Starting a new life in a new country

My name is, Philip and I am from South Africa. I moved to New Zealand with my partner and our son in August 2019. It was a super quick process for us and I was fortunate and lucky to have been headhunted by a company in Auckland and so the process was easy for us.

The most challenging part of the process is all the goodbyes, it's exhausting but once you are on the plane, you can relax and enjoy the journey. The other challenging part is really coming to terms with the ups and downs and ebbs and flows of starting a new life in a new country and to know it gets better over time, so just enjoy the good times and have some compassion for yourself and your family during the tough times.

My adviser Julia Cooke was super helpful and guided us along the way. Being strong myself in admin, getting all the documentation together was not as challenging as I expected it would be, the hardest part was when your application is submitted to NZI for processing and you have to wait for an answer while your life feels like it hangs in the balance. NZ Shores made the process so easy and were amazing at providing expert and trusted advice throughout the process. I am so grateful to Julia for all her amazing help.

First impression

My first impression of NZ was not the best to be honest. Having never been to NZ before, when we landed at 1am in the morning on a cold and rainy windy morning in August, it felt like a far cry away from our sunny home country. However, as we overcame the jetlag and felt human again, it was wonderful to get to explore our new home and take in the beautiful views.

What I miss from home

What I miss from home is our family and close friends the most. You get used to everything else and as a South African, there are plenty of South African shops to find the favourite comforts that remind you of home. One needs to make the effort though to find new friends and make new connections and that means needing to let go to create space for building new relationships and friendship groups. It takes time.

Advice to other migrants

My advice to other migrants is to accept that it is going to be a tough journey, but a rewarding one at least too. It gets easier over time and I would encourage anyone moving to NZ to just take things one day at a time when you get here and to be gentle on yourself and your loved ones as it is a grieving process too that you need to work through, while also appreciating and enjoying the new adventure and the good things you will experience.

One thing I wish I knew before I moved

There was nothing I felt I wish I had known before moving. To be honest, the less you know, the better. For example, If I knew that 5 months into our trip we would be facing the pandemic and not be able to travel for just over 2 years outside of NZ, I would be worried, so sometimes, ignorance is bliss. Know what you need to know, like all the important stuff to get you here and figure the rest out of what it's like here when you get here.

Each person's journey is different, it was helpful to join some of the Facebook groups for some tips, but its also important to just let yourself experience it too. People will tell you lots of things and its ok, you don't need to take everything on board. Many people told us we should come on holiday first before making the move, we moved without ever having been to NZ before and in many ways I am actually grateful for this, it certainly made it easier and more cost effective for us to just land and start our new life. Secondly, I will say I am so glad I listened to others advice and flew the most direct route from SA (JHB > Sydney > Auckland) as it is a long journey, don't make it even longer for yourself by flying the cheaper option, its really not worth the savings, be kind to yourself and take the most convenient and quickest route here.