# Emigrating to New Zealand



## dawnclaremaddox

Hi there, my husband and I recently spent 4 weeks in NZ and we fell in love with the place so much that my husband sent his CV on Tuesday night to a company in New Plymouth and within 30 mins had a reply, Wednesday spoke to an MD and was told there is a job for him. Amazed that this happened so quickly.

Problem is: 
a) we don't know how long the process takes. 
b) living accommodation - taxes for water, council etc.
c) vehicle insurance.
d) buying a property once we are established there.
e) registering with a doctors surgery

I would dearly love to go tomorrow, but I know that I have got to be reasonable and be patient, so any help would be most appreciated.
Thank you. 
Dawn:clap2:


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## friendly scot

*someone to talk to in same boat*

hi, just joined this page today. We are in the same boat, i don,t have much advice for you at the moment, i two would love to go tomorrow. i also have two young children and my husband was trying to source work last night awaiting responce although his trade is on the short skills list. I would love someone to share my experience with along with helping each other with our process, you never know we could end up moving together and being friends when we start our new life. With having no family there, i dare say we will need good friends.


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## Geordielass

Hello,
What area of work are your husbands in? Mine is in the construction industry and on the wanted list also? We are going through the process with an agency - have you contacted anyone yet? We hope to get our paperwork sorted in time for the next pick from the 'pool' which is on the 15th Jan I believe, but it has been stuck in the post since before Christmas so we've had to send again. Fingers crossed XX. If we're lucky then there's the awful process of telling my parents what we intend to do. Not looking forward to that! Have you been watching wanted down under on BBC1 9.30 each morning? Yesterdays was for Christchurch. Don't know if it's split between NZ & Oz or just the odd one for NZ though.


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## Gritty

Hi my husband and i spent 9 months in New Zealand and are very keen to return my husbands work is also on the wanted skills list he has applied for jobs but no joy yet. how did your husband find work so quickly??

We have already told family our intentions and though they are upset they understand that we want a better life for our little boy..

My sister emigrated 5 years ago and her visa was completed in 6 months.


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## dawnclaremaddox

New Zealand has always been the place for me since I was a teenager. My father wanted to go, but was not able to and sadly he died 5 years ago. So, unless I give it go, I will never know and might regret it for the rest of my life. We are so fed up with the UK and our children are old enough to fend for themselves, so why not? Hope you find what you are looking for.


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## dawnclaremaddox

I got a list of companies that looked suitable and my husband just pick one, decided to send his CV to them. It is early days and we have a long way to go as yet. We are at the latter end of the age group, so we do have to hurry up!


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## dawnclaremaddox

That's great, I also would like to keep in touch and try and help as much as possible, we can all learn from each other about pro's and con's. I too don't have any family there, but I don't think any of us will have any trouble fitting in. Let's face it, this country is too over crowded and we can safely say that NZ is definately not!


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## dawnclaremaddox

My husband is an Electrician and yes we have already spoken to someone about a job, now we have to go through the long winded channels. 
We are at the latter end of the age group, my parents are both gone, my husbands dad is in his 80's, but he wouldn't want us to miss this opportunity. Our 2 children are 20 & 21, so they can fend for themselves, plenty of other family and friends they can stay with until they get out there on their own accord. 
It is the other side of the world and yes we will miss those left behind, but at the end of the day, as an uncle of my husband's said to us before he died, the only people that mattered was myself, my husband and 2 children. He was so right!


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## friendly scot

Geordielass said:


> Hello,
> What area of work are your husbands in? Mine is in the construction industry and on the wanted list also? We are going through the process with an agency - have you contacted anyone yet? We hope to get our paperwork sorted in time for the next pick from the 'pool' which is on the 15th Jan I believe, but it has been stuck in the post since before Christmas so we've had to send again. Fingers crossed XX. If we're lucky then there's the awful process of telling my parents what we intend to do. Not looking forward to that! Have you been watching wanted down under on BBC1 9.30 each morning? Yesterdays was for Christchurch. Don't know if it's split between NZ & Oz or just the odd one for NZ though.


My husband applied to goughs, they are supposesed to help with the move if you have the skills. my husband is also in construction (plant maintenance). We have tryed to register with a number of agencies but no one seems to get back to us, so we are hoping this will be our best bet. We have told our parents dont think they believe it is going to happen. Watched it last night online it was Australia which looked really good. What agency have you went with? Which part are you thinking of going to? Do you have any kids? Have you heard anything about education?


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## friendly scot

Gritty said:


> Hi my husband and i spent 9 months in New Zealand and are very keen to return my husbands work is also on the wanted skills list he has applied for jobs but no joy yet. how did your husband find work so quickly??
> 
> We have already told family our intentions and though they are upset they understand that we want a better life for our little boy..
> 
> My sister emigrated 5 years ago and her visa was completed in 6 months.


What area of work is your husband in? That is one of the reasons we are going to, to give our two children a better life. We have also told family about what we are doing. Did your sister go to NZ, if so where does she stay?


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## Geordielass

My husband's had loads of positive feedback from Co.'s but they want to know how far down the immigration process we are. The 'agency' is the London Migration Bureau and they have just given him a letter to attach to his job applications saying what stage we are at etc etc. My husbands parents are both gone and mine will know that it's for the best but it's still going to be tough as I'm an only child. 
If you go on the BBC website you can see the different episodes.
We are looking at Christchurch which seems best for us. Our kids are 9 and 12, both girls. From this forum I take it that the education is good/what our kids need, along with the general lifestyle etc. 
There's plenty that we want to get away from in the UK but we're not daft thinking that you leave all of your problems behind. It's something we've wanted to do for a good time now and it's just that we needed the push to go for it. 
We also looked at Canada recently but decided it wasn't for us and we also nearly moved to Sharm in Egypt but things happened and we didn't go, which in hindsight was for the best.
It's such a huge thing to do; moving to another country especially on the other side of the world, but hopefully it'll be worth it!
Hope it works out for you both as well - keep in touch.


