of January this year, the interbank rate was a sickening $1.986 for every £1.
I actually had a look back to see when it last went that low, but unfortunately first I came across what it was like before it went into freefall.
In fact I had to go back to the earliest date allowed on the charts at HifX, and even going back as far as 1998, the rate for people moving money this was has never been so bad.
On the plus side (I guess) this is an absolutely great time for anyone with $NZ sitting around with nothing to do. You can convert it to £ or $US and wait for the cycle to come round again. Now there are people who claim that this might not happen – that actually $2:£1 might be the new “normal”, but always before these things have worked as a cycle. Oddly you get the same argument with house prices – we shouldn’t this time be expecting house prices to rise again, and we should all get used to lower house values. I’ve noticed these are generally the same people who poured scorned on others who were claiming that there wouldn’t be a downturn in the housing market – that this time would be different.
The thing is human behavior is what causes these cycles – and at some point house prices, interest rates and the exchange rate will start improving. The real problem is that there is no way to tell when that will happen.
Unfortunately this just means that right now it is going to be very hard for most people to emigrate if they are relying on fund from their home countries. I thought we were hard done by when we moved and were getting a paltry $2.50! You notice when it was nearly $4 to the £? Thats when there was a huge spike in immigration to New Zealand – whereas at the moment, immigration is pretty low.
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One I agree with INZ on.
Immigration New Zealand have turned down a residency application from a UK man on the basis that he lied on his application and was refused entry in the post to the USA for “people smuggling”. He was declined on the basis that he did not meet Good Character Requirements, and was not granted a character waiver.
The case went to the Residence Review board, who agreed with INZ’s decision, but because this man had very strong family ties to New Zealand, sent the case to the Minister. They declined as well.
Note: WordPress was so utterly flummoxed that I agreed with INZ that it trashed the rest of what I had written, and I’ve had to re-write everything below. 
The issue here is that a UK man applied for residency under the partnership category, and has a Kiwi wife, a child with that that wife, 2 step-children and other members of his own family who already have residency in New Zealand. He answered NO to the following question on his residency application:
“Have you or any of your family members included in your application ever been:
Refused entry to any country, including New Zealand.”
when in fact he had previously been refused entry to the USA. Now the gent claims he misunderstood the question, and thought you only had to say YES if the reason for the refusal is that you had done something wrong, or broken a law and been refused entry on that basis. I happen to agree with INZ that you cant misunderstand the question – it’s clear as bloody daylight, especially when English is your first language.
Unfortunately for this guy, INZ then found out that he had been refused entry to the US (cos – like – border agencies tend to have that kind of useful info available), and questioned him about it. At this point he seems to have claimed that it was because of Identity Theft, and his passport had been duplicated. But then INZ got hold of the transcripts from the US of his interview with the Border Security officers, where he clearly says he sold his passport 9 years ago to one of three Sri Lankans for $500(USD).
He then claims that he signed the transcript as being a true and fair representation only under duress, but had also said to INZ that “The guys were really nice to me …” So INZ (and the Residence Review Board) weren’t having any of that either.
So the problem here is that he lied on the form, then kept on lying when the issue was discovered. I really don’t think that INZ can be blamed for thinking that this shows a lack of good character – not to say a lack of common sense. The only way to deal with an issue like this is total openness as far as I can see. Yep – it looks bad on your application if you have to answer yes to that question – but it looks a whole lot worse if you try to hide it and get found out.
The really sad thing is that when it got to the RRB, they really did not want to have to refuse him the permit, because of his strong family ties here, and in particular the effect it would have on the 2 stepchildren – who would have to leave New Zealand and therefore miss out on contact with their biological father. This guy had a lot of support from all sorts of people, and is clearly well liked. But they could not overlook his continuing lack of honesty and his lack of responsibility for selling his passport. So they passed the decision on to the Ministers office – who also agreed that this was too big an issue to overlook.
Don’t lie on your application form. If you make a mistake, front up to it, because reading the RRB decision, I am left with the impression that had he done so, the RRB would have let the guys family connections and support override what he did. INZ have to work on the principle that if you do write something on the form that isn’t true – that you did so as a genuine mistake.
I’ve written 3 blogs on the topic of Good Character requirements, and the character waiver process. If you do make any false statements on your application forms, you are automatically considered not to have good character, so it really pays to get this right.
I think this also goes to show that not every “NO” decision is the wrong one.
The RRB complete transcript can be read here.
Note 2: WordPress crashed twice more while writing this lol.
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When is your New Life no longer your “New” life?
I was browsing through some my Blogroll yesterday, and left a comment on the Domestic Executive Blog:
One of the best things about my new life here (which really after 5 and a half years I ought to stop calling my “new” life) is that I am NOT busy all the time. I can say to people – I’m flexible – when’s good for you – when we need to meet up. But I’ve also had to learn to say No when people ask me for favours. Because I found I was spending a lot of time “working” for people for free, and then not having the time to enjoy not working.
As you can see – while I was writing it – I suddenly wondered if I could any longer claim that this was my “New Life”.
At what point are you really no longer a Migrant or an Ex-pat, but someone who lives in New Zealand?
I reckon it might be when you stop complaining about the things that are different here, and start complaining about the things that other Kiwi’s complain about. Which are often the same things as it happens.
Maybe it’s when the novelty wears off. Which in my case it mostly has – but not entirely. I think there will always be moments when I think “Wow! I get to live here??? Really???”.
