# Emigration queries (NZ from Cornwall!)



## Rachelbell20 (Dec 14, 2013)

Hello All

We are looking for any help that we can get as we are in the early stages of emigrating to NZ, hopefully we will be out there towards the end of September 2014.
My partner is an electrician with his own company in Cornwall and 5 years experience and I am about to qualify as an AAT accountant with two years experience. We know that with a job offer we would be able to get hold of a residency visa due to electricians being on the skills shortage list. 

We have read so many posts about NZ being more expensive than the UK but no one seems to have emigrated from Cornwall which is extremely expensive with very low wages compared to the rest of the UK. Can anyone help that has moved over from Cornwall with a comparison of cost of living?

We currently earn £45,000 between us pa with living costs of approximately £1300 per month which includes rent, food, phone, tv, internet and utilities. We have researched NZ jobs and we would be looking at about $100000 and $120000 NZ dollars between us. Would people consider the current expenses per month we have in the UK as about right for NZ? We are looking at living in the outskirts of Wellington to begin with, perhaps the Upper Hutt.

We are also a bit concerned about what would happen when we have children as obviously I would have to stop working and we aren't sure what the financial support system would be for immigrants is (although we would hope that we would have citizenship prior to having kids)?

Any help on these two topics would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Rachel and Adam


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## Mark D (Dec 9, 2012)

Ballocks. Lol. You will earn more here yes living can be expensive but wages make up for that. Not everything is dearer. I would recommend a temp visa for 3 year and if you like it go for residence. 5 year experience and his own company?? Is that ontop of his apprenticeship ie 8 year experience? He does know that he will have to fund all his test certs here as being a qualified electrician in the uk means nothing here. Good luck plent company's email awf trades agency Kurt or Cheralee for you man they will help. Good luck. Oh say mark sent you.


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## sharbuck (Dec 10, 2013)

In regards to financial support if you had children and stopped working, there is no such support here for citizens or immigrants that I know of. You would need to decide how to support your family and make adjustments as needed.


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## Mark D (Dec 9, 2012)

For citizens there is a government fund to help with child care if you are in full time employment. I am only on a temp visa and am not intitled but when I become citizen I will get help towards child care. I know this is correct.


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## escapedtonz (Apr 6, 2012)

Rachelbell20 said:


> Hello All
> 
> We are looking for any help that we can get as we are in the early stages of emigrating to NZ, hopefully we will be out there towards the end of September 2014.
> My partner is an electrician with his own company in Cornwall and 5 years experience and I am about to qualify as an AAT accountant with two years experience. We know that with a job offer we would be able to get hold of a residency visa due to electricians being on the skills shortage list.
> ...


Hi Rachel & Adam,

Yes you are right that a job offer will most certainly give you enough bonus points to lift your total EOI points score at or over the magic 140 which will hopefully lead to ITA quickly and a higher priority from Immigration on your application.
Not sure if you'd be able to stick to your plan of Wellington though ?
Yes there are electricians jobs here in Wellington and I have friends here in the industry, however there will be more opportunities for you in Christchurch in that line of work.

NZ is more expensive. I'd say 10-15% more overall with the majority of things being more expensive, however there are some things that are cheaper - although they are few and far between.
I've not emigrated from Cornwall, but we have very very good friends who live out at Bridge, Portreath so understand the costs involved in Cornwall having been there a number of times.

$100k - $120k will give you earnings as follows :-

$100000 per annum:

Tax Rate Taxable Income Tax Element Remaining 
Bottom (10.5%) $14000.00 $1470.00 $12530.00 
Low (17.5%) $34000.00 $5950.00 $28050.00 
Mid (30%) $22000.00 $6600.00 $15400.00 
High (33%) $30000.00 $9900.00 $20100.00 
Totals: $100000.00 $23920.00 $76080.00 

ACC Levy (1.70%) on $100000.00: $1700.00 

Total available to spend: $74380.00 
Monthly: $6198.33 
4 - Weekly: $5721.54 
Fortnightly: $2860.77 
Weekly: $1430.38 

$120000 per annum:

Tax Rate Taxable Income Tax Element Remaining 
Bottom (10.5%) $14000.00 $1470.00 $12530.00 
Low (17.5%) $34000.00 $5950.00 $28050.00 
Mid (30%) $22000.00 $6600.00 $15400.00 
High (33%) $50000.00 $16500.00 $33500.00 
Totals: $120000.00 $30520.00 $89480.00 

ACC Levy (1.70%) on $113768 (Maximum Chargeable Level): $1934.06 

Total available to spend: $87545.94 
Monthly: $7295.50 
4 - Weekly: $6734.30 
Fortnightly: $3367.15 
Weekly: $1683.58 

I'm going to assume you'll be coming on Residency visas as with that you are then eligible for all the benefits here just as a citizen would be.
On top of the above earnings you will need to deduct a % for Kiwisaver, which is a savings scheme for your pension years if you choose to opt in. You'd be mad not to.
You opt in to this with your employer and pay 2,4 or 8% into it out of your salary and usually (depending on the employer) your employer will match your contribution up to 4%.
I've been here 2 years on the salary you are considering and my Kiwisaver is up to $18000!!!
You will both be able to do this, even if you don't have a job initially as you can open a Kiwisaver account at the bank and pay in yourself.
I'd advise you to join as you get free money from the government in the form of an initial investment from them and further contributions.
Just make sure you factor this further deduction in to the above income.

