Salamander

Hi can anyone help please? I'm 41 and a child protection social worker with a wealth of experience. I have a husband and 2 children and all desperately want to emigrate to NZ. We don't have thousands in the bank -is it possible for us to move and how do we we go about it-any advice would be appreciated!? Thank you 🤔

MrsFychan

social worker is on the list of skills required in NZ but you will need a job offer. but from friends that are Kiwi's and social workers jobs are few and fair between so you may find it quite difficult to gain employment, but unless you try you won't know.

why do you want to emigrate to NZ?

outback sunset

Hi,I used to work in that role in NZ around 10 years ago. The pay was terrible and I could barely feed two of us, working 80hrs per fortnight. It was financial suicide and sadly we had to move on. I work in Aus now but look at NZ from time to time as we still have links there. The salaries don't seem to have moved on much, but there seem to be far fewer jobs. I don't want to be negative but having money to bring with you helps in NZ as much, if not more than other countries. Kiwi work experience is taken extremely seriously. Read about the Treaty of Waitangi as this will be essential knowledge. You may find it hard to find a job from the UK because of local experience but it can be done if you can be flexible with your initial location. It may be necessary to visit NZ on holiday to meet with some managers. Be prepared to apply for what's available and see what transpires.
The first step is to get registered with the NZ registering body for social workers and apply for a skilled visa. Have a look online at NZ govt immigration website. You do need to be registered to work in NZ. Then start applying for jobs. You could start to email employers with your CV but going on the experiences of others that have posted here you may not get many responses.
Apply for a skilled visa, get registered for work in NZ and start applying for jobs.You didn't ask for any other advice but just my 2c - Australia has more jobs, much better pay, there are many lovely cities and towns with excellent lifestyle opportunities. Plus Aus citizenship allows you to live and work in NZ in the future but it doesn't work the other way around.

Justcol

NZ citizenship does allow you live and work in oz

Apart from that I agree with everything that's been said, pay is awful for social workers here
I've know qualified S/W earning as little as $38k

outback sunset

Apologies, Justcol is correct. You'd be able to live and work in Aus but with limited rights that may have a significant impact on you and your children. I'm not up to date on the complexities so please check with the relevant immigration website if you're considering this route.
I think I was earning mid $40's 10 years ago and with no super. Justcol confirms what I'd researched that some are still earning around this figure for a job that requires a university education and professional registration. It all depends on your personal circumstances and goals. I think some could probably move across and fully embrace this lifestyle. It would require a lot of economising but could be done, especially if you have enough money to buy a house outright. At our stage of life at the time it would have meant not being to save at all for retirement, even if we could live day to day, hand to mouth. I still love NZ but found the best way for me to get there is to work elsewhere with better pay, and move over when PAYG income from a job is no longer important.

Pollyana

You can only live here (Aus) as a temporary resident. In order to become a permanent resident you have to meet the same criteria as other migrants. That then means you miss out on most welfare benefits, jobs that are only open to PR (such as some Govt roles) etc. And as the law could be changed at any time its not the most secure way to live.

outback sunset

^This. I'm not up to date as I said but think that it has fairly major implications related to your children's education throughout life i.e. they can pay much higher fees. Your temporary residency may not be renewed if your health status changes for the worst, or if there is a change in policy etc. As I said, something to research further if you think it may apply to you as it may be preferable to go for Aus citizenship in the first instance if you can and move to NZ later if you want to. However, this may be completely off topic if the OP is only interested in NZ immigration.

Salamander

Thank you all for your advice. Initially we wanted to go to Australia but I applied to Victoria for state sponsorship and was turned down so this put me off a little. If I am honest we would rather go Australia, but just don't know how to do it. We don't own a house so money is limited. Should I give up on our dream?

christmasoompa

Emigration generally isn't cheap. I don't know about NZ, but in the Canada forums we generally say it costs around £20-25k for a family to emigrate there.

Maybe you could add up all of the costs (flights, visa fees, incidentals e.g. medicals, police checks, courier fees etc, insurances, shipping, deposits for a house, car purchase and insurance etc, etc), and then see if you'd have enough? If not then at least you'll know what figure you need to aim for.

And the good folks in the NZ or Oz forums will help you figure out the cost of living and the kind of life you could afford once there.

And if it's not achievable then how about a move within the UK? Much cheaper and often will achieve what you're after.

Best of luck.

Pollyana

Thats usually now the basic figure given for Australia as well. Very roughly, off the top of my head it would be around £5000 just for the visa for a family of 4, £2-300 each for a medical, £90 for police checks, skills assessment and IELTS on top, and thats just the start.

Purrball

Expanding on that, current competence standards include:

Competence to practise social work with Māori. The social worker:

• engages with Māori in culturally appropriate ways and in an inclusive manner;
articulates how the wider context of Aotearoa New Zealand both historically and currently can impact on practice

• demonstrates knowledge of the Treaty of Waitangi, te reo Māori and tikanga Māori

• supports Mana Whenua and Māori services in their area.

Core Competence Standards - Social Workers Registration Board

Also see: Overseas Qualified Social Workers

scot47

Social Work is a culturally-specific discipline. What works in Wandsworth may not in Waitangi

outback sunset

I'm glad that's not true otherwise we'd all be stuck working in our own town of origin with people from our own culture. It is not assumed that professionals including doctors, social workers, teachers, police officers etc can work well with different cultures. That's why they invented additional training. It is possible to move to NZ and work well with Maori (as I have done) but you need the desirable attributes and additional training.

Justcol

if you really want Australia then NZ will not be the place for you.
NZ is not OZ it is nothing like OZ, you'll end up disillusioned and thousands out of pocket

dfjordan

Salamander; you said you "are desperate" to move to NZ, but then later say you'd really prefer Australia? It sounds to me like you just want to get out of the UK. With the levels of salaries mentioned, I would suggest you stay where you are ; I think otherwise you will live to regret it.