Hello!
 

Hi all, I am at the very start of planning our move to New Zealand and know it will be a long road!

I am a Fire-Fighter with 8 years experience and my wife is is a manager at an events company with 7 years experience. Unfortunatley both of these (as far as I can tell) count for nothing when moving to NZ.
I am looking to learn a trade or get into IT but haven't decided which route to go down yet.

My nan was born and raised in NZ and always talked about how amazing it was. My wifes aunt and uncle moved to Christchurch last year and love it, and her parents are hoping to move out there soon as well.

Not sure where to go from here yet! Just need to decided what I want to train in and get learning!

Ben

Re: Hello!
 

Hi Ben

Welcome to the forum.

Moving to NZ means jumping through hoops, I am sure you will get some good information here.

Are you 30 yrs old or less? If so have you considered a WHV (working holiday visa)? It allows you to work for 12 months in NZ and stay for up to 23months. Good way to experience NZ before making any life changing decisions.

Re: Hello!
 

Unfortunately no! 32 :(

It is a huge decision as we both LOVE our jobs here, but the NZ life style really appeals to us.

Re: Hello!
 

what do you think you can do here you can't there?

Re: Hello!
 

Interestingly enough a firefighter is recgonised as a skilled occupation, and could be used to support a work permit application under the right circumstances.

http://www.immigration.govt.nz/opsmanual/35165.htm

Another option is a BUNAC visa, similar to a WHV, but the age limit is 35.

http://bunac.org/uk/work-abroad/work-new-zealand

BTW, what is the lifestyle you are looking for?

Re: Hello!
 

A lifestyle with better weather for a start off :frown:

Re: Hello!
 

sorry but if you Love your jobs my advice would be to not spend out the thousands you would have to payout to get here. spend your energies on looking around where you are to get more of the life style you seek.

Re: Hello!
 

We love our jobs here but thats it! We are not close to any family (nearest is about an hour and a half away), and if we did go to NZ we would plan to be with my wifes aunt/uncle and mum and dad, and my mum is more than happy to come over for a few months at a time. I cant transfer to a Fire and Rescue service near any family as they arent accepting transfers. A huge portion of our income goes on childcare.
We are attracted to being able to do outdoor things with the kids without it raining constantly, the low crime rates, more laid back, beautiful scenery etc :)

Re: Hello!
 

Thanks for the info :) I did email the NZ fire Service recruitment department though and they said they only accept applications from New Zealanders or permanent residents.

Re: Hello!
 

I would question if Auckland would be the right location for you to have all these factors available, without having huge amounts if money. The weather in particular can be very variable.

Places to consider

Nelson/Marlborough
Tauranga
Whakatane
Gisborne
Dunedin

Re: Hello!
 

it was a perfectly sensible question. You spend a lot of time at work so having a job you don't like in the sun isn't likely to make you happy, no matter what the view out of your bedroom window is like. If like me you spent last winter in a different city living in a motel due to work commitments you may understand just how long the winters can be here.

I have no intention of telling the OP what is best for them or, from memory ever have in the past, with anyone.

Re: Hello!
 

A huge portion of our income goes on childcare.

It's probably around the same here

We're having to fork out a bit for childcare once my mum returns to England and there's no such thing as child benefit over here! Well we certainly can't get any child help until we're residents. If only Tony Blair was pm here :)

Christchurch is very windy! Probably should replace Chicago as the windy capital of the world. It might be a mega hot sunny day but it'll certainly be a 'hold your brolly'! Have you ever been to Bournemouth? I believe the weather in Christchurch is the same as the weather in Bournemouth. Nice but very windy!

Where are you working at the moment? Yes NZ has a lot of beautiful scenery but Cornwall, Devon and areas of Scotland are lovely. So is the south of England and areas around the national parks.

As I note your a firefighter, again where do you work? I've rarely seen reports where fires are started here in this country so that lowlife cretins can relieve their boredom by starting a fire and attacking yourselves. Might happen in some areas but I haven't seen anything in The Press (Christchurch paper) or the NZ Herald.

Lastly another possible recommendation is that I don't think there's much problems between public sector workers and government.

Do take your time though in considering the pros and cons. Its a big, big move!

Re: Hello!
 

If you have decided on the area you want to live in you need to find out the primary job sectors available if you need to retrain. No point training to be an database administrator and living in Christchurch when they need tradesman and engineers.
So find out from family that is already there what the local job market is like, look on seek or trademe and get ideas then perhaps tailor your re-training towards that.

Re: Hello!
 

I work in Bristol and live about 15 miles away in North Somerset. I know we could always move somewhere else in the UK but then we would still have rubbish weather and again, our relatives dont live anywhere nice so we wouldn't be near family. And we would have to find new jobs anyway so we might as well go the whole hog and try somewhere brand new :D

Re: Hello!
 

Don't talk to me about childcare costs!

Question - I saw that 3 year olds get 20 hrs free kindergarten, do you know if you have to be in the country for a set period of time to get this or if you can right away with a work visa. Thanks?

P.s. hello benandtan!