So, currently you get by on GBP 1300.00 per month, which pays for rent, food, phone, tv, internet and utilities!
Must say that salaries are generally paid fortnightly here - way better I can tell you. Luckily my wife and are paid at opposing times so it's never that long before more cash is going into the coffers 
Rent here is very expensive.
For a decent house in Upper Hutt you'll be paying minimum $400 a week which is $1735 per month or GBP 870 a month.
You won't get much for that also. Probably nothing to what you are used to for sure.
We're in Tawa now and pay $550 a week for a compact 4 bedroom double garage house. No double glazing. No heating other than a log burner and all electric. No gas connection.
Only been in this house 2 weeks so unsure how much our electricity bill is going to be yet - I'm hoping no more than $150 a month then maybe no more than $250 a month in winter although this may be wishful thinking.
Food for two people isn't going to be that different, however you will have to change the way you eat as the stuff that you are used to is extortionate here. You must shop seasonally for vegies - for example sometimes peppers (capsicum here) are $5 each then when in season you can get three for $2. Same with tomatoes, cherry's and a few other items. You'd think Lamb would be cheap but it isn't. It's more expensive than the UK and in my opinion not as good as the NZ Lamb we got in the UK - go figure!
We spend around $600 a month on shopping for 2 adults and a 3 year old.
See, were already up to GBP 1170 and we've only paid rent and food.
Say an average of $150 for a months worth of utilities - electric and gas. Water is free here as it's included with the rates which the landlord pays.
This adds another GBP 75 to the monthly bill - total now GBP 1245.
We have landline, internet and sky TV through Vodafone so it's all on one bill.
The landline and 80GB broadband is $85 a month and the Sky TV $50 a month for the HDi version where you can record. This does not include sports or movie channels. With international calls and calls to numbers that aren't included in the plan we pay around $140 a month for landline, broadband and sky tv.
We're up around GBP 1315 a month now.
Mobile phone is extra but doesn't cost as much here especially if you bring across your own smartphone as all you need then is a sim card. We pay $40 a month each on a monthly contract where we get 200 minutes/500 texts plus 1.25GB of data every month. Total now GBP 1355 a month.
What about transport costs to get to work or a car ?
What about insurance for contents ?
It's all money out of salary.

If you stopped work to have children then yes you lose a salary. Maternity pay isn't as good here although there's talk of it increasing ?
As a resident or citizen you are eligible for welfare assistance but if you're earning that kind of money - ie around the $100k mark you will earn too much for the equivalent of familes tax credit etc. There is also no child benefit here.

As a resident you are also eligible to the same benefits as a citizen for healthcare meaning anything that takes you in to hospital for emergency treatment is free. Visits to the doctors you have to pay for - around $40 an appointment which includes a prescription fee if necessary. You will have to pay a further $5 to get the medication from the chemist. A repeat prescription is around $20 a time. Prescriptions usually give you 3 months supply.
All other visits to the doctors to see the nurse etc are also chargeable.
I don't think you pay if you are pregnant.
Another cost you have to factor in that you won't be used to.

Also.....the dentist!
Man they are expensive.
No NHS here. It's all private.
We've just been for check ups, x-rays and a quick clean & polish. Luckily we got vouchers off GrabOne at $70 each.
I need to see the hygeinist - $150 for that appointment.
My wife needs 2 x fillings - budget ones quoted $480... Maybe one this year and one next year ha ha!

:blah:


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## Rachelbell20 (Dec 14, 2013)

Thank you so much everyone for your replies. 
Escapedtonz the info helps so much with our decisions. I think we would be fine until we decided to have kids and then from the looks of the gov't website you get really low maternity pay as statutory and it would be a bit of a struggle. I suppose we have to weigh up what is most important but the lifestyle sure looks better than here! Mark -thanks for the contact. I think we are going to apply to EWRB to see whether Adams qualifications can be converted or how much it will cost to covert them when we get there so we can at least budget for that.
Thanks again guys, with the current weather here in England you are far better off down under!


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## escapedtonz (Apr 6, 2012)

Rachelbell20 said:


> Thank you so much everyone for your replies. Escapedtonz the info helps so much with our decisions. I think we would be fine until we decided to have kids and then from the looks of the gov't website you get really low maternity pay as statutory and it would be a bit of a struggle. I suppose we have to weigh up what is most important but the lifestyle sure looks better than here! Mark -thanks for the contact. I think we are going to apply to EWRB to see whether Adams qualifications can be converted or how much it will cost to covert them when we get there so we can at least budget for that. Thanks again guys, with the current weather here in England you are far better off down under!


Yes maternity pay and paternity pay isn't as good here as back home.
As i said there is talk of it getting better one day.
Also the care you get during pregnancy is totally different - you have to find your own midwife for one and the care given post pregnancy isn't anything like in the UK, however with all that said the quality of care we have had here when my wife was pregnant recently was extremely good.

The EWRB are fine to deal with. I spoke to them a couple of times before I came over as I thought I would have to be registered as an electrical engineer but since my area of expertise is so specialised I didn't need registration which was cool.
Immigration rules state you must have professional registration as an electrician before coming to NZ or at least be on the way to getting it but in reality (due to the high amount of work in this field - especially Christchurch) it is being overlooked and there are many who haven't gained registration.

Good luck with it all!


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