# A mixed bag of migration questions/worries



## imcaufieldholt (Dec 16, 2013)

Hi all,
Been lurking and realise everybody's situation is unique. I have a couple of questions I'd like some help or insights for.

We are a UK family (2 adults and 2 children 11/8)
I've been offered a public sector IT job in Wellington. Pay is $100k and there is some relocation allowance, though I'm going to ask if it can be raised. Salary seems ok, we live a frugal lifestyle in UK on my salary of £44k, I'm assuming it'll be pretty similar in NZ? But we would lose child benefit and occasional part-time work for my wife (£2-3000 a year)

So, firstly, I need a visa and my inclination is to apply for the SMC as it seems I will have about 200 points from the online caculator. On the job offer, I can't see how long the offer is valid for, but I guess I'll have to ask.

In my current job, I'll have to give 3 months notice. Is there an average time to get an SMC with a job offer? (I'll have to do the EOI aswell, so I guess that adds time).

So, my biggest worry right now seems to be, that I resign from work, apply for the SMC and it gets turned down for some reason, maybe medical (high blood pressure is the only thing I may have). I think my wife may have to get a copy of her US birth certificate

Worries:
- I resign from UK job with no visa and visa is then refused (only thing I can think of why it might, may be blood pressure related). I want to wait for visa approval before resigning....but that may be too long for employer.
- The length of time it will take to sell our house. We will need some of the equity to finance the move.
- Will my 11yo child's education suffer if we were to return to the UK for her A-Levels. I've read about IGCSE's, so that may be a route, but are they only offered in over-subscribed/posh schools? Or are NZ age 16 qualifications treated as equivalent to UK GCSEs (or whatever they become)?

Hmmm, these worries seem bigger in my head.

Basically, do I follow this route?:
1) put house on market asap - well after Xmas (We will move house anyway, if all goes pear-shaped)
2) Submit EOI now, hope for quick ITA
3) Get medicals etc done, submit for SMC visa
4) Wait for approval
5) Resign from current job

This sounds like a 4-6 month process to me.

Thoughts appreciated.
Thanks,
Ian


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## escapedtonz (Apr 6, 2012)

imcaufieldholt said:


> Hi all, Been lurking and realise everybody's situation is unique. I have a couple of questions I'd like some help or insights for. We are a UK family (2 adults and 2 children 11/8) I've been offered a public sector IT job in Wellington. Pay is $100k and there is some relocation allowance, though I'm going to ask if it can be raised. Salary seems ok, we live a frugal lifestyle in UK on my salary of £44k, I'm assuming it'll be pretty similar in NZ? But we would lose child benefit and occasional part-time work for my wife (£2-3000 a year) So, firstly, I need a visa and my inclination is to apply for the SMC as it seems I will have about 200 points from the online caculator. On the job offer, I can't see how long the offer is valid for, but I guess I'll have to ask. In my current job, I'll have to give 3 months notice. Is there an average time to get an SMC with a job offer? (I'll have to do the EOI aswell, so I guess that adds time). So, my biggest worry right now seems to be, that I resign from work, apply for the SMC and it gets turned down for some reason, maybe medical (high blood pressure is the only thing I may have). I think my wife may have to get a copy of her US birth certificate Worries: - I resign from UK job with no visa and visa is then refused (only thing I can think of why it might, may be blood pressure related). I want to wait for visa approval before resigning....but that may be too long for employer. - The length of time it will take to sell our house. We will need some of the equity to finance the move. - Will my 11yo child's education suffer if we were to return to the UK for her A-Levels. I've read about IGCSE's, so that may be a route, but are they only offered in over-subscribed/posh schools? Or are NZ age 16 qualifications treated as equivalent to UK GCSEs (or whatever they become)? Hmmm, these worries seem bigger in my head. Basically, do I follow this route?: 1) put house on market asap - well after Xmas (We will move house anyway, if all goes pear-shaped) 2) Submit EOI now, hope for quick ITA 3) Get medicals etc done, submit for SMC visa 4) Wait for approval 5) Resign from current job This sounds like a 4-6 month process to me. Thoughts appreciated. Thanks, Ian


Hi Ian,

We're also from the UK and live/work in Wellington. Don't have a job in IT but work with a heck of a lot of it ;-)

I came over on $95k plus up to 10% bonus, plus $15k relocation, plus Kiwisaver and health/death & disablement/income protection ins. All in all approx £30k less than I was earning in the UK. A big part of the reduction is I don't get shift pay here which accounted for around £13k in the UK.

Tis a very good salary here - in the top 5% of earners apparently, but cost of living overall I'd say is +10-15%. Higher here than a lot of places in NZ as it's the capital.
If you can raise salary and relocation then do it. They can only say no, but you'll be able to live on that so long as the rent you pay isn't over around $500 a week!
Also, do you get any other benefits ?
Surely the company must offer Kiwisaver, which is a savings fund for retirement.
What about health care ins, death & disablement ins, income protection ins ?

