mick-linda

Hi everyone, Getting very near now for obtaining our visa for emigrating to New Zealand, has anyone done or can advise on a check list on what needs to be done before moving out, like sorting tax out, packing services, post and banks etc.
Many thanks
Michael

MrsFychan

you can open a NZ bank account from UK and transfer funds, I do believe to enable you to gain access to it once you are in NZ you need to produce a residential address. Not sure about tax code before you come as I just got mine when I arrived and MrF was already in the country when he got his. UK post we had diverted to Inlaws address for 9mths and she scanned it and put it on a shared drop box file. Bank account we also transferred to Inlaws address and left it open as so much easer to order from UK and use UK account.

Get quotes from packing companies along with insurance, you don't have to use the packers insurance and mostly its cheaper to use an outside company. Make sure you inform child benefit if you have children.
Organise dates for services to be disconnected and take photographic evidence of the meters at the time of ringing them with the meter reading.
Get your medical notes from your surgery. Not required in NZ but can be handy for your own records - there may be a charge for them printing them out.
Get your teeth checked and get any work done - its very very expensive here.
If you have meds try and stock up. even though prescriptions are cheaper here the fact that you have to pay anything from $50 - $85 for a Dr's appt brings the costs up.
If you have animals make sure they have had all their shots before the date you arrange to go, I believe dogs have to of had the rabies jab 6mths before they can travel.

can't think of much more off the top of my head and need to go sleep, hopefully others will pop along and give more feed back.

escapedtonz

You can easily open a bank account in NZ while still overseas. Try the major players like Westpac, ANZ, BNZ, ASB, Lloyds, Kiwibank etc. Research them all as they may offer you incentives for signing up - e.g. extra baggage allowances on flights ?Once you know the date of arrival you can make an appointment to go in the nearest branch to show ID, sign the paperwork and then take away your ATM cards.At the time of application you should be able to give them a registered address, even if you are only there a matter of weeks. If I remember correctly we used a PO Box address in NZ and used that as our registered address with ANZ.
You can change the address on your UK accounts to another one worldwide but not all banks will allow this. We were with Natwest and Nationwide and both allowed us to do this. We actually left it for a while as you'll read below we set up an international post transfer. Just means you don't have to rush changing your address on everything immediately as you will still receive the letters visa the postal transfer. Another option is to go electronic with everything and turn off any postal statements etc.
You cannot apply for an IRD number (tax number) until you are here in person and that takes 10 working days. You can get the form at the post office. There may be a fast track service and online application nowadays ? You can get paid without an IRD number but your company will use an emergency tax code that may mean you pay more tax than you should. On the IRD application form, you must decide what your tax code will be and there's some questions you need to go through that will help you decide. Unlike the UK there's only 3 possibilities here I think ?
We opened an NZ PO Box at one of the NZ Post Offices while still in the UK. Just got the address and phone number of the nearest one to my work off the internet and rang them up, applied for the PO Box and paid using Visa. On arrival I just rocked up at the post office, showed ID and got the key. Whilst in the UK we set up an international post transfer online with Royal Mail to transfer all our post from home address to the NZ PO Box. Costs a little more as the forwarding post costs are higher.A thing to watch is Royal Mail will only forward on letters - i.e. post that doesn't need a customs declaration. If it's a packet, a parcel or a box/package Royal Mail will not send it on unless it has the necessary declaration stickers etc which was one of the downfalls for us. We just didn't think about that and basically put everything in the post in the UK assuming it would be forwarded to our NZ PO Box when in fact a lot of small packets including gifts from friends and relatives didn't turn up...and these were subsequently never found or destroyed by Royal Mail. We did ask them where they were and then complained etc but it didn't make them appear and we didn't get any compensation other than an apology.
On arrival in NZ you should not have any more than 3 months worth of Prescription meds. This is a customs maximum. We kind of bent the rule on this and arrived with 3 months of meds each in person then put another 3 months in the shipping container which arrived 12 weeks later.A UK GP should not be giving any patient more than 3 months supply of prescription meds as that'll probably breach their code of conduct and responsibility to patients.
UK passport office and driving license people aren't interested in your change of address. You can drive on your UK license here for 12 months maximum. You must apply for an NZ license before the anniversary of your arrival or go out the country and return to refresh the 12 months.
Keep some money in your UK account just to cover the last few direct debits and refunds you'll get.
Don't use the bank to transfer money as the exchange rate will be shocking and there will be transaction charges. Use a company like Moneycorp or Hifx or similar who only deal in currency exchange as the exchange rate will be a lot better and the costs a lot less and the way they do it should not give you any bank costs.

kirstyp

Hi Michael,
You can find a guide to arranging International Removals on this thread. Hope it helps, and good luck with the next steps in your process!