# Not a good place to live



## Maddybaddy01

Hello. So, I just moved here to Palmerston North last August to join my fiancé, who is currently a resident. It's been a living hell since I hopped off the plane. I lucked out and found a job straight away, but they're too tight wadded to give me an actual contract because they don't want to give me any paid time off (which is badly needed). Things here are grossly overpriced- I mean, seriously- $1.77nzd per liter of gasoline? I was complaining about paying $2.50usd per gallon of gasoline but I never will again. But it gets worse... I can't even make an appointment to see a doctor here because I am legally not allowed to enrol without residency status or a 2 year work visa. I think that is discrimination, since I had been in New Zealand a couple of years before, studying, and I saw the same GP for 2 years as a casual patient, and when I returned last year, I continued with that GP but suddenly, they have decided that they get more money from enrolled patients (even though we foreigners already pay through our noses). What's worse is that I have some chronic health conditions that my doctor was helping me manage, and now I can't even get the care I require. So, I am faced with returning home, destroying my chances of starting a family. Thank you New Zealand for screwing my life.


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## Netherlands111

Cheap Gas Is a Thrill, but a Costly One

Also: 

Gasoline prices around the world

The rest of the world is not the USA; things go differently and gas is generally more expensive in western countries (and in many developing countries too).

You're posting on a forum where most people are dying to get a visa so you're probably not gonna find a whole lot of support here.

I will have international health insurance while I'm on my temporary visa, mine costs about 30 USD per month with a ca. 1100 dollar deductible - not sure what it costs with full coverage.


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## escapedtonz

Maddybaddy01 said:


> Hello. So, I just moved here to Palmerston North last August to join my fiancé, who is currently a resident. It's been a living hell since I hopped off the plane. I lucked out and found a job straight away, but they're too tight wadded to give me an actual contract because they don't want to give me any paid time off (which is badly needed). Things here are grossly overpriced- I mean, seriously- $1.77nzd per liter of gasoline? I was complaining about paying $2.50usd per gallon of gasoline but I never will again. But it gets worse... I can't even make an appointment to see a doctor here because I am legally not allowed to enrol without residency status or a 2 year work visa. I think that is discrimination, since I had been in New Zealand a couple of years before, studying, and I saw the same GP for 2 years as a casual patient, and when I returned last year, I continued with that GP but suddenly, they have decided that they get more money from enrolled patients (even though we foreigners already pay through our noses). What's worse is that I have some chronic health conditions that my doctor was helping me manage, and now I can't even get the care I require. So, I am faced with returning home, destroying my chances of starting a family. Thank you New Zealand for screwing my life.


You appear to come across as such a victim and one of many people who expect the world or more specifically New Zealand owes them something.
New Zealand doesn't owe you anything. You were lucky that NZ Immigration allowed you across the border to live here with your fiancé so you knew the conditions that would result. The rest is up to you.
If you aren't happy with the conditions of your employment then look for something else or resign. No one forced you to work in that job with those conditions. No one is forcing you to stay in a job you aren't happy with.

Of course everything is more expensive here.....what did you expect, the cheap competitive prices of the US ?
Did you not research the cost of living before you arrived ? Its blatently obvious that it is way more expensive to live here than in the developed and highly populated western world. Your fiancé for one should have made you aware how much things cost here. 
The country is thousands of miles from anywhere and has a tiny population which means less demand and higher prices. Virtually nothing is manufactured here so virtually everything must be imported, at cost.
Fuel is way cheaper here than what I was ever used to - half the price as it is highly taxed in the UK. The same goes for insurance and the costs of running a car but on the other hand you end up paying through the nose for other things.

I sympathize with your medical predicament but you must have known the potential problem your visa could make.

What visa have you got and for how long ?

There will always be a GP that will accept non resident patients in the area. We have one here in Tauranga just like we did in Wellington. Yes you will pay more as an international patient but at least you'll get the care required. You just need to find that GP practice that offers the service.
Could you apply for a partnership work visa longer than 2 years or even a partnership resident visa so you qualify for the medical as a resident ?
If there is no gp that will accept and treat you as a patient and you need meds or support then as a last resort go to an accident and emergency walk in centre or an AE dept in a hospital. They cannot turn you away.

Has New Zealand really screwed up your life or are your problems a direct result of naivety and overblown expectations ?


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## Kimbella

Maddybaddy01 said:


> Hello. So, I just moved here to Palmerston North last August to join my fiancé, who is currently a resident. It's been a living hell since I hopped off the plane. I lucked out and found a job straight away, but they're too tight wadded to give me an actual contract because they don't want to give me any paid time off (which is badly needed). Things here are grossly overpriced- I mean, seriously- $1.77nzd per liter of gasoline? I was complaining about paying $2.50usd per gallon of gasoline but I never will again. But it gets worse... I can't even make an appointment to see a doctor here because I am legally not allowed to enrol without residency status or a 2 year work visa. I think that is discrimination, since I had been in New Zealand a couple of years before, studying, and I saw the same GP for 2 years as a casual patient, and when I returned last year, I continued with that GP but suddenly, they have decided that they get more money from enrolled patients (even though we foreigners already pay through our noses). What's worse is that I have some chronic health conditions that my doctor was helping me manage, and now I can't even get the care I require. So, I am faced with returning home, destroying my chances of starting a family. Thank you New Zealand for screwing my life.


Yah, I'm really scratching my head at this post, and even wondering if it's a troll post just to make Americans look bad.

Firstly, how is it possible that you're frustrated with sticker shock when you state you lived here previously for a handful of years while you studied?

Secondly, if you aren't happy with your current job, find another one. When you take immediately what's on offer and end your search for something better, the onus is on you to improve your situation. And, you've been working for 8 months now and are already desperate for some time off .... huh? Even in the US this wouldn't fly unless you worked in a field where a union negotiated that into a contract ... 

Have you actually spoken with your GP to find out if they are willing to keep their current patients on as cash pay, like, have you actually *tried* to plead your case with them? And, if they still say no, what's the big problem with switching to a GP that takes cash patients? All of your records transfer for free, and your current GP might even be happy to refer you to another practitioner he respects. 

If your status in the US is better than here, why not have your partner move to there? 

I won't rake you over the coals, re: victim, blah, blah, blah. But, yah, as a fellow American, I actually almost find your post hard to believe... how is it possible that someone who planned and succeeded in moving here, after apparently having previously lived here, be so woefully shocked and unprepared for the cost of living and cultural differences? 
Frankly, to me, this just doesn't pass the sniff test.


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