Take a look at the skills shortages list as well, because if you can get a job in something on that list, you’ll have a much easier time. We desperately need Healthcare workers
You will be welcome here for the most part, but I have started noticing some things that are starting to annoy me, and I know I’m not alone, so fair warning:
Please remember why you’re coming here. Nothing annoys me more than Americans who move here and then never shut up about how things were better back home. We have no 2a, our stores are small, and we don’t tip. I consider those to be GOOD things. Also, even our right wing party (National) would be considered center left over there. (Sadly that seems to be changing)
If you’re just looking for what America was 15 years ago, Australia is what you’re looking for. That’s not a joke either, I mean that very seriously, Australia is a better fit. It’s the USA of the southern hemisphere (sorry Aussies, but tell me I’m wrong)
Next you’ll tell me that the government expects me to take time off from work to care for my health and family. And that having a personal car is expensive and unnecessary.
Although you may not recieve as warm a welcome in Aus at the moment.
A LOT of Australians are mad at Americans for their political culture right now. We have transphobes and bigots here too and theres a lot of Australian bigots who are feeling very bold. Also theres a feeling from the more left leaning people that if we dont have enough resources and room for people fleeing ethnic cleansing, wars and famine we dont have the room for people who didnt like how their democratic election went. Also our cost of living isnt going down either…
Not saying you will get a hostile reaction, or even a negative one… just temper your expectations.
Wife and I looked into moving to Australia after we visited Sydney. I work in IT so not a problem for me to find a new job and my wife is in healthcare. She is a respiratory therapist which is in high demand but looks like your end of the world does nursing with a speciality in respiratory therapy.
Couldn’t figure out how that would translate but damn are we ready to jump over the bigger pond.
I grew up in the armpit of SW Oklahoma. My parents’ Internet was 256 kbps in 2009. Today, they get a blazing 20 Mbps and it goes down all the time. My brother signed up for a satellite internet company that’s a bit more reliable and gives him something like 50 Mbps, but iirc, his data cap is something like 250 GB and then it’s overage charges. And I think he pays $120 a month for that plan.
My wife and I live in the Oklahona City area and get 250 Mbps, and only because that’s all we need. We were running 500 for a while, but we almost never needed that much. We have a 1 TB data cap and pay $50 a month.
We’re going to upgrade to fiber in the next few years. A local company is in our area and offers symmetrical 1 Gbps internet for like $80 a month. But there are upfront costs associated with getting it set up in the house that I don’t want to swing yet. But I’m thinking more about it lately because I’d love to self host something like Nextcloud and get off of Google Drive.
Anyway, yeah, internet in cities is mostly pretty good. Once you’re out in the sticks, well, good luck.
Oh my gosh, former Oklahomie for a while here!
Can. Confirm.
I once lived in the Northeast by Tahlequah, and the options were dial-up, satellite (with that awful data cap and terrible pings), or a couple guys running an ISP that involved pointing a receiver at a radio tower but download speeds were restricted to like 40kbps.
For games I already had, SOME multiplayer was possible, and web browsing was mostly fine.
Example of DL speeds though: Metro 2033 said it would take like 3 or 4 solid days so my long distance GF (now wife!) literally just sent game files to me on a USB drive through the mail. LOL
Sadly they closed up shop, though.
But somehow, when I lived with my grandma who lived in a place called “Hennepin”, they got blessed with DSL. Made zero sense but I didn’t complain!
Even though I had to put a second router in bridge/repeater mode so it’d reach me at the trailer I lived in like 20 yards away from the house! (Trailer didn’t even have plumbing. Winter was “fun.” LOL)
Absolutely wild how cut-off a lot of the country is.
The big stinky desert city I’m in now has its problems, and Cox charges out the nose, but at least we get unlimited fiber out of it.
Starlink might have been great for those folks if it wasn’t headed by such stupid evil…
It really depends. I know of little towns in rural Idaho that have gigabit fibre to the house simply because the local phone company submitted the request for a federal grant. The money has been there since Obama, but utils need to ask for it, and certain local populations would rather starve than take any sort of handout from the federal government.
Like in the burbs of Tulsa and we get 1gig but its super expensive and I hate it. Cox is the only choice. I would love to get out of this state at least if I can’t get out of the country.
I haven’t had issues getting 200mb + in like 10 years. It’s pretty common to find decent priced gigabit as well. I’m sure it’s kinda shitty in rural areas but it’s not nearly as bad as it used to be.
You’re right. Have always considered Australia the US and NZ Canada.
