Linda Welch

We have finally decided to go ASAP to N.Z. South Island.
Can anyone reccomend a good relocation agent ?
We have had a few quotes. e.g. £2097 & addtnl.costs of approx £1000 + .
The thought of doing it ourselves fills me with dread as we are so busy working full time with 3 young kids !
We are looking at Christchurch and Dunedin. I was reading one thread that says Christchurch has a lot of crime. We live in Ilford in Essex. Surely it can't be as bad as this !

Linda Welch

Gra.B

Hi Linda,

I wouldn't worry too much about the crime level, you can find statistics to say whatever you want them to. From reading this site most people have said they feel a lot safer there. We'll be heading to Dunedin so let us know what you decide..

As for the immigration agents, is this mainly for the visa application? I don't know what category you're looking at but I can't see it taking much less time to do it yourself. The forms from NZIS are quite straight forward, all you need to do is fill them out. You'll still be doing you're medicals, police checks etc yourself. Plus if you use an agent you'll still have to provide them all the info for the application, so why not just fill the forms out yourself? That's about all they'll be doing if it's a straight forward application. Then you'll still be on the phone to them every 5 mins chasing it up, although I'm sure some of them don't need this..

What category are you going under? People here will help with any questions, but if you still want an agent I'll fill your forms out for, say, £500? ......plus approx £1K for expenses (1st class stamp & phone calls).......just kidding, I won't charge for the stamp!
Seriously though if you need to check on an agent try using the search on here, most of them have been discussed at some point.

Good luck,

Gra..

Linda Welch

Hi Gra
Thanks for the message.
We are tempted to do it ourselves.
We are going to apply for residence. My husband is a fully qualified carpenter and joiner and has an uncle in Milton. They have just changed the rules so that now he has to have a job offer to go to.
We rang the N.Z. Imm. service in London and you can take all your forms and paperwork up there; queue and then get to sit down and go through it all with someone.
Apparantly the forms they sent us a month ago are to be changed but they are awaiting shipment from N.Z. All this I found out over the phone at £1 per minute.
We know so little about all this yet as we get so little time to sit and read through the piles of papers and books that we have got here. We are going to try again tonight to go through as much as poss. before we fall asleep.
Dunedin looks beautiful with some good schools ( we have 3 young kids ! ) so you never know we may see you there.
Good luck with everything
Linda

Gra.B

Hi Linda,

I know you said you want to go asap, but try & get things sorted before the end of the year when the policy changes completely. You'd probably be ok though but who knows what it will entail?

It really is a lot of money for filling out your forms though..

It does take time to take it all in but after reading the NZIS site back to front a few times it all becomes clear! Honest!!

As for work your hubby should have no problems, other carpenters here have found job offers before even going over.
Have a look at this site - www.odt.co.nz - (Otago paper). Look at the job section in the Sat edition, they also have back copies online, I'm sure I've seen regular ads for carpenters.
Also at www.workotagonz.com - a regional job site....I expect you've found these already but worth looking at if you haven't.

Cheers, Gra...