Malta - British Expat Forum

It's been months since I visited this forum, sorry ^^ And I was still back in Sweden ... short recap: Unemployed teenage parent family in a county with a 20 % overall unemployment and over 30 % youth unemployment. Don't even get me started on what we had to do to survive or the many other MAJOR faults about Sweden.

No place is perfect and the grass isn't always greener but some places definately place close to the bottom.

Anyhow we studied Malta for a few weeks and started a casual jobsearch from Sweden, we had a hit with a turkish family that needed childcare for a month before they were going back to turkey for a while. Nice way to enter and explore Maltas culture and workmarket, and sure enough it was alot of luck. After 3 weeks or so I started applying for jobs (I ofc had already applied from Sweden but I figured this would improve my chances).

And you would not believe the amount of response a low-educated, unexperienced swedish teenage father could get. I had my first interview in Malta (and of my life, even though my amazing amount of applications in Sweden) and things went crazy fast and one month later we had our own luxurious central apartment and a fair income.

One month later my girlfriend's father comes down (recent programming grad) and a few weeks later he has his dreamjob aswell. Now my girlfriend is just scratching the job market an has already had two interviews and we're planning on employing a full time au pair.

Big rant there huh.

So Anyways, a total of 3 or so months in Malta we've gone from bottom to awesome, starvation and cramped living areas to a very large duplex apartment in St. Julians.

If you want to change your life and you're willing to make a good effort Malta is one of the good options.

In Sweden most people believe Malta is a stoneage country with witchdoctors and disease outbreaks. In truth the healthcare is rated higher than Sweden and the poverty and unemployment rates are unexisting.

P.s. might aswell squeeze in that if you're looking for a young positive girl fluent in swedish and english and understanding of other nordic languages give us a message.

So to all the nay-sayers out there, if Malta didn't work out for you it is very likely not the fault of the country. I've declined three higher pay job interviews since I found employment just to build some solid work experience before I move up the payranks.

Sure here may be some faults but the ups are much more noticable than the downs, and if you get bored you can easily take cheap vacations to several exotic places.

Thx to GozoMark and the team here for a couple of tips and directions that put me on a good track. 8) 8)

Thanks for posting to let us know how you're getting on. It sounds as though things are really looking up for you. 8)

GozoMark does indeed do a great job! It's good to get feedback like this.

Glad to hear that you and your girlfriend are doing well in Malta.

^^ I know my post kind of went ballistic but when life changes this much for the better in such a short time it's hard to hold back! I'm really thankful to everyone who helped make this a reality. At least in forums like this one you're not viewed as an anarchist for aiming for something outside of the swedish norm.

Thanks for the support expats!

Well done for making a good life for yourself and your family.

I could be wrong but I doubt if many people would have the gumption to get out and create opportunities for themselves like this.

That's the point - opportunity doesn't usually come knocking at your door. You have to go out and seek it.

PS: Benjamin, I worked for Swedes for a couple of years (not in Sweden). Unusual people.

I quite agree Kay.

A sad outlook for Sweden! but great news for you and your family.
I agree that taking the plunge to move abroad, when all is uncertain is unerving but if you have the will....all is possible.
Being a mixed couple, I'm British & hubby is from the Medditeranean ~ We feel that Malta has the right ingredients for us both, a neutral base for us both.

Thanks for sharing your inspiring experiences

The swedish people are much the opposite of the view many have of france, the french are known to stand up against the goverment and being noisy over things big and small, the swedish people enjoy ignorance and will not strive for any result not handed to them by the goverment. Thus it is a conservative contry only accepting the changes made by the goverment as all else is considered anarchy and make-belief. Such concepts as seperating per say immigration issues from racisim are unheard of. If you are pro immigration you are not a racist, if you oppose immigration to any amount you might aswell shave your head and get nazi clothing. Moving to malta means most people around me are of a different ethnicity but having a view that immigration is good in reasonable amounts to protect the work market and economy will not work at all. A third opinion is always an extra 50 % too complicated. The same goes for our social services, laws, how we decide to have a steady income or sell our companies (sweden has sold them all, the most profitable first). Sweden's pride is in the illusion they somehow manage to maintain that they justify actions such as anti-privacylaws to hone our relationship from being in debt to the united states, our insane immigration policy with our 20 % unemployment.

I'm ranting again aren't I?

Anyhow, they are free to do as they like as I am no longer affected. My future may not be set in stone here either but I can mold it myself to suit my family and prove my own worth aswell as express my own thought as Malta out of all countries knows much about how fragile the state of a country can be as a small (or HUGE) increase or decrease in people or setting makes much difference, especially in the long run. And the people complain loud and clear!

Benjamin90 ~ your ranting again Just let me start about the U.K.......

By the way how is your wife getting along with her job search? As I will be applying from abroad, are there any companies / call centres etc that seem appealing from the outside but not so appealing from the inside.
Any tips / advice would be appreciated.

Heya Benjamin90,

How did you go about applying for jobs please? If you did it on line could you PM me the websites. We are currently in the UK and i have sent my CV off for a few jobs but not heard anything back. I'm in 'Accounts' and hubby is a driving instructor (seems a little more difficult for him to find jobs !) I'm applying for similar roles to what i do here so i don't know what i'm doing wrong! Axx

Sorry AWmummy but you can't PM here. That's a privilege for premium members. You are very welcome to avail yourself of all the free info we have on here but if you want to PM or to get access to the insider info, then you have to become a premium member.

The choice is yours - there's lots on here for free so please do enjoy what we offer.

Oops sorry kay. Thanks Axx

All I can say AWMummy is the premium membership IS really worth it, I keep saying it cos it is true. You won't regret it and will find heaps more really useful stuff in the premium boards.