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## Gritty

I agrre that you have to give it a go otherwise you will spend forever wondering, on the negative side the shops are not as good but we found that people are not a materialistic, also chicken was very expensive, central heating in not widespread but heat pumps are becoming popular, on the positive lack of queues in shops was ace, parking was not normally a problem, trains are much better that the uk and the kiwis are friendly if you make an effort we have made some great friends. of course there is crime and gangs are a problem but it is normally gang on gang and the police can be tough.. we loved it and can't wait to get back there, good luck..


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## Siouxzee

hi everyone
my husband is a software engineer and also on the ltssl. we have applied for many jobs and all the responses we get is do you have permission to work here, we are keen so contact us when you do. we also thought that with the skills being in short supply companies would be willing to do job interviews over the phone etc but i have heard many have been burnt in the past. our eoi has been selected and we have been invited to apply for the skilled migrant visa, just waiting for a police clearance certificates so we can submit our full application.
dawn it is fantastic that things are happening so quickly for you.
from what i understand you can apply for a temporary work visa if you have a job offer while your permanent residency is being approved, which enables you to start work there alot quicker.


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## saltybroad

I am very interested to hear input from folks that have managed to land jobs in NZ prior to being in the country - my husband is an engineer (long term shortage list) and we have been approved for residence without a job offer. Will he be able to get a job before we move, or are we likely to end up having to be in NZ before anyone will take his CV seriously? From what I've read here, that seems to be the case for teachers, but what about other fields?


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## topcat83

Geordielass said:


> .... we also nearly moved to Sharm in Egypt but things happened and we didn't go, which in hindsight was for the best.....


Gosh that would have been a brave move. My son lived and worked there for a while (dive instructor) and it may be closer to Europe in distance, but certainly isn't in culture... But he did learn how to swear in Arabic - and other things that are useful when dealing with Egyptian taxi drivers! (thinks - that might be useful in Central Auckland too...)


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## Gritty

My sister lives about an hour from wellington in the Wairarapia, you have to drive over the Rimatuka hill which the first time is really scary, when we first visited there were no safety barriers but it it having improvements, kiwis are not the best drivers and drink driving is high, women tend to be the worst school run mums are forever getting caught, very odd. We hope to move to Rumati beach. always wanted to live near a beach...
I think for people moving to New Zealand it is like marmite you will either love it or hate it. 

maybe meet you guys out there one day...


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## just85

Hi Guys
Sorry to jump in on your conversation as i have only just registered with this forum. My girlfriend and i are looking into emigrating to NZ this time next year (2012) as she is due to finish university in sept 2011,so we are starting to plan now,i have trawled the internet looking at visa applications,jobs,housing etc and find it all jibber jabber,we hav been to a seminar with the emigration group and it seemed convincingly easy,but my other half is a worrier and would like to speak to someone face to face or in the same situation,we both qualify on the skills shortage list and would preferably like to move to the north of the country. Anyway just want to know if it would be best to apply for a job first then go from there or? or would we rent a property until we find our feet? i dont know!! would greatly appreciate any info you could give me on getting the ball rolling!


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## Gritty

I agree it would be best to rent first until you are sure you want to stay people think emigrating will be to somewhere perfect but there is no such place it depends what you want out of life, outdoors life is great in NZ but you will have to live in the city if you like a night life as trains do not run late. There is not a lot in NZ for 18 to 30 year olds but for children and people wishing to start a family it is great.


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## topcat83

just85 said:


> Hi Guys
> Sorry to jump in on your conversation as i have only just registered with this forum. My girlfriend and i are looking into emigrating to NZ this time next year (2012) as she is due to finish university in sept 2011,so we are starting to plan now,i have trawled the internet looking at visa applications,jobs,housing etc and find it all jibber jabber,we hav been to a seminar with the emigration group and it seemed convincingly easy,but my other half is a worrier and would like to speak to someone face to face or in the same situation,we both qualify on the skills shortage list and would preferably like to move to the north of the country. Anyway just want to know if it would be best to apply for a job first then go from there or? or would we rent a property until we find our feet? i dont know!! would greatly appreciate any info you could give me on getting the ball rolling!


Hi there - welcome to the Forum.

Have a read of other posts for a balanced view of life here!

You can start applying for jobs in advance, but if you can get enough points without then I'd start the ball rolling on the EOI. If you do get a job in the mean time it will just strengthen your application. However generally employers want to know that the candidate is far enough down the immigration path that they won't be wasting their time. Another option is to come over on holiday first - they like to see you face-to-face.

I'd recommend an investigative trip anyway - do the places tourists generally don't do and where 'real' NZ'ers live!

On accommodation - I'd come over expecting to rent for 6 months. You'll get to know the area better then so you can avoid any dodgy areas!!


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## newadventures

Hi,
My Fiance and I have decided to take the plunge and emmigrate to New Zealand. He is currently serving as a Royal Engineer in the British Army and is a Carpenter and Joiner, I work in Accounts but am studying for a Diploma in Forensic Science. The plan is to move out in 2-3 years but want to find out as much as we can about it first. We do know some people that live out there that would be able to help us re: finding a house, and hopefully looking for work. My Fiance is a tradesman but it doesnt look like he would qualify as a skilled migrant, and neither would I. We have never been over to NZ but are planning to go this Summer on a fact finding mission. Any info or advice would be welcome......


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