Americans fit in well in Australia so long as they’re friendly and check their ego at the door. Australian culture is a big moosh of many cultures but tends to cringe at American culture. You kind of have to be more about yourself rather than be all about being an American, then you will fit in.
We have no 2a, our stores are small, and we don’t tip.
These are the only examples you can come up with as to why Americans might “never shut up” about it being “better back home?” I’m having a hard time taking that seriously.
I consider those to be GOOD things.
Well yeah, so would roughly 90% of all Americans. Well maybe the small stores thing from a convenience standpoint I guess?
What I’m saying is I’d like you to elaborate, this can’t be the whole story (signed, someone who has seriously given thought to moving to NZ). :)
Ha ha ha, I chose those specific examples because of a specific person. I had to work with that person for 6 months and it it felt like all they wanted to talk about was how you can’t get good pizza (you can) or how the shelves are always empty (they’re not) or how the water here tastes weird. (I mean, maybe. That’s subjective) By the end I just wanted to scream at them. We had a very heated debate about tipping culture one day at lunch. They didn’t understand that “I used to work in hospitality, and I wouldn’t have survived without tips” is not an argument in favour of tipping culture.
I realise I’ve generalized here, and it’s not fair to judge everyone by one irritating example. Sorry about that
Also anecdotal: I met an American in France one time. We were both travelling, so there were plenty of other things to talk about, but somehow he got onto the subject of how much he loves the 2nd amendment within 5 minutes of meeting him, max. I have no idea how he steered the convo there, it was like a magic trick. Blew my mind.
If you’re serious then here you go
Take a look at the skills shortages list as well, because if you can get a job in something on that list, you’ll have a much easier time. We desperately need Healthcare workers
You will be welcome here for the most part, but I have started noticing some things that are starting to annoy me, and I know I’m not alone, so fair warning:
Please remember why you’re coming here. Nothing annoys me more than Americans who move here and then never shut up about how things were better back home. We have no 2a, our stores are small, and we don’t tip. I consider those to be GOOD things. Also, even our right wing party (National) would be considered center left over there. (Sadly that seems to be changing)
If you’re just looking for what America was 15 years ago, Australia is what you’re looking for. That’s not a joke either, I mean that very seriously, Australia is a better fit. It’s the USA of the southern hemisphere (sorry Aussies, but tell me I’m wrong)
It’s a process, but it can be done! Good luck!
I wish I could tell you you’re wrong, but… :(
And if Dutton gets elected this year it will get soooo much worse. Hey, New Zealand is a beautiful place! Maybe I’ll move there too!
Small store, no tips, be quiet? Sounds like heaven.
Next you’ll tell me that the government expects me to take time off from work to care for my health and family. And that having a personal car is expensive and unnecessary.
Although you may not recieve as warm a welcome in Aus at the moment.
A LOT of Australians are mad at Americans for their political culture right now. We have transphobes and bigots here too and theres a lot of Australian bigots who are feeling very bold. Also theres a feeling from the more left leaning people that if we dont have enough resources and room for people fleeing ethnic cleansing, wars and famine we dont have the room for people who didnt like how their democratic election went. Also our cost of living isnt going down either…
Not saying you will get a hostile reaction, or even a negative one… just temper your expectations.
FYI there’s a typo in here which had me reading it like “people-freeing ethnic cleansing”, which sounds evil as hell and not at all what you meant
Thanks for that, fixed.
Wife and I looked into moving to Australia after we visited Sydney. I work in IT so not a problem for me to find a new job and my wife is in healthcare. She is a respiratory therapist which is in high demand but looks like your end of the world does nursing with a speciality in respiratory therapy.
Couldn’t figure out how that would translate but damn are we ready to jump over the bigger pond.
How about engineers in NZ?
I guess it depends on the kind of engineering you’re talking about, but for the most part, yes. Tier 1 straight to residency
Engineer ? Believe it or not, straight to
jailresidencyMy take: Aussies are Americans with British humour.
…and really shitty Internet access.
Isn’t American Internet also known to be pretty bad already? At least in many places?
A lot of America is empty so this highly depends on what you mean
In the city the internet is great
I grew up in the armpit of SW Oklahoma. My parents’ Internet was 256 kbps in 2009. Today, they get a blazing 20 Mbps and it goes down all the time. My brother signed up for a satellite internet company that’s a bit more reliable and gives him something like 50 Mbps, but iirc, his data cap is something like 250 GB and then it’s overage charges. And I think he pays $120 a month for that plan.
My wife and I live in the Oklahona City area and get 250 Mbps, and only because that’s all we need. We were running 500 for a while, but we almost never needed that much. We have a 1 TB data cap and pay $50 a month.
