TABUA

Hi Guys,
So we have decided to emigrate to NZ.
All kinda scary and head slightly thrashed on where to start.
It comes at a crazy time as i will be giving birth in the next 4 weeks.This is what has prompted us to do it.
We have a son who is 7.5.
We can't actually say that we live in an awful place, as Jersey is a beautiful place to be.
But for us to improve on house size we must go up to the £700,000 mark for a property, thats not really going to happen!!
And now that we have another child on the way are we really going to be able to provide the support if they want to go to uni or something.
We could come to NZ and be morgage free and enjoy some wide open spaces.
Where we would like to be based ( Taranaki- New Plymouth) we have quite a large group of friends already out there and my husbands cousin also lives there.
I have a few questions if there is anyone who would be able to help.
My husband has been in the fire service for the last 8 yrs., we know that to do that job he would have to retrain, lucky for us he is an electrician by trade and has continued to do this as well has the fire service.
1) I know from reading peoples reactions regarding visa companies helping you with the process, is it worthwhile using a company, if so any advice on who is good. Bearing in mind our situation with new baby soon.
2) Just checking that a cousin is not classed as a CLOSE relative, as i was trying to see our point scoring.
3) What anyone reckons the market for work for an electrician is like, i do know its on the long term shortage list.
4) i have been in dentistry for 15 years i am registered but not qualified, as for that length of time they class you as a granny...lol, so you dont have to qualify as long as your registered, would i be able to claim any points on this.
5) Im a little freaked out about where to start, and also worried about adding up the points incorrectly, we just dont want to mess this up.
Any info is much appreciated.
Thanks Romie X

mwhite1962

Hi Tabua,
Firstly, Welcome to BE , there are a lot of helpful people on here and am sure you will find someone in the same situation as yours, or close to it, I am by no means an expert on here and am sure i will be corrected if i am wrong, but will try and answer some of your questions.
1. We are currently using a visa company, and must say we are not that impressed, my OH has been dealing with it, mainly coz she is better than me at organising plus her being the main applicant, its her details they require more, i did hear that immigration take agencies more seriously??, but the main work has been done by my OH, Knowing what we know now, we wouldnt bother.
2. Oz, does not recognise a cousin as a close relative only brother/sister/son daughter/mum/dad. assume nz is the same.
3. Electrician is on the shortage skills, but he will need to get licensed, and sit reg's exam, you can find info on here about that.
4. Dentistry ques....no idea.
5.As for where to start....I suppose most people are different, with different situations, but its a big move so i would say visit first, atleast you will have an idea on what you are walking into.

Good luck

MnB

Hi and welcome to this friendly forum where you will find support and people ready to share their experiences with you .....just ask away and if someone knows the answer or where to direct you they will help, you could also try using the 'search' facility.
I can't answer your questions re jobs /work etc but there are members in both professions who will hopefully be able to help. Do advise you to carefully consider trying to 'go it alone' without the expensive cost of an agent...Immigration NZ treats everyone the same....agent or not, if you use an agent you still have to supply the same paperwork, have medicals, police checks etc, have a look at NZIS web site and ask away on here.
Good luck with your plans, and yes it is scary but the rewards are worth it!
B x

Expat Kiwi

A lot of people say they want to come to New Zealand to be mortgage free but very few actually are, you're likely to pay more than you plan to to get the sort of property you want and need.

Why NZ specifically? what attracts you to the place (other than you know some people there) what do you think you'll find that you can't find closer to home?

You have a new baby, don't underestimate the effects of bringing up baby and son away from family and the support they will give you.

Why do you think you'll be able to support your children going to university in New Zealand any more than you'll be able to support them in Europe?

Not trying to put you off or anything, I'm just trying to get you to have a hard look at why you want to do this and what you hope to get out of it and hoping that your plan isn't predicated on nothing more than a desire to be "mortgage free."

Heal

I wouldn't advice anyone to come to NZ to be better off financially,house and land prices where we live are on a par with UK if not more and generally prices are higher with very low wages.
The lifestyle for us is fantastic but NZ is in my opinion a very expensive place to live, having said that I can't think of anywhere else in the world I'd rather be with a young family and we are very happy.
I know a lot of people on the forum don't like agents but we used one and was very happy with them though they were expensive.If you don't want to use an agent for the full process I think its a good idea to have a meeting with one just to pick their brains and they'll tell you straight away how easy you'll gain residency,It takes a lot of organising and patience which to be honest with you I think I would have grown bored with the whole process if we hadn't used an agent.
My advice to anyone would be to not underestimate how big a move it is,we were happy in the UK surrounded by great family and friends but felt we could give our little boy a better upbringing here, which so far we have no regrets though there isn't a day goes by that I don't feel guilty about taking him away from our family.
Only you can decide and like us you are probably thinking you don't want to look back and think what if.
Good luck

TABUA

Hi Guys,
Thank you all for your replies.
With regards to some of your answers, its very hard sometimes to get down what you mean.
We certainly don't think this will be easy.
We don't actually live on the mainland so life here is very very different and ultra expensive to live, compared to UK.
We certainly don't want to presume anything, espec about being morgage free, it would obviously be a bonus, our property here would go for a considerable amount.
With regards to family network and support, i am from the mainland and have lived away for 12 years, so we don't have a network of family support, apart from my husbands mum and dad, they are older and our son is at school most days, so the support we do get is very minimal.
This isn't something we have thought about over night, its been years but never actually been the right time.
We are well aware that life can be very difficult wherever you are in the world, we have travelled extensively and know that where we live can be quite special, but for me its never felt, like i would be here for ever.
We would like to achieve a slower pace of life, for the children to be happy and content.
Also with living on this small island it can feel very very like arghhhh....if you know what i mean, i like wide open spaces and being by the sea is very important to us, espec as we live on an island.
With regards to agents, it seems so mixed on here with what people like to do.
Heal, is there any chance you could tell me who you used??
We have so much going on at the moment we just want to see what our options are.
Thanks again for all your replies.

BEVS

Are you saying that you currently own property on Jersey ? That takes quite some doing. . If you're not into small communities then you might find your choice here limited.

Strange thing Heal. Same village. Different experiences. We missed Christmas last year due to excessive noise &' behaviours'. Problems which are still ongoing. We had to deal with a drunken youth, passed out in our garden just a couple of weekends ago. Not a great NZ lifestyle here most Friday nights.

TABUA

Hi Bevs,
Yes we own our property here in Jersey, it's a very difficult place to get on the property ladder, we have worked hard, but still to get a 4 bed or larger property we would seriously have to consider the £700,000 upwards range, we could possibly do it but christ that could be a rope around our neck till we are old and majorly falling apart lol!!
So, because we are in great location on the island we have a great chance for selling, everybody wants to try and get in here.
We should hopefully have a nice collateral, as we put a big chunk down when we bought the property so it meant our morgage was slightly lower.
Where are you based Bevs??

Heal

I feel for you bevs about the noise and nuisance thing we hear very little noise from the pub and are guilty of occasionally using it though we don't live too near it.I can imagine how annoying it is for you it would send me crazy.The pub is for sale so I suppose there is a chance that somebody may buy it and do something slightly different I suppose your only other option would be to sell and buy somewhere quieter in the village.We have friends that live just up Higgs Road and they say they can't hear anything which surprises me given their location.