Luiz - Leaving Brazil with his family on a student visa

Emigrant's Life - Stories of people who left their country to chase a better life

Luis and I used to work together. I remember being fascinated by his story. What attracted me was the fact that he was running a successful company in his country. He was then working with me as a trade assistant on a minimum wage. What does bring a person to make a downgrade in their career like that? He must have had a pretty good reason.

Luis is originally from Brazil. Graduated as a business administrator and civil engineer, Luiz, and his business partner opened some computer stores. A few years later, he decided to leave retails to move to construction. He then started his construction company, and it was doing well.

The World Cup in 2014 brought a lot of corruption in the construction sector. He got to the point where he couldn’t live any longer with the crime and corruption of the country he was born. He wouldn’t go to work on Fridays for fear of being robbed and hurt. Friday in Brazil is payday, and people in construction get paid cash.

After going to New Zealand on holiday a few years earlier, he realized how beautiful and safe it was. In 2015 he decided to leave Brazil, and he moved to New Zealand a year after.

At this point, he had a wife and A 2 years old son. His only chance to move to New Zealand was a student visa that allowed him to work for 20 hours per week. He took the opportunity and moved there first to find a job and a place to live before his family joined him 20 days later.

He managed to find a house, and his neighbor happened to be the HR of a telecommunication company. Thanks to his neighbors, he managed to get a job and apply to a work permit.
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Daniel De Biasi

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