In an ideal world, I would live in New Zealand, probably, though I've heard many things have changed in the 15 years since I lived there.
I work remote and live in Los Angeles, despite all the drawbacks of living in California, because of family, friends, and my overall support network. Moving somewhere else would mean having to start all over again.
I left NZ in 2011 and came back recently. It's still more or less the same place I remember. If you are an active outdoorsy type, I don't think there are many places in the world that compare to NZ. Where I live I can be at a surfing beach within 10 minutes. Rock climbing in the hills in 10 minutes. Skiing in the Southern Alps in 2 hours. Hiking a beautiful trail in 2 hours (with warm modern huts available for 5 NZD/night). All while having access to free healthcare, and a decent disposable income thanks to a relatively low living cost (Auckland is an exception).
Downsides are poor public transport (cheap Japanese imports mean everyone chooses to own a vehicle), expensive food compared to EU or USA, and few jobs outside of the tourism & service industries.
I pretty much avoided auckland public transport for a long time, then a few years ago, I started taking the train, and that's actually been pretty good and its faster than taking the car, pretty reliable. I've noticed in the last year or so a big increase in usage. NZ Tech industry is growing steadily and was on track to become 3rd biggest industry (not sure what the lockdown fallout is going to be like) and tends to be quite diverse with various niche companies. Just not many companies (at least prelockdown ) were remote friendly.
That's funny, because I found the transportation in Wellington to be lightyears better than what we have in LA. Granted, the trains were older at the time(I think they've since been replaced), but I remember being able to get everywhere pretty easily by train and bus, and walking was a cinch. But I guess all public transit elsewhere seems pretty good when you're coming from LA. haha
It's great, but the immigration process is very difficult and slow. I applied for the Skilled Migrant Category in February 2019 and haven't even got a case officer handling the application yet.
I'm surprised at that. My wife and I became permanent residents in 2007. It must have changed a lot since then as it took us under a month from application to residency.
Yes, it has got harder since then. I graduated in 2011, and came to NZ on a Working Holiday visa. People told me I should try to get PR, but I didn't have the years of continuous relevant work experience.
I went to a few other places, then stayed in Taiwan for 4 years. At first it was going to be 2 years, but at year 1.5, NZ changed their rules to requiring 3 years. Then 2016 happened, with all the political problems in the UK and US. Everybody from English-speaking countries is trying to move here, and the waiting times have gone up dramatically. The 4th year in Taiwan is because I met my girlfriend. She also wanted to come to NZ, but she couldn't even get a Working Holiday visa (there's only 600 per year for Taiwanese).
Now I'm losing hope that it'll ever be possible. I've put in so much: emotionally, financially, and in time, towards this dream. If it does fail, I will be devastated and probably never be able to settle anywhere. (I have nationality issues and can't just "go back to your country").
That's the year that I applied and got permanent residence. It didn't feel out of reach, besides the long month of waiting.
The background check was pretty epic, though. I had to prove that I was indeed in a relationship with my girlfriend, who was a New Zealand citizen. This was probably because I didn't have a job lined up or a degree or skills to offer. We turned over about a year's worth of letter's we had mailed each other, many of which were pretty intimate. Supposedly someone flipped through them. Then I had to get a chest X-ray and some other medical exams, along with a drug test, to make sure I wasn't just coming over to freeload off their medical system or sling dope.
I imagine it would have been much easier if I had the skills and income that I have now. I was actually kinda shocked that I got permanent residency as easily as I did. From what I was told, I should have been pessimistic.
I work remote and live in Los Angeles, despite all the drawbacks of living in California, because of family, friends, and my overall support network. Moving somewhere else would mean having to start all over again.