garykary

Hi,

I'm knew to this but wondered if anyone could give me a bit of advice/pointers please.

We are looking at emigrating next year but was just wondering about the cost of living in New Zealand, in general is it higher than the UK??

I'm a civil engineer so am hopeful of finding work with a salary similar to what I'm on in the UK, but my wife may initially struggle for work based on the job she does in the UK so we may need to survive on my wage alone for a period of time. I'm led to believe a comparable for for me would be around 75k NZ. Is this a liveable wage in the short term to support my wife and two children aged 10 & 9???

Thanks for any advice in advance.

MrsFychan

depends what you want out of the move, where you live. you pay tax on every cent you earn over here, you pay for all GP visits. Dentists are on a par we feel from what we have experienced. You are meant to pay a "voluntary" fee to schools and you buy the kids books, pens etc as well as the additional costs throughout the year.

I don't feel that we are any better off here than the UK, if anything slightly worse as not a lot of money left if any at the end of the month, if any to save and that is with both of us working, albeit me working part time.

what visa are you looking at getting to get yourselves over here?
you would need to factor in those costs, the cost of the flights, cost of move, container, insurance etc then you will need at least 3mths worth of money for rent and bonds etc

garykary

Thanks for that.

Regarding Visas I have a job seminar in October which should hopefully give us some advice about which way to go, my current thinking is to go on a job visa which if im right lasts for 24 or 30 months?? to allow us time to make sure the move is right for us as a family (and hopefully get a potential employer to contribute!!)

The actual cost of getting there shouldn't be a problem, on paper anyway, as theres a good chance i'm to be made redundant next year so my settlement should cover this.

The money thing isnt really the main reason we are looking at moving. We have a good standard of living in the UK and realise we may need to take a few steps backwards at first but obvioulsy dont want to skint ourselves so we move there and cant enjoy it. We are fine to take a big drop in income provided we are not constantly penny pinching. Our main priority is the way of life for our children and us as a family.

Regarding where we intend living, our preference at the minute is somewhere around the Canterbury area, mainly because after researching the internet there seems alot of jobs there for me in infrastructure. This could all change though after the job seminar and what they advise. We are taking the opinion of just getting there first, regardless of where it is, thenm make the decision of setting roots somewhere once we are settled and sure its the lifestyle for us.

Thanks,

Gary

MrsFychan

your best place to start to look for visa is on the Immigration Web site

http://www.immigration.govt.nz/


you can check out the skills lists also to see if your occupation is on there which again will help you decide which visa is best for you

http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migra...tialskills.htm


Also I wouldn't hold out much weight on what you hear at some seminars, we attended 2 one where agents where trying to get business, turned out one we then went to discuss things with told us stuff that when we checked with NZ House was incorrect, needless to say we went off and did the application our self. The second which was listed as a job seminar was just a complete waste of time as just agencies again trying to get you to sign up with them then there was shippers, pet shippers and bankers there again a bit of a waste of time

garykary

Thanks for the links. As a civil engineer i know im on the list, but didnt realise bonus points could be added for the Canterbury area so thats really helpful.

Regarding life in New Zealand are you glad you made the move then, apart from the finances. As i've previoulsy mentioned the main reason we are going is for the better lifestyle for our children. Is reality like the brochure advertises though so to speak?? Are there plenty of prospects for children when leaving school compared to what we are currently facing in the UK??

Thanks

MrsFychan

sorry at the moment I'm verging on the negative side. 2 large earthquakes, lots of wind and rain, the school not doing too well for my kids, aged 12 is the main problem is making me think "what the hell have we done"
can't tell you about job prospects for the kids but looking IT management field and telecoms not a lot out there. our honeymoon period is well and truly over and its been 18mths. Can't live on scenery and the kids soon get bored of "lets go to the beach or have a walk":
Maybe when the better weather is here and Seddon settles down I might think differently

vetnurse1

Hi Gary
You will probably drive yourself nuts with the varying replies you will receive to that question - people's reasons for coming and going are all different and multi-factorial.
I would agree with MrsF - be careful believing all the hype at those expo's.

When we moved here 8 years ago we were all really positive about NZ and it was the right place for us then. My children have grown up here and they had a safe and happy childhood, ("it's a great place to bring up the kids") but now we feel our daughter has outgrown NZ and so have we, so we are heading back. Again, lots of reasons, but it's just not the right place for us now. I'm not sure whether NZ offers better prospects for children once they have left school. Personally I don't believe so, but I'm sure there are others on here whose children are doing really well.

NZ isn't a better version of the UK - it's different. It has different positives and negatives for everyone. The cost of living is high - in particular groceries, utilities and overseas travel and property prices in Canterbury are getting very silly too. For a nice, new 3 bed detached here (just outside Chch) you are looking at around $450-500k. Just ridiculous. Your 75k salary sounds good, (bearing in mind you will be paying 33% income tax on that) but not if you are paying a huge mortgage. As a household we earn over 100k, have a moderate mortgage on a very average house and one child at home, and have very little left over out of that. I suppose it depends how much you are bringing over too.

If you feel it's right for you - come over and try it. Just weigh up all the pro's and con's first. Many people seriously underestimate the whole distance from family thing and the fact that unless you are able to return to the UK regularly, (and you are talking about 10k in flights for a family of four) your kids are likely to grow distant from their relatives there. Also make sure you both agree before coming that if one of you doesnt like it, you will both go back.

