PHONEJUNKY

Hi,

I just wanted of offload our dilemma about our forthcoming move to NZ.

My family and I were granted PR in September 2007 and to be honest everything went a bit too quick last year from applying in the Feb EOI to being granted residence in September.

The house on the market at moment but as you know things a bit slow at the moment. We really need to sell our house before coming to NZ, we do not want to rent it out, (dont want the hassle).
We are not worried too much at the moment but our dilemma is we have to be in NZ by Sept 2008 to activate our visas. ( 1 year after being granted PR) and I have already been told by NZ in LOndon that the deadline is strict. If we are not successful in selling the house or if we have and sale is not completed we have to options:

1. As a family (four of us) we will have to go to NZ to activate our visas then we can then come back to England for a further period of time.

2. We will have to go though the whole process of applying again.

So basically now its down to if and when our house sells that determines or arrival in NZ as planned.

I just wondered if anyone else has been in this situation? and what they did.

Thanks for looking
Mandy

dave.and.lisa

Fingers crossed you do get sorted before sept, If you don't It may be better to activate your visa. I only say this because the goal posts seem to continually move with the criteria you require to get in and if you are committed to going is it worth a possible risk you might not be able to??
Have you been to NZ before?? If not a holiday gives you a feel for your new life and a chance to check areas schools etc out first hand and will keep you motivated while you wait for your house to sell... this is only my opinion, I know there are always loads of other factors you may need to consider so good luck!! lisa x

Lenmil

I know how you feel. After our PR visas having ran out because my employer changed his mind due to lack of work. We are now in Tasmania. Good job we decided not to wait the out come of this. It's wasted a lot of time and money but i think we ended up in a better place for that. Our house has not sold either. I guess you have to decide to go for a holiday to activate your visa or not. Either way its going to cost you. I would go for a holiday to activate them rather than lose out. Our story is a long and complicated one so just check out my old posts. Funny how things turn out. Good luck to you.

donnaf

Hey Lenmil, it's good to here things have turned out well for you, i'm really happy for you.

Hi Phonejunky, is renting out an option? There have been a few posters who have had similar dilemmas to you. How long have you had your house on the market? You still have 6 months and I understand houses usually sell best spring to summer so it will hopefully go soon. Good luck.

Wiz'n'Ton

Funny you should post up about this. My sis-in-law and her family were in a similar situation and have decided to go for neither of your options and just take a new look - option 3: Leave house in hands of the estate agents, and come to NZ anyway!

They have left a couple of months mortgage payments behind, and are rent free here for the same period of time as they are staying with us, so cost wise it is about the same.

I would reccommend renting your house if the rental income covers your mortgage. It worked well for us (rented a year relatively trouble free) and although I wish I had sold when we left (wonderful thing hindsight, eh?) it has altogether gone pretty well.

I guess the question is whether you would be comfortable in doing this, are are in a financial position to do this.

Good luck whichever way you go,

Wiz

TeamEmbo

You can appoint a family member or friend to have power of attorney to take care of the house sale. They will be able to sign all papers on your behalf. If you're not dependent on the money from the house sale initially I think if I were in your position I would either rent the property out and appointment a management company to deal with it all, or leave it on the market and appoint someone with POA to act for me and get to NZ to activate the visas. You can get all your stuff packed up and held in storage by the removal company you use if you don't want it sent over straight away and at least it won't be in an uninhabited house, so no insurance issues.

Nerine

Mandy I'm guessing you don't have to be in NZ by a deadline to take up a job offer or anything?

You've said you really need to sell the house so it's a bit of a gamble leaving the country and hoping it will eventually sell for what you want, it may also be harder to sell an empty house, which may also be a target for vandals/squatters. Keeping furniture in storage for any length of time wouldn't be particularly satisfactory and you'd be paying storage costs, a mortage, insurance and rent in NZ - seems like a lot of money to me.

As far as I can see you really have two viable options and I'd go for the cheaper of the two:
1. travel to NZ to validate the visas and have a holiday.
2. let the visas lapse and re-apply when the house has sold.

julesnye

Option 1 is exactly what I'm having to do as our house hasn't sold and the fact my family have been there 6 months already without me.
Good luck, what ever way you choose.
My suggestion would be make it a holiday if it looks like the house is not selling towards the end of your validation period. You could use it as a recce as well, as many on here seemed to have done. At least then you'll have an idea of where you want to live.