# Moving to NZ



## SimonaP (Jan 6, 2016)

Hello everyone, We are thinking about moving to NZ from USA. We are now starting the research....Reading about visas, jobs, school ( we have two 8years old ). I'm looking for some guidance, what should i do first, where do i start? Do you need a job in orded to apply for a visa? How long the process can take? We have to sell our house and stuff here before moving, i'm trying to see how can we coordinate the steps so we dont have to rent after selling the house here is USA. We have not decided in the area yet, thinking more somewere warm considering we are from Arizona ). My husband is a mechanical engineer (aerospace) and i work as a fraud analysts for a bank, hopefully we can stay in the same field, if not we are open to changes ;-)

Any advice and guidance will be greatly appreciated!


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## inhamilton (Jun 10, 2011)

Hi,
The first thing to do is find out whether you and your family have enough points in order to be eligible for immigration as a skilled migrant.

Firstly find out whether your jobs are on the skilled shortage lists.

Skill Shortage List Checker ? Immigration New Zealand

Decide who will be the principal applicant and then work out how many points you have here :

https://www.immigration.govt.nz/pointsindicator/

If you have 140 points or more, you should be eligible and you can submit an expression of interest.

If you have a job offer, this can boost your points considerably.

Below 140 points and its unlikely but not impossible you will be granted a visa.


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## escapedtonz (Apr 6, 2012)

SimonaP said:


> Hello everyone, We are thinking about moving to NZ from USA. We are now starting the research....Reading about visas, jobs, school ( we have two 8years old ). I'm looking for some guidance, what should i do first, where do i start? Do you need a job in orded to apply for a visa? How long the process can take? We have to sell our house and stuff here before moving, i'm trying to see how can we coordinate the steps so we dont have to rent after selling the house here is USA. We have not decided in the area yet, thinking more somewere warm considering we are from Arizona ). My husband is a mechanical engineer (aerospace) and i work as a fraud analysts for a bank, hopefully we can stay in the same field, if not we are open to changes ;-)
> 
> Any advice and guidance will be greatly appreciated!


Hi and welcome to the forum. 

As InHamilton has mentioned, your first port of call should be www.immigration.govt.nz
There is a wealth of information on the site and you need to decide the type of visa route you'll need to suit your needs.
I'm going to assume you wish to be able to live and work in NZ so to discount mentioning anything about visitor visas or study visas etc. I'll just be talking about visas that can allow you to live and work here.......

Usually this decision will come down to whether you want it to be a temporary trip, a temporary trip that may well become permanent or a permanent trip.

Temporary :
You will need a job offer from an nz employer and it can't just be any Tom dick or Harry outfit. The employer will have to be accredited (approved by immigration nz to offer work overseas), the employer will have to follow strict guidelines, the job will have to be classed as skilled and immigration approve of the responsibilities and salary plus the contract term....has to be a minimum 12 months.
You can get through the system getting a job offer from a non-accredited nz employer but it will take a lot longer as Immigration will have to work with the employer throughout the process. 
It's always better to get a minimum contract term of 2 years as you will have more rights and benefits here over someone on a contract under 2 years.
The visa to go for once you had a written job offer would be Essential Skills Temporary Work Visa.
The employer, job and responsibilities become conditions of the visa meaning if you are successful you can only live and work here in that job with those responsibilities for that company. If any of that changes (e.g. if the company changed) you'd have to go back to Immigration and they would reconsider your position.
To obtain a visa this way once you had a written job offer is a matter of weeks - maybe 4 to 6 and once approved you'd have to travel here within 3 months to activate.
You could at any time apply for a more permanent visa. Many people often use this route to get to NZ quickly to take up a job offer quickly since the permanent route takes a lot longer. They then apply for a Resident visa which is a permanent visa once in NZ.

Temporary that may turn into permanent :
Similar to the Temporary route but you'd probably apply for a Work To Residency visa instead. This is a very similar visa to the one previous but it is intended that the person will actually remain and at some point in the initial 2 years apply for residency.
Similar time frame to obtain.

Permanent :
Resident Visa via the Skilled Migrant Route.
Points based and you don't necessarily have to have a job offer as it all depends on your EOI points score.
Without a job offer you will have to score minimum 140 to guarantee EOI selection and it is likely to take at least 9 months / 1 year plus for approval. Score any lower and you will most likely never be selected from the pool and after 6 months the EOI would be removed and the payment to lodge lost.

