Hey all, I hope I’m posting to the right place. My gf and I are both trans women considering immigrating to New Zealand from the US. We both have green list careers so we’re not too worried about eligibility but we are wondering if we would be welcome/fit in in NZ.
Everything I’ve seen or heard in media makes NZ look about 1000 times better than the US. Every country has their problems but from my limited viewpoint NZ looks pretty great. We’d appreciate any advice or perspective you’d care to share. Thanks in advance.
There are bigots and assholes the same as anywhere else, but you are not likely to see the sort of systematic discrimination like you would in the US. Protection from discrimination by employers or landlords is law, and not especially controversial.
The major issues we have as a country are pretty similar to the rest of the world; our government is a coalition of 3 “conservative” parties which have been trying to undo as much of the social safety net as possible in the name of “efficiency” and “lower taxes” (which only really works if you are wealthy enough to not need the safety net in the first place); the health and education systems are chronically underfunded; and the real estate market is set up for speculators, not people who want a place to live; and the cost of living in general has been increasing dramatically in the past few years.
Standard advice for anyone considering moving; come for a working holiday for a few months before committing to moving here permanently. I love this country, but you are probably going to be in for a bit of a culture shock coming from the US
That sounds similar to things here in the US, especially housing and costs of living, though I expect those to be exacerbated by NZ being an island.
I’ve been trying to get an idea of NZ politics and have noticed the rightward shift, but it seems that overall the political climate is a fair bit more leftward. Also proportional government sounds like a dream compared to the shit show we have over here.
NZ being an island definitely makes a lot of stuff expensive, but housing is a whole other kettle of fish. We have no capital gains taxes*, and due to high immigration and very low interest rates housing has been seen as a can’t lose investment because you buy, hold for 3-4 years and in the best periods of the boom would double your money. That basically triggered a bit of a doom spiral where because people need houses they had to buy at highly inflated prices triggered by those buying them for investments.
*Sort of, there are some exceptions where they apply, but mostly no.