carlos_fandango

Howdy folks
I'm in my last year of service in the British Army, I am a Mechanic in the REME. I am hoping to emigrate to NZ when I finally hit Civvy Street. Unfortunately the wife and me are totally out of our depth with all this emigration business i.e all the visa stuff lol.
Can anyone out there help us as we don't really know where to decide upon where in NZ to settle and more importantly the job prospects for me. I have worked on tanks for the last 20 years so I'm not exactly current on modern motors.
Any help, info and advice would be greatly received and appreciated.

Thanks
Carl

alchris

Hi and welcome Carl.
I'm sure everyone on here when they first started out with there plans felt 'out of our/their depth' but everyone on here is sooooooo very helpful and honestly unless you have a complicated situation, filling in the forms and gathering evidence isn't that bad.
As for where to settle well we are still in the UK have never visited Nz but have done loads of research on areas, jobs. school and have our fav places but know at the end of the day we will go where hubby can get work. As for your job prospects I'm sure mechanics no matter what they have worked on, bits of engines no matter what vehicle do roughly the same thing? (sorry I'm a woman dont know anything about cars, just that they come in lots of colours!!) try looking on www.trademe. co.nz
Good luck just keep posting your questions and someone will be along to answer them.
Chris

j19fmm

Hi Carl, might be obvious ...but have you checked out the New Zealand Immigration web site? Lots of info there, then ask away on here and you'll get answers!! www.nzis.govt.nz

alanmacc

Hi

Welcome, you might keep an eye out for TeeBrown her hubby is was in the army and now working here in PT I think ........

MnB

hi Chris.. hijacking this tread cause noticed your signature...medicals 29th! just wanted to wish you luck! x

alchris

Cheers, have been trying hard to lose a few pounds have started to drink fruit teas, but not really my 'cup of tea' and friends coming around Saturday so I know I will be having a fw wines so dont really know why Im bothering.
As we had meds done last year and all ok I'm hoping things will be pretty straight forward second time

Chris x

ziggi

Carl, are you the gent that makes 'kite buggies' on the kite forums?
IF? you are look at the Northland area, great long beaches and dunes up here for hitting at speed. Oh, and I need some buggy mates up here in sunny Whangarei.
Long shot, but same tag name on forum.

Ziggi

P.S I thought the process was sort of straight forward, so if I can offer any advice?

teebrown

Hi, sorry just seen this post. yes Hubby did 22 yrs with REME and now he has joined the NZ Army, he is really enjoying it and so are we, we love it here. They are recruiting, not quite sure what trades they want, but you should check out their website (overseas applicant). We have been here 7 months now and it's everything we have wanted, there are a few ex-brit Mil here, one of our friends came in as a civvie after 22 years as a Mechanic and now a civvie with the Army.

Basically, to get into NZ, you have got to have enough points to get into the 'pool' and when/if you get picked out you go onto the next stage, here are some abbreviations that might help you:

EOI - Expression of interest - this is the first thing you do, you submit it on line, you have to pay a fee, you can fill it out on line and save it without submitting it and in the top corner it will tell you how many points you have gained.

ITA- Invitation to apply - once you have submitted your EOI and you have gained enough points to be put into the 'pool' (100+) immigrations will invite you to apply properly, they check your points and then send you paper work to complete, thats when you go for your medicals and get all your police checks done to submit with your paperwork - top tip here being ex Mil, if you have served abroad, which you probably have, you can get the Red caps to sign a certificate to confirm your police records whist being in a different country, if you have also lived in UK you will also need a UK police cert.

Once you submit your ITA, immigration will check your points again and all the medicals and police checks and if they think your points are true and everything is in order, they will grant you a visa, we got a PR - Permanent Residence.

If you want to know anything about the military side, ask away. people think if you join the NZ army you are automatically accepted into the country, you arent, you still have to go through the same process as everyone else, but you will get 50 points if you are offered a job, so it all adds up.

Hope this helps, good luck