pink paula

Hi all
I was hoping some people on here could offer some advice to me. Hubby is keen to move to NZ but I am unsure about the costs of living and whether Christchurch will be right for us. he is a carpenter and previously had a job offer of $26ph not even sure if that is a good rate? but looking up the rental prices I'm not sure this is enough to manage. We have 5 children (3 of which are newborn triplets), so we would need a decent space to live/
And what is the area like for families? we were thinking of living out of the city, rolleston?
The main goal of moving is for a better quality of life but if we will be on the breadline there doesn't seem much point. we aren't too badly off now, but have always dreamed of going. We are pretty much near to completing our house sale now so we thought, sod it, lets just go and get a job and sort everything when we get there. Is that even possible/
I know this sounds mad, but any advice would be wonderful. We have spent some time in Australia but NZ is so unknown to us.....
Thanks in advance

Persephone

I think you will struggle on that wage. Fine if you were single and willing to slum it a bit but not for a family with 5 kids. Obviously you would not be able to work either, I don't know what childcare costs are but I suspect that the cost would outweigh any benefit to you working. Unless you have a high earning career and the husband could babysit.

$26/hr works out at around $54,000 on a 40 hour week.

Rolleston is a good place to live but looking at Trademe, rents for 3 bedroomed places are $470/ week minimum. That would be a big chunk of your take home pay. It's not in Chch so you'd probably find two cars is a necessity even though Rolleston does have most stuff that you'd need.
You can get cheaper properties in Chch itself however the cheaper ones are often uninsulated, may be damp and may not have heating.

There are also things like doctors fees, insurance, cost of flights to the UK, unforeseen costs, bills, food, clothing etc to take into account as well.

You are right to be wary. Another issue is visas-to stay permanently you would have to apply for residency. A work visa can be renewed but does not offer stability for the future should the rules change.

I know this is negative but it is better to consider whether you'll actually be better off before making the move. Turning up and winging it would be fine for someone without children who wanted an adventure; for an established family [unless you have oodles of cash in the bank] it could be disastrous. There have been many posts on cost of living so have a search on here and read others stories.

Please do lots of research!

P

MrsFychan

I believe you would need to apply for a CSSL visa which is the Canterbury Skills Shortage List, this is just a temp visa and will possibly not lead to permanent residency.

If you are not struggling in the UK I personally would stay put or maybe move to a different area within the UK than spend out the thousands of pounds it will take to get you here, moving household stuff approx cost for a 3/4 bed property 5-6 thousand, cost of flights probably another 3 thousand, strangely when I tried to get cost it wouldn't allow me to put 3 under 2's as it said that the number of children entered was more than the adults?
so lets be generous and say 10 thousand for that alone,
then the cost of the visa's for everyone before you even get here then when you are here you pay for everything and are taxed on every cent.

check out the IRD website to see what you would actually bring home after tax has been taken.

As Persephone says sorry to sound negative but with those figures I personally would not drag my family away from the rest of the family, grandparents, friends, cousins, aunts and uncles and the support system you may already have in place for a possible temp move with possible no support or friends initially with a huge monetary outlay.

A Rush And A Push

Er, I'm normally quite an advocate for NZ but there's no way I'd move here with 5 kids on one wage of $26/hr.

BEVS

Hi Paula and welcome to our cosy NZ forum.

I'm a Bournemouth born and bred girl. My husband and I emigrated to NZ nearly ten years ago now. He's a plumber/gasfitter by trade. Just us . No children - although not for the want of trying.

I wonder if the people offering your husband a job are the same as for these people ( click the link) . They had a job offer of $25.64phour with an NZIS accredited employer.

To be honest, if this was just the two of you, then it could have been a goer to get you here and started. Especially as your husband is a carpenter. Particularly if you had some equity & savings to cushion your move. Even with one young child , it may have been possible at a tight squeeze and a stretch.

With 5 kids , it's a non-starter. You simply wouldn't survive on an average trade wage. Heck. I think we as a couple would struggle a lot. My opinion only you understand.

$26 is an average trade wage. I would expect more though for city work.

Carpenter is on the Christchurch shortage list so an employer is free to offer your husband a job without having to prove an NZ tradie could fill that position.

TBH NZ tradies are not queuing up to work in the Christchurch area because of the costs there. Rents are very high .

