About jcaprani

Status:

Expatriate  

Gender:

Male

Currently Lives:

Citizen Of:

United Kingdom

Dual Citizen Of:

Fiji

HR/Relo
Professional:

Provider of Expat-Related Services & Products

Some Forum Posts:

Fiji: CONTAINER SHIPPING:

Know-how is irrelevant, know-WHO is what matters. Getting a container into Fiji is rather frustrating as there are the usual 3 and 4 letter govt agencies set up to give jobs for the boys and create roadblocks for business people where the govt can extract some extra revenue. Govt agency employees tend to be ill-educated and low paid so their understanding and implementation of the various regulations are patchy and inconsistent. Better to hand this to a professional. Our business use UB Freight (offices in Auckland and Lautoka) for everything. They are low cost and pretty good. Anil Dutt at Lautoka office is our account manager and a helpful guy. The biggest company in Fiji for import/export is Williams & Gosling - some people I know swear by them for superior service, but they have a reputation for being more expensive too. Hope this helps. John

Fiji: What type of housing to build in fiji?:

Hi Alvena, Your ideas are solid, and container building here is a really good idea, but here's a few thoughts: Ask around about the land with people in the neighbourhood before you buy. Flooding is a huge problem here, one that property sellers go to great lengths to hide. Get a good local lawyer to do title search and make sure the seller has the legal title to sell the land. The ownership of land here is very complex and if there are title disputes it can take many years to solve, very frustrating. Buy the containers in country - import duties are high here and it's less expensive to pick one up from another expat who is done with their container after moving their personal belongings over. Search buyinfiji.com or talk to locals in the building trade. Block-build your house: cheap is fine, but there are serious cyclones here that can blow the unprepared right away. Burglar bar your windows - it's nice to live mostly outdoors, but you want to lock up your valuables and sleep safely at night. Behind the bulas and friendly smiles there is a serious undercurrent of burglary, robbery and other violent crimes, never mentioned in the tourist brochure or real estate prospectus. White people will always be targets here because locals assume whites are rich - even poor whites are better off than locals in a society where the average wage is about FJD $5 per hour and unemployment is about 25%. Many local people also have ambiguous and conflicted feelings about white people because of this country's colonial history, particularly the history of 'girmitya' or indentured labouring. You will make genuine friendships with local people, but slowly. All that said, Fiji is a wonderful country, friendly, fun and definitely safer than Sydney or London! All the best, John

Fiji: Building in Pacific Harbour:

Bula Jag, Fiji has several investment and relocation visa classes and tax incentives - this government brochure is a good starting point: http://www.frca.org.fj/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/2013-INCENTIVE-BROCHURE-V2.pdf If you are set on moving here, you will need to qualify for one of the above-mentioned incentives or secure a job with a local company. If the latter, your first places to look are Saturday editions of the Fiji Times www.fijitimes.com and Fiji Sun www.fijisun.com.fj Building here is like anywhere else - a potential minefield without good local help with title issues, planning, contracting, maintenance and security. You will need a good conveyancing lawyer and the patience to sound out the local market before making any offers. Floods and cyclones are a problem here, but good location makes all the difference. Feel free to contact me for further discussion jcaprani@gmail.com All the best, John

Date Joined:

12/30/2013

Total Posts:

4

Posts/Day:

0.00