At the end of the day it is a personal decision for you and your family and only you can decide what to do - good luck in whatever that is.

garykary

Thanks for the repsonse, and your right, for everyone we have spoken to that loves it there is someone who considers they have made a huge mistake. I suppose its the same wherever you go, but of you don't do it you will never know.

The impression we had was that groceries etc were slightly cheaper on the whole than the UK but white goods/electrics were more expensive, obvioulsy i've been researching the wrong links!

Think its a case of going back to the sums, seeing what the expo's have to say, although being a bit more guarded than i would have been after the above comments, and taking it from there.

Thanks,

Gary

Persephone

Just a few points from the posts above:

You wont be taxed at 33% on the whole of the salary. There is no personal allowance in NZ but there is a sliding scale of taxation rates.

If you apply for residency under the Skilled Migrant Category you can only claim points if your occupation/ work experience is on the Long Term Skills Shortage List. You cannot claim points for being on the Canterbury SSL.
This is the only visa you can apply for which does not require a job offer in advance and it is an application for residency. However many people require a job offer to get their points total to a level where selection is guaranteed.

The other visas available are [briefly!]:
Work To Residence: you are issued a work visa for 30months which you can convert to residency after working for two years. The job must be for an accredited employer or you must qualify under the LTSSL.

Work Visa: issued for varying amounts of time. If you wish to apply for residency later on then you need to go for the SMC or WTR. Your employer will need to prove no NZers can do the job unless you are covered under ANY of the skills shortage lists.

Just one more thing, don't let an immigration agent persuade you that you need their services. You can apply for a visa yourself and most of us have done so. Agents cost thousands of pounds and it really isn't hard to do! We'll offer help if you get stuck.

As for me, I have no regrets about the move to NZ. It works for some but doesn't for others. My reasons for coming over were slightly different to most, there was no great desire to move to NZ or to leave the UK. As a result I had no great expectations or push to leave where I was in the UK.
P


Civil engineers are on the LTSSL and the CSSL. BE is not letting me do links though . Your qualifications will need to fit into column 4 of the LTSSL to qualify. It means that you can apply for any of the above visas.

garykary

Thanks for that, especially the tax part, nearly fell through the floor at the thought of paying 33%!

My initial thoughts are that we will look for a work to residency visa or a work visa but this would depend on what job i could get and if i can get them to contribute as a relocation package, cheeky i know but if you don't ask you don't get! :-) I thought that civil engineers were on the list so would be quietly confident of getting some form of visa, especially if i secured work first.

We've already looked at some agents to do the visas for us and were shocked at there charges so will more than likely tackle it ourselves so thanks for the offer of advice if we need it, I'm sure we will be i touch with lots of questions! :-)

Thanks

Gary

Persephone

Civil engineers are on the LTSSL and as long as you fulfill the requirements then you can basically apply for any visa you want. There's a WTR for LTSSL applicants, Work Visas have no employer requirements attached and you'd gain extra points if you went under the SMC. I can't see why you'd have any problems unless you have major health issues or have been a very very very naughty boy in the past
Definitely worth asking about an employer contributing to visa costs, they can only say no!

I've seen quotes on here from people who've looked unto using an agent and they are unbelievable really given what is involved. Yes, it does require some work but it's really some form filling and asking you for the necessary information in order for the forms to be filled in. If you have a difficult case then I can see their value but most people can do it themselves. And just ask on here if you're unsure about anything, however stupid it may seem! It can seem like a lot of work at first...

As for tax rates, to clarify as I guessed you'd read it as 33% on everything!:
http://www.ird.govt.nz/how-to/taxrat...etaxrates.html
there is no NI on top of these rates.

Looks like the link thing is working now!
http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migra...ls.htm?level=3

marooned5

We lived on $72 k for the first year here, with kids too, and its do-able - but we live a little way out of the main centers and pay $350 p/wk on rent. If you are paying a lot more, eg in AKL or central WLG, maybe ChCh too, I don't think $75K will be enough. In that first year we made ends meet - rent, school stuff, food, car - and had some good hols around NZ, but it wouldn't have been enough to pay for e.g. flights back to the UK or a fancy car etc. It was also not a standard of living that would have been comfortable for the long term.
To my mind, money goes further in the UK - but there is less to spend it on here, so maybe it evens out?

pippalonghorn

If you want to look at the worst case scenario there is my family and myself. Hubby earns under $50k. Our rent is $360 per week. When we pay for food, petrol and electric we have nothing left. We have 1 child. I now work 1 full night and 1 half night a week because that's all I can get in my area.

Our heads are just above the water over here.

If we can survive then anything is possible. . You will be on a higher wage for a start. If you don't give it a go you may spend a lifetime wondering what if!

garykary

Thanks for the advice, I've got a firm out there, URS Corps, contacting me about a position with them so that should hopefully give me a better idea of my earning potential and visa's. Fingers crossed!

Snap Shot

Sorry to hear that. I got turned down for yet another job last week. I'm just starting to laugh at how awful it is !

We're getting by ok, but I'm ever so bored. The only thing that perks me up is counting the days to the end of the year, so that's another year ticked off. I wasn't meant to live like this. I mean, what is this bs ? Me feeling like I'm not good enough for the employers in this town is wearing very thin and wearing me down. I mean, c'mon.

Anyway,