We’re going to upgrade to fiber in the next few years. A local company is in our area and offers symmetrical 1 Gbps internet for like $80 a month. But there are upfront costs associated with getting it set up in the house that I don’t want to swing yet. But I’m thinking more about it lately because I’d love to self host something like Nextcloud and get off of Google Drive.
Anyway, yeah, internet in cities is mostly pretty good. Once you’re out in the sticks, well, good luck.
Oh my gosh, former Oklahomie for a while here! Can. Confirm.
I once lived in the Northeast by Tahlequah, and the options were dial-up, satellite (with that awful data cap and terrible pings), or a couple guys running an ISP that involved pointing a receiver at a radio tower but download speeds were restricted to like 40kbps.
For games I already had, SOME multiplayer was possible, and web browsing was mostly fine.
Example of DL speeds though: Metro 2033 said it would take like 3 or 4 solid days so my long distance GF (now wife!) literally just sent game files to me on a USB drive through the mail. LOL
Sadly they closed up shop, though.
But somehow, when I lived with my grandma who lived in a place called “Hennepin”, they got blessed with DSL. Made zero sense but I didn’t complain! Even though I had to put a second router in bridge/repeater mode so it’d reach me at the trailer I lived in like 20 yards away from the house! (Trailer didn’t even have plumbing. Winter was “fun.” LOL)
Absolutely wild how cut-off a lot of the country is.
The big stinky desert city I’m in now has its problems, and Cox charges out the nose, but at least we get unlimited fiber out of it.
Starlink might have been great for those folks if it wasn’t headed by such stupid evil…
It really depends. I know of little towns in rural Idaho that have gigabit fibre to the house simply because the local phone company submitted the request for a federal grant. The money has been there since Obama, but utils need to ask for it, and certain local populations would rather starve than take any sort of handout from the federal government.
Like in the burbs of Tulsa and we get 1gig but its super expensive and I hate it. Cox is the only choice. I would love to get out of this state at least if I can’t get out of the country.
I haven’t had issues getting 200mb + in like 10 years. It’s pretty common to find decent priced gigabit as well. I’m sure it’s kinda shitty in rural areas but it’s not nearly as bad as it used to be.
You’re right. Have always considered Australia the US and NZ Canada.
Americans fit in well in Australia so long as they’re friendly and check their ego at the door. Australian culture is a big moosh of many cultures but tends to cringe at American culture. You kind of have to be more about yourself rather than be all about being an American, then you will fit in.
You’re wrong
An excellent point, and well made. But have you considered this?
I mean, you asked us to tell you that you’re wrong
I generally don’t agree that we’re culturally much like the US, but between AUKUS and Pine Gap, we’re definitely beholden to them
Possibly stupid question but what do you mean by “we have no 2a”?
Edit: 2nd amendment, thanks!
2nd amendment AKA bubba with a larger arsenal than an army arms room.
Second Amendment (guns), I guess
No 2nd Amendment, I.e. guns are strictly controlled and not just anyone can own one
These are the only examples you can come up with as to why Americans might “never shut up” about it being “better back home?” I’m having a hard time taking that seriously.
Well yeah, so would roughly 90% of all Americans. Well maybe the small stores thing from a convenience standpoint I guess?
What I’m saying is I’d like you to elaborate, this can’t be the whole story (signed, someone who has seriously given thought to moving to NZ). :)
Ha ha ha, I chose those specific examples because of a specific person. I had to work with that person for 6 months and it it felt like all they wanted to talk about was how you can’t get good pizza (you can) or how the shelves are always empty (they’re not) or how the water here tastes weird. (I mean, maybe. That’s subjective) By the end I just wanted to scream at them. We had a very heated debate about tipping culture one day at lunch. They didn’t understand that “I used to work in hospitality, and I wouldn’t have survived without tips” is not an argument in favour of tipping culture.
I realise I’ve generalized here, and it’s not fair to judge everyone by one irritating example. Sorry about that
Also anecdotal: I met an American in France one time. We were both travelling, so there were plenty of other things to talk about, but somehow he got onto the subject of how much he loves the 2nd amendment within 5 minutes of meeting him, max. I have no idea how he steered the convo there, it was like a magic trick. Blew my mind.
I think you’re equating Lemmy with America. You vastly overestimate how many people share that viewpoint.
Removed by mod
deleted by creator
it’s “govt.nz” so new zealand is the actual top level domain, and govt is their subdomain they use for government agencies, apparently.
https://www.govt.nz/