Note: you must be a Resident to join Kiwisaver and to qualify for any benefits - however you will earn too much to get child support etc here.

With a skilled job offer you will have 3 options I think.
1. Residency via SMC.
2. Work To Residence Visa.
3. Temporary Work Visa.

1. Residency via SMC is the route we took. With a job offer this generally takes around 6 months assuming all ok with work experience and academic paperwork, police certificates, medicals and partnership evidence.
Don't worry about the high BP. I'm also a sufferer and the only issue on my medical.
So long as your on prescribed tablets and they maintain your BP fine then so long as the cost of the tablets via the GP isn't going to deplete NZ health system funds then it'll be fine.
Immigration never even questioned my medical.
Since coming here the doctor has put me on Enalapril 20mg a day which works fine.
You are only allowed to import 3 months supply of prescribed meds and it's highly likely your UK meds won't be available here so the doc will just prescribe the closest match and see how you go on.
On the visa front, so long as you have 140 or over on the EOI it will be auto selected at the next fortnightly pull.
Assuming you then receive ITA, with points for a job offer (which must be a permanent position as far as I know) your visa will be worked on almost immediately.
Note: they also take into account the credentials of all persons on the application so it's not just your health and police status they look at.
If you get through and are awarded the Residency visas you will have 12 months to activate them.

2. Work To Residency.
This is basically just for you and is a Temporary Work Visa geared towards you applying for Residency at a later stage.
With this visa, your partner would have to apply for her own visa (generally immigration will award her a Temporary Work Visa for the same length of time as your WTR visa, but she doesn't need a job offer or have to work at all).
Kids would need study visas or conditional visitor visas.
These take maybe 3-6 months to secure.
Allows you to travel here sooner.
You can also have the Residency via SMC application ticking along in the background.

3. Temporary Work Visa.
Can only be secured with a skilled job offer and are again just for you.
Turn around if you have everything in place is a week!!!
You then have 3 months to get here.
Your wife and kids would have to go down the same route as the WTR visa where your wife gets a similar Temporary Work visa that aligns with the period of yours and kids on study visas or conditional visitor visas.
Ideal way to get here asap.
You can again have the Residency via SMC application ticking along in the background.

Worries - blood pressure isn't an issue, BUT if you have high BP and aren't taking medication for it then you need to see your GP in the UK and deal with it first.
Immigration wouldn't be happy taking you in as a migrant with a health issue that hasn't already had some intervention.

Worries - resigning from job then being refused the visa.
Check your contract and maybe see an employment solicitor.
3 month notice period is a heck of a long time. This sounds more like the period of notice they need to give you, not the other way round.
Other option is voluntary redundancy ?
Or another is a career break for 2/3/4/5 years ?
Also, you could secure the visa first then resign. Maybe initially go for one of the temporary visa routes so you have the visa secured earlier.

Some visa advice: the longer the period of the visa, the more effort immigration put in to the checks on you.
So a Temporary Work Visa for 2 years.....Immigration only have to consider you living here for 2 years!!!
A Residency visa......Immigration have to consider you (and everyone else on the application) as living here permanently!!!

Other option is to rent your house out long term instead of selling. We did that for 2 years. Rent covered our mortgage and insurances etc, but only cos we remortgaged to interest only a month before coming out.
House now on the market being looked after by an agent and our parents.

Can't help with schools and GCSE's etc sorry. Our boy only 3 in Feb.

All in all I loved it as soon as we arrived. It's just so much nicer than the UK.
Much more outdoorsy lifestyle. Better weather, less people, less traffic. The beers are still cold!
Beaches on the doorstep. Great place to bring up kids. People are really nice. Feels so much safer, less crime especially less violent crime.

Good luck!


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## imcaufieldholt (Dec 16, 2013)

escapedtonz said:


> Hi Ian,
> 
> We're also from the UK and live/work in Wellington. Don't have a job in IT but work with a heck of a lot of it ;-)
> 
> ...


Thank you for the lengthy reply.
I'm going to push for salary... why not, the best chance is when first offered a job afterall!
Also going to push for increase in relocation, mainly because we don't have a lot of savings and wouldn't want to arrive with none, after visa and medical expenses.
The real biggie I'd like to see is if they will pay for me to visit. Long shot I know, but being a bit of a chicken and risk averse I would like to actually meet the team, get a feel of the place, before moving around the world (my last NZ visit was in 1997!!). Worth a try.
Visa-wise I's like to go down the SMC route... 
You are right, 3 months notice period is a long one, but applies to all the senior team. 

I really like the idea of a career break and since my job is public sector UK, there may be provision for it. Afterall I have been with them for 11 years. I was toying with secondment as a request because the job is with the same public authority in NZ.

Hmmm, I can see a visit to HR tomorrow!


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