# Moving to NZ from UK



## CharcoalMW

My family and I are considering moving to NZ, I am a newly qualified midwife with a Phd, my husband is a mnaging director of a company with A levels, we would both be looking for a job out in NZ, we have 3 kids aged 10, 12, 13 who will need schools. From what I can understand finding a job as amidwife shouldnt be too difficult for me, I have no idea about my husband though. The other question is, we would love to bring my parents in law out too who are aged 72 and 75 - do they need a certain amount of equity to be able to come with us? Thank you in advance!


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## escapedtonz

Don't be too sure about the possibilities of a Midwife job. How they are employed and work here is very different than the UK. There are less of them and less demand for them due to a much reduced population size. DHB's (District Health Boards) do employ a small number directly but gaining a position as a midwife in a hospital working directly for a DHB may be difficult. Many midwife's here are independant / private / self employed or maybe work for a third party or agency ?
It is left up to the mother to be to employ the services of a midwife here and usually done as soon as you find out you are pregnant - you'd usually select by word of mouth and then from the point the midwife agreeing to take you on they are effectively at your beck and call 24hrs a day until 6 weeks after the birth and with you all the way. The midwife claims payment off the DHB for their services for the duration. If you cannot find a midwife or it is determined that you may not have a straightforward birth you may be referred to the DHB and the midwives who work on the maternity ward. You may not necessarily have the birth in a hospital. You may have it at a birthing centre.
Research all about midwives in NZ and start your professional registration process as that takes 3 or 4 months anyways and you cannot work without it. You'll also have to take IELTS academic as it'll be mandatory no matter your background (for registration purposes NOT immigration).

If your husband has many many years experience it may be overlooked that he doesn't have a formal Bachelor degree or above. It isn't absolutely necessary but can't say it'll be easy to gain employment.

You cannot bring parents anymore. There is no visa for this, however there are a couple they could look in to to qualify in their own right with your support and maybe sponsorship.

(1) Parent Resident Visa is where a parent could join an NZ citizen or resident child. They'd need to demonstrate how they meet the criteria for Tier 1 or 2 and there's lots of other obligations and costs on both their part and yours, BUT that visa is temporarily closed (and has been for 2 years plus with no notification of its future).

(2) Parent Retirement Resident Visa. 
If you have an adult child who is a New Zealand citizen or resident, you can apply to live in New Zealand permanently. You’ll need an annual income of NZ $60,000 plus NZ $1 million to invest for 4 years, and another NZ $500,000 to live on. Once you’ve completed the 4-year investment period, you’ll be eligible for permanent residence.
This visa category seems to be open.

Have a look at them on the INZ website.


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## CharcoalMW

Thank you very much for your detailed response. I am familiar with the midwifery model in NZ and it is one of the reasons NZ appeals to me - the LMCs work in a similar way to the independent midwives in the UK, but are paid by the NZ government rather than the individual women I believe. Midwives are on the short term skills shortage list, which gives me hope, and I have 220 point score. I would be coming out to the country with a job offer, which I will hopefully be able to secure. I have managed to contact some expat NZ midwives in the South Island who have been extremely helpful, Im pretty sure I couldn't get a visa without a job offer and we would need that security.

You've reassured me about my husband too, tbh to start with it would be me working and my husband staying at home, helping the kids settle in etc. 

Very interesting about my parents in law, they may JUST qualify regarding liquid assets, so again I have some hope we can make it work.

Many thanks again!


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