manda69

Hi. Has anyone out there moved from UK to NZ then onto Australia? We are considering leaving NZ and moving to Australia. How easy is it? Where do we start? I am a nurse and my husband is a carpenter. We have two small children. Can you recommend any nice but reasonably priced areas to live in Australia? Would really appreciate help on this. Thanks

JAJ

Are you New Zealand citizens? If not, what is your status in NZ and how long have you lived there?

manda69

Hi
We have residency and we have lived here for four months.

freckles1970

Hey

Hope you don't mind me asking your advice.

I am a teacher and currently in the uk. I am applying for a sponsorship visa to oz, which looks likeley to take the best part of this year to finalise.

In the meantime i have just been offered a job in auckland starting in august. My visa application would still be going through in oz, just not sure if i should take the job or hang fire? Any advice would be great.

I see that you have pr but have only been there 3 months? Have you not liked it?

briwi

We moved from NZ last week - no regrets yet. We were NZ citizens though, we'd lived there 5 and a half years and had NZ passports for a 18 months so literally just walked in - they spent more time examining the box with the cats ashes in than our passports. As residents you don't have the same rights, you have to apply as British which is far more complicated from what I've gathered.

JAJ

Although you can live in Australia, you don't have the same rights as permanent residents or citizens. You should investigate your options to get permanent residence, either through employer nomination or general skilled.

Absolutely. New Zealand permanent residence means nothing to Australia. And they will risk losing their New Zealand status when they move to Australia, so should be careful to get permanent visas for Australia before leaving NZ. (otherwise they could end having to go back to the UK if plans don't work out).

neilmac

we're in a very same position.

I have job offer for Oz but have NZ PR and live in NZ.

New employer is going to do 457 VISA for us with a view to us getting OZ PR some time down the line. We're scared we lose our NZ PR if we move to OZ.

We;ve taken advice on this and we're told that we should have no probs getting Oz PR and then I can sponsor my partner under inter - dependant partner.

I assume if we then get Oz citizenship - we can then move back to NZ at some time in the future.

JAJ

Why not reduce the risk, forget the 457 and get the employer to sponsor you for a permanent visa immediately?

Under current laws - yes.

neilmac

The reason is the LAFHA allowance - it can add about $30K to your salary per year!!

JAJ

Is it worth that to be chained to your employer and have no security in Australia?

You need to do some due diligence on this:

- if you don't maintain a home in the UK or New Zealand you may not be eligible; and
- even if you are eligible, you likely will lose it the moment you apply for PR.

manda69

Hmmmmmmm......I may have to think hard about this as it seems complicated.

In response to freckles1970...we have struggled to be honest, with our finances. We have two children under five and as we both work full-time our nursery costs are high. We get no help from the government cos we earn more than the limit they set to be eligible. We feel it is expensive to live here in NZ and we are struggling to make ends meet. You really need money to get by - you have to pay for doctors, dentists are expensive, no help from the government for diddly squat, food is expensive, utilities are expensive, decent women's clothes are expensive....

aaarrgghhhhhh!

Apart from that...we love it!