# Couple Emigrating to NZ - Would HUGELY appreciate your advice!



## emma1984 (Feb 16, 2012)

Hi everyone, 

Great forum - have found a lot of interesting information on here and finally decided to take the plunge, sign up and post! 

I will keep our story short and would greatly appreciate your advice/opinions.

We are a professional couple planning to relocate to NZ in a month or so - I am 27 years old from UK, my partner is 26 and Brazilian. I have a background in metals trading and will go to NZ on a Working Holiday Visa (WHV). I am fairly confident about my situation - I have been fortunate in receiving some very positive replies from a number of NZ companies and have set up some meetings when I arrive (although to be honest if it takes a while to find a longer term solution I am happy to wait tables/pull pints etc). My plan is to submit my EOI once I have spent a few months working on a temporary contract with one of these companies (obviously fingers crossed that one of them makes me an offer!). 

My partner is in a more worrying situation - as a Brazilian he cannot qualify for a WHV - there is only a very small quota per year of WHVs for Brazilians and it does not open until October. He speaks very good english and is a Software Developer with a Bachelor´s Degree in Computer Science. He is great in his area - he recently made it to the final 12 in Latin America in Microsoft´s selection process. However, he has spent a lot of time studying (a Bachelor´s degree here takes 5 years) and only has 2 years work experience (this was in Poland and Estonia) - many NZ employers seem to ask for more years experience than this. 

He has submitted his EOI however only has a points score of 110, without a job offer he is very unlikely to get selected and all the email enquiries he is sending are receiving the same response - companies will only consider applicants already in NZ.

So, in the light of this he has decided (although we are still very nervous) to come on a tourist visa and approach as many companies as possible. I understand that many will not consider somebody who does not yet have legal right to work in NZ and to obtain this he will require a job offer - so we face a Catch 22. However, I have also heard that whilst difficult it is not impossible to find a company willing to help so that you can achieve a Temporary Work Visa, and also bump up your EOI points substantially. 

We would really appreciate any thoughts/wisdom/experiences related to this Catch 22 problem. Unfortunately we have not lived together long enough to complete a joint EOI. We don´t have any family or other connections to NZ that could help.

Also, if anybody has any info on the current job market for software developers/IT professionals that would be fantastic.

Thank you all so much in advance for your help!

Kind regards

Emma


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## chellebubbles (Aug 21, 2010)

Hi, my boyfriend and I emigrated 3 weeks ago. Lots of companies showed interest and told us to get intouch when we had our residency visas and had actually arrived. We did, and most have said they have no positions at the moment and now we are heavily relying on agencies to get us the right contacts, we have also emailed companies directly. It seems all the work is in Auckland, i recommend you find somewhere to stay as we are finding that difficult at the moment and are currently in a not so great motel. There are room share websites, so maybe worth having a look before you go. NZs a gorgeous place, we want to see more but dont want to waste are savings incase we dont manage to get work....seems the worlds full of catch 22s... you see a lot of nationalities and races and from what ive seen everyone works well together so hopefully once your fella is over here he gets some sort of sponsor ship. good luck with everything, fingers crossed for you xxx



emma1984 said:


> Hi everyone,
> 
> Great forum - have found a lot of interesting information on here and finally decided to take the plunge, sign up and post!
> 
> ...


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