thorat64

Hello
I have been watching and reading this forum for so long and have finally plucked up the courage to write on here so please be gentle with me.
We (my husband me and my 17 year old daughter) are seriously looking to emigrate to the North Islands somewhere around the Bay of plenty. We have researched many areas and this appeals to us...
Anyway we have not really started the whole process off yet and the reason for my new post is this...
1) we spoke to an immigration consultant who said that we would be very suitable due to the skills needs at the moment (I am a nurse and my husband a builder)
2) the consultant has sent us all the info we need to proceed BUT and its a huge but... the costs are extortionate with their assistance.
3) in the current climate we cannot afford to pay over £2000 in fees but could pay the other fees as needed if we tried very hard.
4) we were hoping with some help we could get through the process without using the consultants but would need lots of guidance
Is there anyone out there that has proceeded this way and could take small steps through the process with me (silly questions will be asked trust me )
anyway if I am on the wrong lines or anyone has advice please feel free to add to my thread. Sorry its so long winded.
thora

Luckybird

Hi Thorat64,

We didn't use consultants, would have liked to, but too expensive for us as well! However, we ( I say we, but hubby really!) completed the process by ourselves and we are all here all safe and sound and more the wiser for it to be honest - should have asked some extra 'ok, how do we do this?' questions but we did really great and sites like this really helped.
So please feel free to ask online or private message us and we will do (again probably hubby!) our best to help, advise and answer,

Sharon

j19fmm

You really don't need a consultant, it's a form and all the amazing people on here will be more than able to help with all the questions...silly or otherwise
Good luck x

nicorsts1

As above, you really dont need to use a consultant, we did it ourselves and with some help from people on this forum alone, Simples
In our case things looked fairly straight forward.. I had relevant skills in a trade on the long term skills shortage, had 6 years work experience and we're both healthy, so after submitting the EOI and getting our ITA it was a case of supporting all claims made in our EOI. All proof, documents etc are down to you to aquire, then police checks and medicals. Provided you have'nt had any previous convictions or have any medical niggles i cant see what the consultants can offer. Any advise you need i'm sure you'll find on here and quickly too.... great site this so id say go it alone and save yourself some $'s

Good luck

shelloid

yep, you'll find most people on this forum did it themselves.

We (or rather I) did it ourselves, it really is straight forward and manageable. Just read through all the forms thoroughly and you'll get there. Any questions and someone on this lovely forum has probably asked it before, and answers will be here somewhere....or someone will usually be able to answer the question if not asked before.

I am so pleased we did it ourselves as it meant that we had more money for other more important things

thorat64

Hello to you all,
thank you all so much for all your lovely responses. You make it sound so easy!!
So my first stop is to get our EOI completed and sent off....
Luckybird I am going to be 'borrowing" your husband by the sound of it ;-) thanks for the offer of PM's I will be in touch I am sure.
nicorsts1 - i have had a few health issues of late but nothing serious, do they want all that information??
shelliod - I like you're thinking ha ha
thora

cookie2b

Hi There,

we did use a consultant and to be honest he was great although if i am honest we could have don it without. We had a few issues so it wasn't entirely straight forward but im still confident that we could have managed.

However this may be because i had already submitted our EOI and had it selected before we began to use his services (impatience got the better of me)

My advice would be:
google lots and search the forums.

Find out in advance who you need to register with here as a nurse and your husband to.

Get a calendar and plot out when you need to do these things (as most have to be done in the few months leading upto the final app medicals etc)

AND biggest advice try to secure a job before hand, im sure you wont have a problem there are nursing jobs advertised frequently here (auckland, north shore) It will most certainly speed up and strengthen your application.

If you do go it alone be promt with your emails/replies to immi if they request further info etc.

I have PCSO so was told after my med that i needed to gather all the correspondence between the specialist and my GP's over the last few years, this meant trapsing around old doctors requesting the info i could have done this in advance had i known, my hubby had to too for an op he had on his knee because of a sporting injury, that way i could have just revisited my current gp and got a letter from him stating my current situation with it and th rest would have been sat waiting for them.

When immi request further info at that stage they give deadlines to reply (about a month) which is more than enough, but you can feel the pressure when you feel that you don't have long.

We submitted our EOI in March 2010 and arrived here in dec 2010, Im not sure if our having an advisor sped things up, but thats pretty much all i can say, its not impossible so if you read lots i think you'll be fine

another quick word of advice read ALL the info not just the stuff you want to read, i read loads but just didn't accept that living expenses here are so high and wages pretty low. My huby took a 60% drop in wages he summed it up last night prtty well.....In the UK we had the cash but nothing really great or near by to do, now there is loads to do but not a massive amount of spare cash

lucky for us we like a crusty cob and the beach so its all good, we figured save all the indoor tourist'y type stuff like kelly tarltons etc for when the weather changes......Its not going any where after all and we have all the time in the world to do it :0)

hope that helps, all the best x

nicorsts1

During your meds the panel doctor will ask about your general health and past issues, obviosly everyones diffrent but if its nothing serious then all should be fine.

kooch

dont dont dont dont dont use a consultant, i started to use one after attending a seminar and they assured me they will do everything and take the stress out etc etc..... that is not the case, all the forms( and theere are a few) that have to be filled out have to come to you anyway, and you will be waiting for this process, its a lot of money for so little i ended up doing it myself and kicked myself that i should of done it from the start, since then i have also become a citizen. good luck and save your money, thae moey could pay for your container or a small boat for when you arrive......

BEVS

Kia Ora Jude and welcome to the cosy little NZ forum.

Yes. We can all try and help you through the process bit by bit if that's what you would like to try.

I read that you were trying for Oz a while ago. Did you get there in the end or are you still in the UK. Makes a difference.

MnB

Hi Thora 'Welcome' to BE ....lots of experience based advice coming your way already...hope you find it useful and £££'s saving in the future Good luck with your palns and please post away with your questions!!
B

scrubbedexpat094

Haere Mai Thorat64.

As others have said you really don't need to use a consultant. Save yourself the money.

Have you applied for NZ nursing registration yet? You will need to get in touch with the NZ Nursing Council if you haven't already. I believe the process can take some time, so that should be your first port of call before submitting an EOI (IMHO - please correct me anyone if I've got that wrong), especially if you are going to be the main applicant. It's been a good few years (2004) since we did all this. Have you been to a NZ expo at all? Can be quite useful for making job contacts & finding out about banks etc. We went to one in Earl's Court which was excellent.

Good luck with your plans

thorat64

Hi Bev
thanks for the welcome.
We did attempt to get to Oz three years ago but unfortunately we had some personal upsets and couldn't proceed. We are now in a position to try again Oz is now a definite no for us now due to my age and NZ have also changed their criteria so we are able to apply because of their subsequent changes.
As you can see our desire to emigrate hasn't wained and we just want to make the move as soon as possible and with all you lovely people to help us I am sure we can do it this time.
I hadn't realised I would need to register with theNZnursing before application I thought that was once we had the ball rolling so I have already got my first step.... thanks you all again for the offers of support
Jude

Luckybird

You're most welcome Thorat - just needs the odd 'beer' to keep the info flowing - good luck with everything x

ragdolls2

Hi thorat64 - you will need to register with the nz nursing council and before you do this you need to sit the IELTS test ( english exam). I sat it in 2009 and it cost £105 you will need to find out who runs this locally and book a place because they get booked up very quickly. i know its very annoying to have to sit this but thats the way it is. Before you do sit it do a search on google for free download tests and practice practice practice !!!. If you need any further info pm best of luck