WhatToDo82

Hi there

I'm a midwife in the UK, and am looking at moving to New Zealand after my eldest has finished his GCSEs, June 2016.

I am just looking into things, like Visas, and jobs, and where to live etc etc, so any help would be much appreciated.

I am also considering doing my Health Visitor training this year, is this a good thing for New Zealand? Do they have Health Visitors or equivalent?

I have figured I can likely get a visa if I have a job to go to (skilled migrant worker), but I can't find any information on bringing my family with me. I have two boys and a long-term boyfriend. So any pointers for that would be great too.

I think we want to live in the North Island, maybe, perhaps Wellington or there abouts. But to be honest we are very flexible. Is there a big difference between the two islands?

We would need to rent somewhere to live, but were thinking it would be easier to just sell everything this end and start afresh over there, furniture wise. Rather than bother with the whole shipping thing. Or is shipping fairly cheap? Thoughts on this would also be much appreciated.

I have read a lot saying that there is a lack of insulation and heating in homes over there, I'm not sure that's hugely different to here in Cornwall. I don't suppose anyone is able to make a direct comparison at all??

Lots and lots of questions! Sorry!

TIA :-)

Stormer999

Good morning from Christchurch on a beautiful sunny day. Best of luck on your quest....research in NZ and yourself is the way to go

Justcol

Good morning from Cambridge in the waikato, good luck with your plans.

Only advice I'd give is
1) double and triple check that your kids are up for it, its a huge step for them. I arrived with a 17 and 14 yr old.
The 17 yr old went home on his own after 18 months, he hated it hear.
2) dont just look at Auckland or wellywood as places to settle, there are so many other lovely places to live down here

Purrball

Hi there. Think I'll leave most of your questions to others, as they're more qualified to give reliable advice. However:

Broadly speaking and very generally:

North Island: overall less dramatically scenic but still beautiful in many places, much larger population by about 3:1 compared to South Island, warmer weather especially in the top half, more expensive properties in urban centres. Commercial and political centre of gravity within NZ. More job opportunties.

South Island: where all the really stunning scenery of mountains and lakes is, bit cooler apart from pockets in Nelson, for instance. Down far south weather-wise it's a bit more like the UK, only about one million in the entire island, as many as in Auckland alone.


The general consensus is to ship as much as possible, even buying as much here in the UK as you can. Furniture and home stuff is absurdly expensive in New Zealand. Read this thread as one example.

There was a recent exchange where some of us compared the price of an Ikea drawer unit. £25 in the UK, but imported into New Zealand and sold through a third party retailer: just over £100.

Good luck with everything.

marooned5

Check out the visas carefully - you can bring under 18s in as dependents - but it can take a year or more to sort visaa, so if you want to bring your eldest son, best not leave it too long before you decide! Not sure of the status of long-term partners. I do know that despite being married, having the same address and 2 kids together, me and my OH still had to 'prove' our relationship was genuine in various ways - bills and bank accounts in joint names going back through the years and so on.
careful research!
As a personal opinion- I love wellington - don't like the more rural areas - they feel very very remote - a bit like a scottish island but more so...

lisamct

Hey your back! Plans back on then are they..woop!

Think I probably gave you a fair bit (too much!) info last time but as a little extra...

1. I came over with just some suitcases and shipped over a dozen boxes that arrived a month or so after I did, no furniture or big items. I fully furnished a 2 bedroom house (well actually it was 3 bedrooms but I only used 2) for about $5000, nothing flash but nice enough, new, basic furniture.

2. Housing here is very different to the UK. Never been to Cornwall but I compare most of the houses here to the home I remember living in when I was 5 or 6, so in the late 70"s in the UK. Single glazed drafty windows, no insulation with cold seeping through the walls (or actually blowing through in some old weatherboard properties), lots of dampness and condensation and either no heating or a single heat source, either a heater or plug in radiator. Remember the majority of houses here are built of wood or weatherboard so no brick or stone with the insulation it brings (when properly built)
Now on a day like today when its 25 degrees and sunny that's really not a problem but, when its blowing a gale and in single figures that becomes a bit more miserable. In previous properties to the one I'm in now, during winter, I would have to add layers of clothes when I came home into the house it was so cold.
Obviously not every house is like that but lots are so be prepared to be paying a fair amount more than you'd imagine for a rental that's a fair bit below the standard you would expect.

