amyclark079

Hi, I need some help, we have been looking to move to New Zealand
from the UK, but I have just read some awful things about it on the Internet.
is it all bad??

solesister

What have you read? Why did you want to move?

Persephone

There's good and bad in all countries. It all depends on what you're looking for and what you want from life. Why NZ for you?

What one person might find impossible to live with in a country may be the encapsulation of utopia in another person.

amyclark079

Thanks for the reply,

Stuff like people look down on you if you have no money and your basically an outsider, it's expensive, the fact we would both have to work just to survive we have 2 young children so my time I spent with them at the minute. We chose NZ mainly because wevery have family out there

solesister

Hiya...
if you have family out there...what have they told you?
I've not heard anything about being looked down on..where did you hear that?

amyclark079

I saw it on a pros and cons of moving to new Zealand on here was a very old post.

We haven't spoke with them yet as their way of live is what they are used to, I wanted to see it from an expats perspective

jmh

It doesn't sound to me like you are ready to make a decision about whether to move to NZ. Since it is such a big decision you need to invest some time and do some investigation about whether it is a country that meets your needs. Just because some people are happy here (and others aren't) doesn't mean that you will be because your requirements may be different.

Some points to bear in mind:

• It is expensive here, so your husband will need to be on a good salary to be able to support you. Often migrants have to take a job a rung lower on the ladder so his income may drop for the first year until he can work back up again.
  
• Being an immigrant is really hard and, yes, you are an outsider. This is not a NZ thing, it's the same for all the immigrants who move to Britain. It's really stressful moving to a new country, even if it meets your needs perfectly.
  
• You may find it takes a year or two to fit in and make friends. That's normal. While you are making friends, you may be missing your friends and family back home and feel lonely. That's normal too.

My own personal opinion is that both countries are great places to live, with different positives and negatives. Work out how much it's going to cost you and have a think about whether that money could be better spent improving your lifestyle in the UK. Don't follow a dream - that's in your head, not in NZ.

Hebe

You say that you would both have to work just to survive - do you both work in the UK?

Yes it's expensive here but that also depends on where you plan to live. Like most places in the world there are more exclusive suburbs where housing costs can be prohibitive to many but that's life.

I don't know your circumstances financially or work wise but if you are considered less well off in the UK then this will be the same here. Jobs here, as a general rule and from what I can see, pay less than Australia where I was previously and people there complain that they are less than the UK! What do you both do?

I don't believe that you have to meticulously plan everything in life. We landed in Australia without doing so and then here. Yes we had a job offer but the rest we learnt as we went along

MrsFychan

first things first, can you get a visa to enable you to live/work in NZ?

As stated NZ is like any other country it has its good and bad points/people.
Government is slated the same as all Governments, bureaucracy is what it is. The country is as far away from the UK and other countries, it seems, that costs of living is high because of the need to ship things in, standard of housing is poor, proper double glazing and GCH seem to be a magical things even in new builds. But then in some area's you are living with a choice of 3 great beaches within 15min drive.
Like everything else it all depends on what you want out of life and what you are prepared to do/take on/give up/work around to get it.

Blade Down Under

Is this genuine? Just I've seen a few posts that are set out to encourage the ones that could sell Afghanistan as being fantastic to post, against the ones that wouldn't have anything positive to say about Christmas to post.

Sorry if it isn't. Just I've seen quite a few and to be honest it's boring setting something up for round 24 of mocking each other

Only thing I will say is be prepared to be blamed for everything! If you can't blame the Government, then blame the Immigrant.

MrsFychan

So Canada didn't come off then Amy ?

amyclark079

Hi thanks for your reply's,

Yes we can get the skilled immigrant visa with quite a high score on the points system. My husband is skilled as a welder, mechanic and first responder. He knows he has to get the qualifications recognised in NZ but shouldnt be a problem.

As for our working situation I work in our village pub 2 nights a week and my husband owns his own water transfer printing company so we arent short of money here in the uk.

We did think about canada last year but due to me not knowing anyone at all it was such a scary decision. We were literally going to go with no job offer, maybe it was a foolish thought but with new zealand alot of my partners family live out there so it wont be as bad.

We have worked out that with the job my husband has been offered he will be on $1,256 NZD a week.

MrsFychan

from the list of occupations you have given I assume that his offer is for mechanic. I couldn't find the other two on the lists unless the job offer is from an accredited company.

is that salary before or after tax? If after tax your take home is $65,312.
If not and you need to take tax off then take home would be approx $52,700.

what area is it? for cost of living comparison's. rental costs etc

check out trademe for rental costs and in the long term purchase cost for housing.
also have a look at Countdown website for comparison on shopping costs.

There is no actual free health care over here so visits to the GP will be chargeable.
not sure if you have children but when they attend school you are expected to pay for all their books as well as a contribution to the school.
I was reading on another thread that cost through pregnancy and to have a baby can be up to and possibly more than $10,000.

There are lots of threads on the cost of living so I would say have a look through other peoples posts as it will give you an idea on how others are finding living here and what their experiences, good or bad have been

jmh

If you live in a cheaper area which has low decile schools then most books are paid for, some pay for stationery as well, and voluntary donations are in the region of $10 a year and many have none at all. For some reason people on this forum don't like to send their kids to these schools, but many of them provide an excellent education. From next year kids up 13 will get free doctors appointments and prescriptions (currently up 6).

Charismatic

Just like home.

Look its perfectly possible to move half way round the world and be equally miserable with slightly more sunshine. More than moving it often seems that changes in lifestyle are at least equally responsible for people enjoying the expat experience.