rotkaeppchen

Hi all,

Just trying to gather some advice on a wee plan I have in mind. I am a uk registered children's nurse working almost a year in neonates, which I love. I secured a permanent job which is fantastic but I have itchy feet! I travelled before my degree but it seems I haven't got rid of the travel bug.

My partner and I would like to live/work abroad before we properly settle down and new zealand is at the top of our list. I'm concerned about giving up a permanent job but I am also unsure as to whether I want to return to the uk to live or if I would like to move abroad for good.

At the moment I think we would just like to take a year out on a working holiday visa. I don't think we would do this for a year or two so I can gain some more experience.
I'm not sure whether to work as a nurse whilst in NZ (I understand I would need to get registration) or if I could just find some random temp work or au pair work and just take time out from nursing too. I don't know whether this would be a good idea for my career and how difficult it would be to return to nursing after a year out! Or perhaps do a healthcare internship?

Does anyone have some advice or thoughts on this?

many thanks for reading

LauraNotts

Hi,

I have done almost exactly that. I would really, really, really!! recommend getting your registration sorted out before you come over, even if you do end up taking a career break. It took me one year from start to finish to gather all the information I needed for NZNC and then only a month from that to secure a job. It's far easier to sort all that out from the UK.

As for a career break, I'd check but I think you can have up to three years out before you 'de-register' yourself but please do double check that.

I think you might find it easier to secure employment which pays sufficiently for you to enjoy yourself if you stuck with nursing. Cost of living is higher out here but I manage pretty okay keeping things simple and saving responsibly.

Last but not least, if you do end up coming out on a WHV just make sure you don't accept a permanent job offer as you can't do that on WHV. Most DHBs will initially offer you permanent posts but they're quite happy to offer you 'temporary at your own request' jobs to comply with visa requirements whilst you make up your mind over which visa to apply for.

Hope this helps

BEVS

That's a brilliant post LauraNotts. BE karma to you.

rotkaeppchen

thanks for taking the time to reply Laura. Nice to hear from someone who has bit the bullet!

Did u arrange visas etc yourself or go through an agency ? I was in touch with a nz hospital who said they were more likely to offer an interview once I was in the country so we could meet face to face. If you decide to apply for PR do u have to return to the UK first or can it be done from there as I imagine it might take some time?

How are you enjoying life out there? have u settled in ok and made friends?

there is a work/live nz fair coming to my home town soon so was thinking of going to that to see if that will give me a good basis to start planning things.

MrsFychan

you can do your visa application when you are in NZ, no need to return to UK but you will need to look at the time scale on the Immigration site for the length it would take.

As for Expo's take what they tell you with a pitch of salt, its going to be all rosy and lovely and not really give you a clear picture on what really happens. Lots of realistic post on here to trawl through to give you personal experiences of those that have come before you. Expo's just use to get company names for movers, banks and pet carriers, but again you can get that info from members on here. DO NOT ever pay to attend one its a waste of money

Boopy

I would defo get your reg first. You could contact an agency like Geneva Health. They will help you with reg / advice ect. Work agency / temp & travel around. That way you wouldn't be tied into a job & can work in a number of different settings & see different places

LauraNotts

The WHV I arranged myself and it was pretty easy seeing as it wasn't tied to me having a job offer. I used an agency (TONIX) to arrange some interviews for me, they never asked for any money from me and were pretty good. I can and am planning to submit my own EOI with support from the lovely people on here as I've confirmed with work that they can support it.

I moved to Timaru which is a town of about 30,000 people. I have had times of feels a bit isolated and homesick but as with any big move you just need to give yourself time and understand that this is part of the process. I have begun to make friends and had my first roadtrip yesterday 11 weeks after I landed.

rotkaeppchen

thanks for the tips. so registration first! is it easier to come over on a working holiday visa initially then or I've noticed there is a work to residence visa if u get a job offer? Laura did you have many years experience before applying? how did u find telephone interviews? is it pretty straight forward to organise the registration yourself and did u just sort your own flights? we would be taking our cat too so need to look into that. the expo would be quite useful for my partner to speak with recruiters for his job. How does it work when a couple are moving over, if we end up with different visas, can we arrange to leave at the same time?

rotkaeppchen

also. how long roughly should u wait to apply for whv -
wouldn't want to leave it too late or apply too soon. I guess wait for registration and then get a job offer or visa first before job offer?

Catchafire

From what I understand, it takes about 2 weeks for a WHV to be approved. You then have a year to "activate" it. This is done by entering NZ.

LauraNotts

The registration process is a little arduous. To put some perspective on it I took a year to get my registration and only a month to have a job offer. I dragged my feet a little with the registration but only a little. You will need to get a lot of bits of paper from a lot of different people and juggling all that can be annoying but just go with it, it is possible and yes I did it myself.

There's a pretty awesome guide on the New Zealand Nursing Council's website but from memory you will need to take and pass the IELTs English exam (£140 at least), get some Police Certificates (£45), request a transcript from your School of Nursing (£10ish), a letter of good standing from the NMC (£30ish) as well as get your employers to provide two character references and a letter that states how many hours you have practiced in the last year or so. You also need to get several pieces of paper authorised by a lawyer so yup it's interesting.

If you decide to come over on a WHV then you can leave getting that until well after you have your registration and basically after you have your job offer. I did it that way around and had easily enough time. The one year WHV don't require a medical either so they're an excellent way to get into NZ quickly and with little hassle. You could look at a residence visa or work to residence once you have a job offer but that really depends on you and your new employers being happy to wait while you go through that process which can be a little time consuming.

I am afraid I can't help with the partner question as I came over on my lonesome