Settling in New Zealand: How migrants feel
It can take some time to settle in
New Zealand is renowned for its sports-mad culture, friendly people, relaxed and informal way of doing things and for being very practical and do-it-yourself. While that may represent a big change for some people, most really like it once they get used to it.
It’s the New Zealand way to make people feel welcome – 90% of the migrants we spoke to felt settled or very settled after 18 months of being here.
Nearly everyone – over 90% - felt satisfied or very satisfied with their decision to live in New Zealand six months and 18 months after taking up permanent residency.
Around ¾ of those who were working part-time six months after taking up residence had become full-time workers after 18 months of being here.
The median hourly earnings of migrants climbed 11% in the year between when we first spoke to them (six months after they started living here) and our second survey (18 months after they started living here).
Relationship Services have created some resources to support new migrants making a change to a new country.
You can read a lot more about how migrants find living in New Zealand, along with the true stories of people who have come to New Zealand and are now successfully living here, in LINKZ magazine.
An employer's story: Beca
An employer's story: Commonsense Organics
An employer's story: Futrix
An employer's story: Resn
An employer's story: Splice Group and Clean Tech
An employer's story: Weta Workshop
A migrant's story: Clement Sudhakar
A migrant's story: Glenn Andert
A migrant's story: Karen Bender
A migrant's story: Noel Mendoza
A migrant's story: Paramijit Ghuliani
A migrant's story: Surekha Vatikutti
A migrant's story: Wilma Molano
