Hello

We were in New Zealand in November and looked into living there but put it to the back of our minds as we thought it too expensive.

We have recently started looking again and found it not as expensive as we first thought. We looked on the imigration website and will be visiting the Expo in London on July

We are 30 and 31 and my partner is a qualified Electrician with project management experience. He hasn't worked as an electrician since October 2011 as we went traveling, we have been together for 11 years and have our own house which is rented out at the moment.

I know we can get the info on the immigration website but I prefer to speck to real people who have actually done it.

What are the costs? How much money do you need in your bank?
How long roughly will it take?

We will fill out an EOI form,
Hope you can help
Thanks

Welcome Lydia, first thing to do is fill in the EOI and see what points you get. then come back and we will be better able to help you on your way.

I would start with things you can do for free, but need doing. Make sure you have lots of paperwork to back up any applications, so dig out certificates and transcripts. I needed to go back to my uni for a transcript from 18 years ago. Things like professional qualifications such as PRINCES2 for project management or IEE membership are useful if you need to register with a professional body.
These sort of things are useful to have organised no matter what visa type you are looking for.
Medicals, X-rays and Police checks can wait until you have a better clue as to what you are doing.
Don't get suckered in at an Expo. Do you own research before you go. I went to a few while trying to move to Canada. Lots of promises, business cards and c.v.'s were exchanged, but I got little out of them that new. Many of the recruiters were recruiting recruiters. Or stalls were looking for specific roles, e.g. Nurses, concerete specialists, etc.
I found a very helpful employment agency that found me a teaching job. They could not help with visas, the NZ Immigration and the good folks here help with that. Check through the forum. Lots of useful stuff.

First things first:
Check your points total as MrsF said. I take it you are planning on staying permanently in which case residency is your goal. This would be via the Skilled Migrant Category and goes on points.
You may need a job offer to be successful depending on how many points you have and how they are made up.

Temporary visas consist of work and Work to Residence visas-these both require a job offer first.

Do a search for electricians on here as it is an occupation that comes up fairly often