I live in New Zealand, land of 0 opportunities for folks like me!
I dropped out of school when I was 16. Both students and teachers alike were bullies, I was put in low classes with the troublemakers despite having high scores in every subject, and my dad just up-and-left, leaving me with my grandpa. Living with gramps was fine for awhile, until he retired and started living off a teeny pension. Now I feel like a burden every single day, it feels terrible.
He retired one year ago. Prior to that I already felt like somewhat of a burden - not to the extent I'm feeling now though - so I decided to study on game development. I also got a part-time job and continued my work as a YouTuber (which I am now making 100-250 a month with).
Now gramps is getting old. He's not going to be around for much longer as sad as that sounds, and I want to give him the chance to live a life of luxury rather than having to be poor because of me. There's also the fact that if he dies, I'm screwed.
5 years ago, I met a girl and we started going out. (high school sweethearts I guess), and she moved to North Carolina for school. We're still dating, and I think it'd be in my best interest to move over there. There are many opportunities, including a job offer at Ubisoft that is right up my alley.
But first I think I should scout the place out, so to speak.
I have skills, just not in the right places... NZ doesn't have the type of work I'm capable of, especially since I need a degree for everything. You've seen the memes.
On top of that, my girlfriend has hit a sort of.. rough patch. She's not handling a certain thing very well, and I'm hoping to help her out. She has the same skills as me and works in the gamedev field if that's important, and is who originally showed me all the jobs I'm eligible for. (she's a fantastic reference as well for this, very respected)
My plan is to get a loan, travel over there as a 'holiday', scout the job opportunities, give them my resume and all that, head back to NZ, work as hard as I possibly can to make money to actually move over there and pay back my loan, get a work visa and then move.
The thing is, I have nothing to my name. No ID, no bank account, no visa. I do have a birth certificate and an expired passport however, not sure how far that'll get me.
In the heat of my decision, I traveled from my house in the middle of nowhere, all the way to the city. I'm staying with my grandmother (who admittedly is not much help, she's stuck in her ways). I came here to get to work on this plan, all the places I need to help me out are here.
I just don't know where to start. It sounds too hopeful and naive but I'd ideally prefer to be out of here by the end of the month. That must sound crazy.
I've done the math regarding the loan. I've calculated the cost of food, travel and place to stay. I'm going to need a $7000NZD loan for this, but before then I'll need a bank account, and for a bank account I'd need an ID.
I've figured, most students are bound to a loan for half their life, there's no reason I can't play by those rules, if that makes sense.
Another option is to get an actual student loan after I return. For example, I'd take out a loan to go on a trip there, hand out my resume, look at schools, then return home to either work or sort out a student loan to actually move to a dorm there. Sorry if I worded that wrong.
The only thing I know is that the visa doesn't matter for this first trip. NZ is part of a Visa-Waiver system which allows 90 days of tourism so long as you meet the requirements, which I believe I do (I'll have to double-check) so long as you apply 72 hours before you leave.
I need advice, please. Thanks in advance.
EDIT: I'm so bad at explaining things.
Submitted February 07, 2017 at 08:26PM by AbroadinAmerica http://ift.tt/2k0mAGZ
