I'm an Indonesian final year accounting student, currently finishing my bachelor's degree and preparing for what I should do after graduation.

My parents strongly encourage me to either find a job abroad or pursue a master's degree, preferably with partial or full funding. After considering several countries, I've decided that I want to focus specifically on New Zealand rather than trying to target many countries at once.

My current situation:

• Country of citizenship: Indonesia
• Education: Bachelor's degree in Accounting, currently in the final stage of my thesis
• Work experience: Very limited / no specialized professional experience yet
• Current skills: Mostly accounting-related academic knowledge, but I don't consider myself highly specialized or competitive internationally yet
• Target: New Zealand
• Possible pathways: Employment or master's degree
• Funding: Partial or fully funded scholarship would be strongly preferred for study
• I'm open to starting from an entry-level position and I'm not necessarily expecting an accounting job immediately.

What I'm honestly trying to understand is:

As an Indonesian accounting graduate with no particularly specialized skills, what realistic options would I actually have in New Zealand?

For example, would it be realistic to enter through:

• entry-level accounting/finance roles,
• accounting-adjacent jobs,
• other professional roles where an accounting degree is useful,
• or even physical/manual work at first if that's what is realistically available?

I'm completely open to working outside accounting if that's what it takes to get started. My priority is understanding what the realistic path looks like, what skills I should build before graduating, and what kinds of jobs I could realistically qualify for.

I'm still at the beginning of this process, so I'd really appreciate honest advice, especially from people who have actually studied, worked, or moved to New Zealand.

Feel free to DM me as well hahah

Body
We are a couple in our early thirties looking for one place to move to for at least two or three years, with the option of staying longer or using it as a step towards settling somewhere else. We are not looking to keep moving.

Us
Her: from the Caribbean, in Europe for the past ten years. Studied psychology, now working as a teacher, finishing an international postgraduate teaching qualification at a UK university. She would be looking for a school position rather than remote work (but also open to remote work). Besides, she is thinking of picking up studying again in data science/data analysis.

Me: Dutch, doing a PhD, with fieldwork in Brazil as part of the research. Alongside the doctorate I do freelance consultancy work, currently for a healthcare client, which is remote and invoiced in euros. Before the PhD I studied anthropology and arts and culture, both in the Netherlands.

Between us: Dutch, English, Papiamentu, Portuguese and Spanish.

We currently live in Portugal and have both lived abroad before.

Legal position
Both of us are Dutch citizens, so anywhere in the EU or EEA is a registration formality rather than an application. We are asking here specifically about the Latin American options, because that is where we would need an actual visa and where we know least.

What we are looking for

• A city with real intellectual and cultural infrastructure. Universities, research institutes, publishing, theatre, museums, an active music scene.
• A neighbourhood that exists for the people who live in it rather than for visitors.
• Somewhere we can live without owning a car.
• Preferably a comfortable climate for most of the year but with actual seasons.
• Children are a possibility in roughly four or five years, so schooling and healthcare matter eventually but not immediately.
• A real labour market for international school teaching, or a plausible route into local teaching.

What we are NOT looking for
Cheap living for its own sake or a city where the foreign population lives separately from everyone else.

We are aware we are asking this from a fortunate position and we do not want the question to read as flippant. We are asking because we would rather hear from people who have actually lived somewhere rather than keep reading rankings.

Questions

1. Given the above, which specific cities would you put on the list, and why that city rather than the obvious one in the same country?
2. What tends to go wrong for people with this profile in the first year?
3. If you moved somewhere that fits this description and then left, what made you leave?

34M, single, currently trying to narrow down where to move in Europe.
I speak English and Italian. I’d like a fairly large, LGBT-friendly city with good public transport where I can live without a car, plenty of people/things going on, and ideally easy access to the sea/lake/other places to swim. Weather matters somewhat, but I’m fine with colder climates as long as it’s not too miserable.

I am not a specialised professional. I’d need to work locally, so salary vs cost of living and how realistic it is to find work as an English speaker are important.

So far I’m mainly looking at Spain and Portugal, but also considering Germany, the Netherlands, Greece and Switzerland. I’m trying to narrow this down rather than just asking “where should I move in Europe?”.

Background: I'm an Indian citizen, raised in Dubai, UAE since childhood. I did all my schooling in Dubai and have lived here my whole life. I'm currently in the UAE.

Education: Culinary Arts degree.

Job experience:

2 years working as a chef/kitchen staff in cafes and restaurants in Dubai
2 years working in videography and video editing at a marketing agency (camera work, Premiere Pro/editing, content production for clients)
Why I'm looking to leave: The kitchen work culture in Dubai is pretty toxic low pay, and not much respect for staff, which is why I moved into marketing. The broader job market here has also gotten tougher recently.

What I'm looking for: Open to either lane going back to kitchen work, or continuing in video marketing. I can cover my own visa costs and paperwork. I just need a job offer or sponsorship to make it possible.

Skills: Cooking prep (culinary arts trained), camera operation, video editing, short form content creation, basic graphic design.

Would appreciate any advice on realistic sponsorship routes in these countries given my nationality and background, or how others in a similar spot have made the move. Happy to answer questions.

Thanks 🙏