With a job offer you are likely to be selected with points from 100. All depends how many applications meet the selection criteria at the time of the fortnightly EOI pull. A score of 140 points will still guarantee selection and in these cases (because of the job offer) your application is a priority so often takes less time. Maybe at least 5/6 months upwards.
It's very difficult to estimate timescales as every application is treated individually.

I'd advise you to keep your home in the US and rent it out instead of selling, just in case nz doesn't work for you and you wish to return. If all is well in nz after 2 years then sell up and buy in nz. 
Understand that this may not work for you financially. 

If you want a warm place all year round then you'll need to be looking at the tip top of the South Island maybe Nelson and Blenheim or from the centre of the North Island upwards.
Remainder of the South Island is cold during the winter so may not suit.
Bottom of the North Island is very mixed with lots of wind rain and sun so may not suit.
You'll have to research if you can get work in these areas but expect you both could. Obviously the bigger the city the better chance you will have.


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## mikesurf (Nov 7, 2012)

escapedtonz said:


> If you want a warm place all year round then you'll need to be looking at the tip top of the South Island maybe Nelson and Blenheim or from the centre of the North Island upwards.


Nowhere in New Zealand is the weather warm all year round. All of the South Island is cold in the winter. South of Auckland is wet and cold in winter and north of Auckland is wet and mild in winter.
If you want gauranteed warm weather head for Australia.


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## SimonaP (Jan 6, 2016)

Thank you!


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## SimonaP (Jan 6, 2016)

NZ weather would be good, we just dont want lots of snow....


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## SimonaP (Jan 6, 2016)

Wet and mild for winter sounds god!


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## SimonaP (Jan 6, 2016)

Good!


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## escapedtonz (Apr 6, 2012)

mikesurf said:


> Nowhere in New Zealand is the weather warm all year round. All of the South Island is cold in the winter. South of Auckland is wet and cold in winter and north of Auckland is wet and mild in winter.
> If you want gauranteed warm weather head for Australia.


Now that all depends on the individual and what they deem is a warm climate in comparison with what they are used to and not where the mercury is on the dial


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## inhamilton (Jun 10, 2011)

SimonaP said:


> NZ weather would be good, we just dont want lots of snow....


it never snows in Whangarei, Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga and surrounds and only infrequently in the rest of the North Island except up in the mountains.


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## mikesurf (Nov 7, 2012)

inhamilton said:


> it never snows in Whangarei, Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga and surrounds and only infrequently in the rest of the North Island except up in the mountains.


Almost never 

Kids play in snow in central Auckland - National - NZ Herald News


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## inhamilton (Jun 10, 2011)

mikesurf said:


> Almost never
> 
> Kids play in snow in central Auckland - National - NZ Herald News


Ha. Shows how much you know. That snow was dumped in Auckland by a truck to give the kids a novelty. Trust me. It NEVER snows in Auckland. The closest they've got since I was alive was some slow hail/ice for about 5 minutes a few years back which made the first item on the nightly news on TV.

Last July Auckland did experience their coldest morning for 64 years however. A spine tingling -3 degrees one morning at dawn. 
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/70170194/Aucklands-coldest-morning-recorded-in-64-years

After which, normal weather patterns resumed. It is rare for Auckland even to get to 0 degrees, let alone have snow.


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## mikesurf (Nov 7, 2012)

inhamilton said:


> Ha. Shows how much you know. That snow was dumped in Auckland by a truck to give the kids a novelty. Trust me. It NEVER snows in Auckland. The closest they've got since I was alive was some slow hail/ice for about 5 minutes a few years back which made the first item on the nightly news on TV.
> 
> Last July Auckland did experience their coldest morning for 64 years however. A spine tingling -3 degrees one morning at dawn.
> Auckland's coldest morning recorded in 64 years | Stuff.co.nz
> ...


my first post was meant as a joke but as you insist on saying never.

I think I know more than you obviously. I was there when it snowed and it wasn't in a truck.

It may have been rare and it may not have lasted long but still don't say never.



Snow falls in Auckland for first time in decades - National - NZ Herald News


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## inhamilton (Jun 10, 2011)

mikesurf said:


> my first post was meant as a joke but as you insist on saying never.
> 
> I think I know more than you obviously. I was there when it snowed and it wasn't in a truck.
> 
> ...


Yea, I mentioned that in my post above. To call what happened on that day 'snow' is an insult to the word. lol


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