Northernclaire

My husband and I got married in Australia in 1999 while on a one year working holiday visa and vowed we would return to Oz to stay. Our return took 6 years while my husband got the necessary work experience for the residency visa but the visa came and we were raring to go.

We quit our jobs, sold our house and almost all of it's contents until we were left with only a few boxes which we put into storage.

We didn't have a home or jobs to go to in Australia but being adventureous types we didn't worry about this. Something always comes up we thought so lets make the most of our freedom and do a round the world trip en route.

We travelled in Canada and then New Zealand before arriving in Australia. And here the problems started. This wasn't the Australia we remembered, post-olympic Sydney seemed different somehow, we couldn't afford to buy our own house anymore and we heard that 200 people had turned up to view a unit for rent.

So we went 'walkabout' throughout New South Wales looking for somewhere we could afford to settle. No joy. As an IT Manager most of the work for my husband is city based.

Meanwhile we had fallen in love with New Zealand's south island and found that we were able to live there on an Australian residency visa.


We returned but failed to find work in Christchurch and returned to the UK to decided what to do next.

That was 6 months ago. We are now living in an area which sums up everything we wanted to leave behind in the UK.

Do we risk what money we have left to return to New Zealand and wait it out until work comes along?

Or try and find a bit of Britain that isn't overflowing with people?

nero

Hi,

I have read on this site that some people have had a long wait, 6 months or more, to find a job. Why not try contacting the group below and ask them about their experiences. They are an IT expat group based in Wellington hence their name. Hope this helps.

http://www.wellies.org.nz/

Beachcombers

Hi Claire

I sold my house and all my possessions in 2001 to go travelling. Ending up in NZ in 2004 with my soon to be wife .

I am a little confused by one of the things you have mentioned. As far as I am aware (and I looked on the NZIS site to confirm this), Australian residency holders, have no right of residency in New Zealand.

As far as finding work, IT managment is a very much in demand skill and I am very suprised that you were unable to find work. I was in IT and had four job offers within a month.

How long did you stay in NZ? We lived in a hostel for two months, working cash in hand when we can, whilst I got myself sorted with a job and we were able to find a rental.

When the going gets tough..........

mingusdynasty

Well, you could do the second one and then make a long term plan to do the first one.

Stay in England, build up your funds, and then make a plan.

happynz

absolutely...I overheard my sister-in-law who was speaking on the phone to her sister and she said, 'Put on your big girl panties and deal with it!'

darkuser

As the hubby involved in this debacle I can categorically state that if you have an OZ PR visa you get stamped with an indefinite leave to remain in NZ when you enter( we checked with the embassy before going). As to the job hunting, We tried around Christchurch and found that jobs were thin on the ground and they tended to offer them to NZ people first ( fair enough) so things got a little desperate as we really didn't want to live in the North Island as we had fallen in love with the South Island.

Getting a job before we go back would be a way forward but most agencies seem to want us to be on island before they will progress anything which again makes things difficult. Anyone want to give me a job
Kind of tossing things up at the moment as the reasons we left in the first place haven't gone but we don't want to ruin our financial standing by ping ponging back and forth between here and there.

happynz

You have the right to live and work in New Zealand, so you're good there. As for securing an IT job here on the South Island -- sorry, I don't know as I'm not in that industry.
I'm sure you've tried seek.co.nz right? I just had a squiz and there are three jobs listed for IT managers in Christchurch.

http://it.seek.co.nz/jobsearch/index...tindustry=1215

Best of luck on your job search.

southerner

Seems like the conditions for moving to NZ are better than what you attempted in OZ - ie. you have lived here recently, have a feel for the place and residency seems sorted.

So taking a step back, if you were willing to give Oz ago, you should be willing to give NZ a go.

As for the job situation, there seems to be a reasonable IT skills shortage IT in Christchurch (and Dunedin for that matter) so I would think you should be able to pick up something.

By the way, there is no such thing as a failed immigrant, the move might have failed but thats not the persons fault......

brussels_sprout

Oz PR holders have the right to residence in NZ but not vice versa !
This is due to more or less one way traffic between the two countries, due to the lower salaries and higher taxes in NZ

TeamEmbo

Hi
My O/H dealt with an employment agent in the north island who got him a job in the couth island.
If you want to pm me I'll give you his details

Northernclaire

Thanks for the advice everyone.

My Hubby has registered with the IT Wellies. He has been using 'seek' for sometime...not much response since he isn't in NZ.

Could you let us have the agency contact mentioned in previous post?

I should mention that one of the big factors in our returning to the UK was the salaries in NZ...I understand why alot of New Zealanders go to Australia for work, the NZ wages aren't good.

What sort of salary would be reasonable to accept?

And is it true that you don't get paid holiday for the first year of employment in a new position?

BEVS

That agent had taste. We are , indeed, couth.



Northernclaire.

It's certainly true for trades that you work a year before being entitled to paid holiday pay - 4 weeks annually. However, we have found most employers are very good about unpaid leave.

RobClubley

Not true in the IT jobs I've had - in fact I've been really cheeky and taken paid leave in my third week before accruing it!!

Apple13

Most employers allow you to accrue leave as you go - often the no annual leave for a year is an HR/accounting issue, not real life.

I have never had any trouble taking annual leave as I have accrued, and this is the norm by asking around friends and colleagues.

southerner

From a profession viewpoint, it is usual that entitlement to take holidays isn't automatic in the first 6 or 12 months. However the holidays do still accrue so that you eventually get to take them. Most employers are pretty understanding though, and will allow some time off in the meantime.

Also, many businesses in general close for 2-3 weeks at Xmas, so there may be the opportunity (or even requirement in some cases) to take an extra 6 or 11 days off then (4 days are stat holidays over that period anyway). But you can normally expect, if you are the newest one there, that you are the one who will work through or be on call if that is what the business requires....