Campbells

Greetings to everyone,

We are currently situated in South Africa. We have decided that it is time to get out of here and are looking at the various options / countries for consideration

I am from Scotland originally & have lived in Johannesburg since 1980 so I basically see SA as my home. I married S.A. lass eight years ago & we have very recently been blessed with the birth of our son, Gabriel.

We are very concerned about the future here in SA. The rising crime (which we have experienced) and the bubbling racial tension here makes for a very unsettled vibe. Of course the other factor is the affirmative action & black empowerment programmes, which is putting a tight, squeeze on white males in particular.

I have a brother that immigrated & settled in Canada (BC) in the early eighties. He has been trying to convince us for a long time now that we should consider Canada as a country with a future for us. We have started doing some research and are trying to gather information on the various options for immigration and have found forums like this one of great help & the members very helpful & informative.

Most important is that we are trying to make contact with folk in NZ and if possible folk that have lived in SA & get some feedback regarding the whole acclimatisation from SA to NZ has gone for them.

We would also like to get some feedback as to the job situation over there. I come from an IT background and was retrenched in 2001. I spent three months here chasing the local job market & decided to start my own company after getting turned down on most occasions due to AA & BE regulations.

Both my wife & I have our own small companies; I have started a music production company focusing on corporate productions as well as the music creation side of the business. My wife runs her own beauty salon offering massage, waxing, nail treatments & the likes.

We would love to hear from people that have moved to NZ & get some feedback on issues like the cost of living, schooling, weather, adapting to the culture there and other things.

We hope that we can make contact!

Best regards to you all

Campbell.

r.bartlett

i have no first hand experience but this is what i was told by a guy living in nz

this is of course a generalisation..;-)


the locals don't like the s.a's too much as they have a very abrupt manner which doesn't fit in too well

they feel that there's no loyality from them..

have no qualms about going up to the boss and saying "pay me mor or i'm off" or indeed not turning up next day as they went else where..so the seem a tad reluctant to hire them..

on the otherside i understand that the s.a 'ers fel nz is a lot more expensive to live in compared to s.a...

from what i understand most like to head to perth as that is the closest to s.a they can find..

as i say just a generalisation from a brit who's lived in auckland for 10yrs working as a company director...


cheers

richard

Campbells

Hi Richard,

Gee !!

You wrote (extract):
They feel that there's no loyalty from them..

Have no qualms about going up to the boss and saying "pay me more or I’m off" or indeed not turning up next day as they went else where. So they seem a tad reluctant to hire them..

Reply:
This could very well be. BUT, I'm very surprised as from our experience even in running our small humble company we utilize CONTRACTS in most areas of business including employment.

Our finding, in today's climate this is a MUST. Sounds like the workers you (rather your friend) were referring would be casual workers employed on a day-to-day basis? If this is the case then yes we are talking about back-packers etc etc who are working for their next meal or beer rather than a future.

My guess too!

Thanks for the interesting reply Richard.

All the best to you & yours

Campbell.

r.bartlett

howzit

no actually it came from another source as weel

my ex business partner has pr to nz and went out to see about jobs -air conditioning.

he was told by a manager of a well known danish refrigeration
parts manufacturer that this was the case from his discussions with air conditioning company owners and alike.....'fridge guys who whilst were considered pretty good at the job

not casual workers , besides if a guy says 'i'm not coming in' ther's not a lot you can actually do -contract or not...although i have no knowledge of nz employment law...

i seem to remember that he (my ex business partner) was chatting to a s.a fridge guy whilst out there (he too left because of the violence)

i'll be speaking to him this week so i'll ask him again.....;-)

cheers

richard

Keelie

Hi Campbells....as one who has lived in N.Z. and Canada, I'd say that you'd have more opportunities in Canada.
You'd have ready-made family (your brother) to show you the ropes, and B.C. is the loveliest province in Canada.
What about Australia, have you looked into your prospects there?
My spouse has worked with many S.A. emigrants, and they've all prospered here. There are lots of Scots in B.C. as well as many Scottish clubs, and it's close enough to the U.K. that you can find inexpensive fares to Scotland when you have the urge. Good luck.

Rudy

Hi Campbell,

I cannot answer your question but I just wanted to touch base. I am a Scot, who grew up and lived in SA for 24 years, married a South African, have 2 children born in SA, but we left to live in the UK 10 years ago. We are now applying for PR in Oz, heading to Brisbane later this year or early next year. We looked at all of our options before applying to Oz, weighed up the pros and cons for Canada, NZ etc, but decided on Oz. It is a roller coaster ride and we have even considered moving back to SA, but to the Cape, but I keep reminding myself why we left there in the first place. (We were in Jo'burg though).

I wish you well with your desicion, its not easy, wherever you go, your entire infrastructure will be wiped out in a flash. It is very easy to dream of the good things that await, but the reality is pretty tough! Try and make contacts through sites like this, meet up with fellow migrants, it makes that journey a whole lot easier.

All the best!
Hazel.

PS. I've always found that most company's like to employ SA's because they are hard working and conscientious! Also an immigrant has more to prove than a local. Can't speak for NZ though.

r.bartlett

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cheers

richard

Campbells

Greetings from a sunny but chilly (it’s winter here) South Africa,

Thanks again Richard & the other folk that replied to the post,

Once again, interesting replies. The one thing that does jump out when surfing around the various forums / sites when folk are considering the BIG MOVE to another country etcetera is, what I would foresee as a possible danger. That is the looking back aspect.

The reply that Hazel offered was very true in respect of the impact such a move has on the individuals involved. It is very easy to assume that getting involved with ex-countrymen & women eases the move. This is an area that I see as dangerous as you move from your existing status of settled (excuse the contradiction here) into a whole new environment with new cultures, challenges etc etc. I believe that it would be VERY difficult to focus on such issues if your vision is 180 backwards. By that I mean trying to set-up our own little South Africa wherever we were to go.

Not that I gaze the crystal ball but one DOES have to look into the future and also try & access the strengths & weaknesses of your family unit that are going to be involved in the move. Even if the consideration is that of a contract period of employ in a new country environment.

Our experience was making the move a few years back from Johannesburg, Gauteng province to living in the Western Cape, some 45 kms outside Cape Town central. Although we remained within SA itself we felt (and often used the term) that we had immigrated to the Cape. The move itself was motivated predominately from experiencing a violent situation (a hi-jacking at gunpoint) and we dived into the whole thing boots ‘n’ all as they say. The whole episode did not turn out like we had expected. They also say “20/20 vision on hindsight�!

The greatest thing that we bought in the whole experience was the experience itself. Not that we are by any means the Jedi of globetrotting.

One other aspect for HUGE consideration is the “Men are from Mars� issue. It is of great value to exchange information & comments from the fairer sex (hope that is not too politically incorrect!!) as they have different needs and expectations. Of course, not to mention the wee ones. These forums are great for these issues.

We would be very interested to hear your experience of the UK Hazel. It is not really where we imagine ourselves living but if things here get much worse & our immigration options are limited then we would consider the UK.

I think that one of the best pieces of advice that was offered via such forums is the issue of employment. We would imagine that it is quite easy (particularly for us with the issues here in SA that we want to leave behind) to get romantic notions about the whole re-locating exercise. Having a position of employment to move into should offer a speedier settling in period particularly if the future of you & your family has a positive outlook. After all security & future is one of the key elements for us complicated humans.

Best regards to you all & hope you had a great weekend.

Campbell.