madmaori

Hi all, just wanting to get some helpful advice.
My OH is a kiwi and been in the UK for over 10 years working in crewing/events production. We have been desperate to move to NZ for a good few years now but money was always an issue and the fact that although he is an area manager here, his area of work is not structured career wise so jobs would be problematic.That is until last week when I saw a job on Trade me doing something very similar to what he does now. Anyway I have a few questions about this,
1) The job came up in the salary bracket 60-70k but said nothing specific regarding actual pay,hours etc. So if asked what pay he would accept what would you say? obviously the more the better but would saying $70k look greddy and saying $60k look like you don't think your worth that much?
2) They replied straight away to his application and said someone from HR would be in touch shortly to arrange a skype interview even though the closing date is another month away. Do you think this means anything? e.g they are quite keen on him?
3)Any tips on skype interview?
4)Would a very frugal family of 4 survive on $60-70k in Auckland? No savings of our own
5)Would you say you can go straight away or ask for 3 months, which would be better as it allows time to sort things here.
6)How have people found applying for family cat visa from NZ? any tips?

Sorry its so long, we are really excited and praying he gets it.Can't believe our luck in finding it really.
Thanks for any info.

madmaori

Anyone? To add to early info, OH has had an email requesting an interview in the next day or two.Anyone think this is positive considering we only sent the application yesterday and the closing date is the 20th Feb. Or is that just me wishful thinking?

Stormer999

Wait for NZ time.

madmaori

Ah yes,duh didn't think of that. LMAO

Stormer999

They will be 08:15 am having a good scratch and looking for the vegimite and two asprin.......

madmaori

Found out that it will be half the price for medicals and visa to apply from N.Z compared to from the UK. Guess I will be doing that then.
$790(abt £395) v's UK £695 visa
Medicals $215(abt £107) v's £295. Its a no-brainer then surely?

jmh

This sounds a bit odd to me on two levels. One, why is the closing date so far off? Why are they interviewing him so early? It would be worth asking if they could contribute towards relocation costs. I think on that salary you will be very frugal - how does it compare to the UK for the same work?

Anyway, since you are both 'desperate' to come, it seems the best way to do it with a job in hand. If he doesn't like it then he can get something else later. Might be worth keeping an open mind about both of you working if you are worried about making ends meet. How old are your kids?

jmh

I had a look at your first post - have you checked to see if there are any issues about bringing your daughter here with her father's permission? I know there are rules on this depending on how old she is. Just wanted to flag this so you don't have to worry later.

bourbon-biscuit

Good luck!

madmaori

JMH-We are not taking my older daughter now(15) she wants to stay here and finish her education so that has been dealt with.
MY two children are 7 and 9 months.We have his 2 older daughters in NZ prepared to do the childcare so I would hope to work if I can get something. I am in the domestic violence feild which I know is a huge problem over there.I have researched and it seems that currently the majority of jobs in the dv field there are voluntary so might struggle.I have a criminology degree so hopefully would get something resonable eventually.
The wage is going to be tight I know but we are really frugal, e.g make our own wash powder,get cashback on everything we buy.Buy offers in bulk and cook from scratch which means we often spend only around £50 pwk on shopping.
We have just gotten back from a holiday in NZ so have seen the extortionate food prices but was pleased to see that you can still cook from scratch cheaply enough.
I also thought it strange to have such a long deadline on applications and then for them to request an interview with him immediately even though there is nearly a month left? what is that about? we thought with huge unemployment there would be huge demand and applications so he would have little hope from here but?

Snap Shot

Good luck with it all. I can't second guess the ways of a prospective employer but it's good that they are interested in him. Yeah, there's unemployment here but basically, paddle your own waka. I accept you can't help but stress over this but you might want to make a list of your prospective outgoings in Auckland then look up rentals, energy companies etc for a 'ball park' of how you'll get by. Don't forget there's much lower income tax in NZ and no National Insurance contributions to be made. However healthcare etc are all user pays and boy do they pay ! £15 just to see a doctor. However, prescriptions are about £3 to be filled.

I'm married to a kiwi. We now live in Wanganui after a disastrous start in Christchurch (Auckland wasn't a picnic either but that's a whole other story).

BTW I'm a brit and got PR via a family category visa. We applied for this in the UK as we wanted everything in order before we left for NZ.

mickey_d

Income tax is actually higher in NZ (based roughly on 70k here & 35k in UK), it is NI that makes stoppages higher in the UK. Also there is ACC to take off here - 2.04%.

BEVS

Um. We pay $40 bucks odd to see a GP and my husbands repeat prescription costs $10 bucks a go. Mine in the past have been a $1 a tablet.

scrubbedexpat094

Costs me $32 to see the GP, $3 for most prescriptions (if subsidised by the Govt) & $16 for a repeat prescription

bourbon-biscuit

Probably implies they anticipate the role being hard to recruit for, hence the long deadline but they'll interview all possible candidates as and when they arise so as not to lose them.