marooned5

Just noticed you are from Cornwall - yes, I can make a direct comparison: Penzance - Wellington, and can tell you that although the weather outside is not so different (although more sun here) the houses here are beyond belief. I have NEVER NEVER NEVER been so cold in my life as I have been here (that includes some stints living in the far north of england in an unheated house). Many / most of the houses here are just terrible - its not unusual to have temperatures as low as 5 degrees C inside the bedroom. I have had to wear thermals day and night for weeks on end - going to bed in long johns, fleece pjs and a big fleece zipped over the top, 3 duvets and my hood up... seriously. A lot of my friends and colleagues do the same and just seem to accept that that's the way it is. Our house does have a heat pump but that only warms the central areas and the leaks / draughts / complete lack of insulation mean the heat just vanishes. You really need to bring a lot of warm weather gear - to wear inside the house!

garethwm

Hi. Wave back at you. You can find prices of household items on depbrtment store sites like Harvey Normans. Prices for appliances like TVs, computers, fridges and so on are very similar after converting for exchange rate. So personally I wouldnt bother bringing those items. Not sure about furniture because quality varies. But again have a browse through Harvey Norman.

Tom1983

If I was you, I'd keep a little eye out on the General Election we've got coming this year. There may be some changes to the immigration rules if the reports in the media become true. To give you an inside, it looks like we may have a change in coalition as New Zealands version of Nigel Farage may end up being in government. This is because they're expecting Nikki Wagner or whatever her name is, to lose her Christchurch seat leading National needing to find an extra person to form a coalition if the results are similar to the last election.

Persephone

Re visas:

Under the SMC you can add a partner and dependent children to the application. You would be the principal candidate and your boyfriend the non-principal.
You must have lived with your partner for at least 12 months and be able to prove that so keep all post, bills etc that prove you live in the same house. Marriage is irrelevant really as it's the living together they need to see.

Children can be classed as dependent up to the age of 24 as long as unmarried and without children. They do not need to live with you but as long as they mainly rely on an adult for financial support. Children aged between 18-20 may be considered dependent whether or not they depend on an adult for financial support.

Times for visas vary a lot, if your application involves a job offer then it will be considerably faster and should be much less than a year. If the employer needs you to start quickly then you can apply for a temporary visa to cover you until residency comes through
P

WhatToDo82

Thanks everyone, a few bits to think about.

The more information, both for and against, the better we will be prepared when we get there, and the more informed our decision to go will be :-)

Lisa: yep, back on that road again! Looking way more likely this time though. And I still have all the information you gave me before, hanging onto it for dear life, it wasn't too much at all.

Marooned: That is useful to know. I have been in some pretty cold houses here in Cornwall, without any heating at all. Brrr. I suppose it may be worth bringing our oil filled radiators with us then ;-)

Continued advice and information much appreciated!

Any knowledge of schooling/qualifications out there? DS1 is planning to be a vet. Is it really of any benefit waiting until his GCSEs are completed or is the system over there so different it will have little impact? He will be 16 when we come, so what is the system there for pre-university qualifications? DS2 will be 11, so advice there would be great too!

Helen256

In support of this;
We both got a work visa very recently and I didn't even send my marriage certificate off as part of the evidence... had fun looking through old pictures too!

annieo24

Hi just came across your thread and was wondering how you got on if you were any further forward with plans? Im looking into all of this just now also for relocating approx 2016 to NZ. Just looking at what the options are and was interested in independent Midwifery. Also I know that you have to have a certain amount of £££ in the bank to prove you can support yourself but finding it hard to find out what that number is. We are a family of 5 Any advice/info would be great! hope your getting closer to your plans x

Bo-Jangles

Nobody will want to know how much money you have, unless its an investment category visa.


Perhaps you've seen one too many episodes of Border Patrol LOL. If you arrive in the country on a visitors visa looking a bit dodgy, staying for a few months but with no plans and not actually looking like typical holiday makers with your seven hundred bags, including three months supply of PG Tips and the kitchen sink, then you might fit the 'clearly looking for work' category; which will cause a few raised eyebrows.

Then of course, we all know what happens; for our pure entertainment week after week, the old 'Border Patrol' guy gets slightly suspicious that you've no confirmed bookings to go up the Sky Tower and have no real interest in LOTR, so the cameras will start to roll as they put the hard word on you and get very interested in your travel plans and how you will be funding your stay here.

BEVS

Hi and welcome to this NZ forum.

Are you a midwife?

Not sure where you got the idea that it would require $$ settlement support for your family.

You will either
1 - Uplift a working visa because you have gained a skilled job offer ( if you are a midwife)
2 - Apply for residency under the skilled migrant category.

There is a fee for this .