Either way – it’s not really my own personal “New Life” anymore – it’s just a better version of my old life.
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Still no Ikea in NZ, but…
Filed under: Cost of living, Getting to New Zealand, Life in New Zealand
straight from the Facebook Page “I want IKEA stores to open in New Zealand” comes a link for a new company in Parnell Auckland that is shipping IKEA products from Australia for you, MYKEA. (Now called MYFLATPACK)
(Please read the comments below before buying from this company).
The Idea is that you visit the Australian IKEA website, fill in a form with MYKEA telling them what you want, and they send you a quote telling you how much it will cost to get it delivered to you, including all costs (taxes, shipping etc). You can then place the order or not. They have a minimum order of $150 AUD, and you cant any item less than $10 AUD, but all in all it looks like a good system to me.
Now you are going to pay a premium for this obviously – not only are you covering IKEA’s profit, but also MYKEA’s, but hey – nowt wrong with that. They are being enterprising, and offering a service that many NZ’ers really want. Good on ‘em. And lets face it – you can always judge for yourself whether the quoted prices suit your pocket, or are fair. Given the numbe rof people I’ve met taking flights to Aussie just to go get stuff from IKEA – I’d say they could be onto something in saving you money on airfairs and excess baggage fees!
Actually they aren’t the first to do this. When we first arrived 5 and a bit years ago, there was a company doing the same thing, and another company that was actually just importing container loads of stuff and selling it the old fashioned way. Both of those stopped trading – Ive no idea if it was because they went out of business or went on to do other things. But it does suggest that there may be a window here in which to make the most of this opportunity.
Depending on whether we make out “city living” arrangement permanent after a few months of trialling – I am sorely tempted to splurge (once we have cleared the credit cards!) and buy some decent storage! NZ is woefully short on decent affordable storage I’m afraid. And to be honest – when you have kit out a second home -you need access to something that isnt going to rob you blind on the costs. The nearest similar store to IKEA in NZ is Freedom Furniture – but its a lot more expensive. Arguably the quality is better, especially if you compare it with the cheaper IKEA ranges, but when the budget is what matters – there really isn’t a good alternative.
If you have IKEA bookshelves – or indeed IKEA anything - what ever you do – bring it with you! You will regret it if you don’t. Even if you don’t want to keep it – bring it and sell it on Trade Me.
By the way: apparently the reason we cant have an IKEA store in NZ is becuase teh Auckland council reckons they cant cope with the traffic chaos that will inevitably ensue when 4,000,000 kiwis descend the place. Sheesh.
(Edited: Thanks John for the update on the website. MYFLATPACK now carries a small inventory of stock in Auckland. Prices are expensive, but ho-hum. And postage is based on a % of the total order – 10% for North Island deliveries).
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Me and the MX5: The Finale
Filed under: Cost of living, General Budgeting, Life in New Zealand
Well, let’s just say at this point that Motors: Mazda: MX5 has been listed as a favorite on my Trade Me account as long as I have had a Trade Me account. This is basically becuase when I first started getting into Property Investing, I happened to pass by the Mazda garage in Wellington (as you do – honestly its on the route to Moore Wilsons). And I thought I would pop in to look at what they had in the showroom – so that I could build a “Vision Board” of where I wanted the investing to take us.
And lo: they had this really swanky new Dark Purple (so dark its almost black), shiny MX5 that was just screaming at me to buy it.
I was in Wuv.
Slight sticking point – it was $50,000.
And it was brand new – which means as soon as you drive it out the dealership its worth a lot less than you paid for it. Not great odds for anyone planning on making squillions in the property game. Besides – didn’t have $50,000 sitting around burning a hole in my pocket. But dammit – thats the car I wanted, so it went on the dream board, and I have been keeping an eye out on Trade me for 2nd hand ones. One came up a while back, but still with a price tag of $35,000 which is still too much for me.
Ho Hum. Of course now that I need to buy a new car, the swanky purple one isn’t available – at any price, but I have been watching and planning. I was hoping to be able to spend about $20,000 but in the end the pennies just weren’t there. So I decided to buy a cheaper version – and I can always spray it when I have some more money.
2nd hand MX5′s can be had for between $3,000 and $45,000 – so I thought I’d better be at the lower end. I test drove a few in the 8-10k range, but in the end decided I wanted an Automatic. Basically because most cars over here are automatics, all ours were, and I’ve just got used to them. Besides – my original 2 MX5′s were as well.
On Friday last week, I called a guy in Levin who was selling an 1999 MX5, automatic, British racing green (no pop up headlights). Asking price $7995. A quick price check said that was very reasonable – I looked at one a year older for $11K, and one a year younger at $14k. We drove over to take it for a spin, and I loved it! It was in good nick (needs a good clean inside), but the roof is sound, it drove well and everything worked. Experience says theres not likely to be a huge amount that needs fixing – they are not cars that are run by complicated computers so they tend not to be expensive to fix. And the big expense which was a new Cam Belt had already been done and there was a service bill to show it.
All it took was a call to the bank manager, who had been warned this might be coming, and she put the payment through straight away. The guy was comfortable enough from talking to me to let me take the car straight away, and within 10 minutes I finally had my long sought after dream: an MX5.
We then drove a little north to Foxton Beach, grabbed fish and chips from Mr Grumpy’s and coffee from the Simply Balmy Cafe and had a late lunch at the beach sitting in my new car with the hood down. I couldn’t stop grinning.
In fact – I still haven’t stopped grinning every time i get in the car.
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