As carpenter is seen as a skilled occupation you could apply for NZ residency once you were here and working. You would do that under the skilled migrant category.
Or , if your husband would be earning the minimum of $26.45 per hour for a 40 hour week - $55K per year - AND his job contract was for at least two years , then you would look to be on what is called a Work to Residence visa. This is where he works for the employer for 2 years and provided nothing changes and he meets the NZIS criteria , you would then all apply for residency.

So. As a skilled man it would be possible.

However , as a family with 5 children it would be financial suicide.

None of us here would wish to rain on your hopes and dreams at all. We all know what it's like to feel that pull to another country.

I'm thinking you perhaps don't give up the dream. I don't know what age you are but maybe look to a long term goal. Play the long game.

Save as much as you can.
You train in an occupation that is good for finding work. Nurse or something like that.
Wait until your children are older.
Be prepared that you will both work full-time which is the norm here for families.

Christchurch will be rebuilding for many years to come. It's not going anywhere.

Meanwhile enjoy your UK life and what you now have.

The Weezer

Hi, as has been wisely said many times on this forum "quality of life" is completely subjective. It means different things to different people. Considering you say you don't know much about NZ, it would be worthwhile to do as much research as possible, always keeping in mind that a lot of what's written about NZ tends to be hyped up, and the challenges glossed over.

My NZ family live in Christchurch, and most of them do not earn good wages. They're used to it, it's all they know, and they have the enormous advantage of family support, financial and otherwise. They live extremely frugally and travel infrequently, mindful of petrol costs and airline fares. Their meals are always of the budget type, not too many treats, and they eat out infrequently. They barely heat their homes, which are almost completely uninsulated, but again, they're used to it, it's all they know. They're also willing to take on enormous amounts of personal debt to pay for mortgages and living costs. Yet in conversation, most of them will express in some way or other how lucky they are, and that they have a higher "quality of life" than people in Britain or the US. From my perspective, I can't see their situation as an enviable one, and certainly not one someone would spend an enormous amount of money and take personal risk to emulate.

Blade Down Under

Hi

There's a few more people from Bournemouth as well as Bevs on here - fooferfish and Tom1983 are from there, they may give you a better idea.

Only speaking from holidays in Sandbanks and the Canford Cliffs area, you'd be barmy to do this. I'm experiencing both Australia and New Zealand at the moment, and for a family of 5 on one wage - you would never survive!

A few more things to note about both countries as well and the reasoning for remaining in the UK

Child Benefit. We will be giving this up and whilst I do not want to promote benefits, child benefit can be very handy. From my research, you have to be earning less than $50,000 AUD/NZD to obtain child tax credits. This is calculated on both incomes so if you didn't work but your husband did and it was over that amount - you won't be entitled to it.

Shopping - for a family of 5, your food bills will be astronomical. On that wage alone, you'd be having to wait outside the local restaurant to chuck their waste away (I've unfortunately seen this happen in Sydney). Both countries are expensive for food shopping and I dread to imagine your food bills for a family of 5. Then there's clothing, schooling and other costs that come with a family

At the end of the day it's down to you and partner. I had no experience of both countries and now I'm stuck in the ultimate decision of which one to settle in. By all means come out, give it a go and live the life - but I would have to give you my opinion that it would be best to remain in Bournemouth. Plus, you can always go to Christchurch, just the one down the road

Pom_Chch

Ditto. $26/hour to support wife and 5 kids is outright not do-able. A single person could cope quite easily on that wage but not a family

A Rush And A Push

With 5 kids, you can earn up to $120 000 and still receive child tax credits. See the table here

http://www.workingforfamilies.govt.n...ent-table.html

(However, I don't know if the OP would be eligible as I'm not sure what sort of visa/residence permit you have to be on to qualify. I'm still advising against her moving here on that wage with that family size)

Blade Down Under

Thanks for that A Rush and A Push - some very interesting reading

By the way to the OP, here's a report about high prices in NZ

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/n...ectid=11255016

$3.85 for a bottle of coca cola, wow!

Purrball

Looking at things from a practical perspective, I can't quite reconcile these two statements. If I was in a relationship bringing up five children and my partner irrationally wanted to suddenly up sticks to the other side of the planet at enormous expense, knowing little about the destination, an entire cathedral of alarm bells would be raising merry hell.