Originally Posted by Timmy Chch

$170k is pretty decent, even for auckland but way better with 2 incomes if poss. The bigger the company the more likely it'll be just 3 working days required over Xmas period minimum. Go for it

Originally Posted by richandsarah3469

Hi....thanks for the reply.
There we no issues really with my wife's cancer history when we applied for the visa.
She is on a standard independent Work Visa and had to submit a bit more information than usual. So, during the visa medical process she had to state that she had had cancer, and as a result the Doctor noted that on the visa medical.
When this was submitted to immigration NZ they responded asking for a copy of a letter from my wife's consultant at the hospital where she had the surgery, treatment and aftercare.
Immigration were quite specific about the information they needed - type of cancer, surgery type and outcome, type of aftercare (radiotherapy) and a statement that she was 'cancer free' with no ongoing issues. She is taking a number of tablets for the treatment and these details were sent to immigration too.
She got the letter (which took a long time to arrive, as consultants probably are not too interested in writing non-essential letters I think) and sent it to Immigration.
Once she submitted the letter, immigration were happy, and visa was approved.
​​​​​​Also, she organised a 3 month supply of her tablets in the UK before we moved, and since arriving in NZ she registered with a doctor and they contacted her UK doctors to get her medical records sent over, and she has actually just collected her next set of tablets in NZ - same type same manufacturer.
The whole process has been quite seamless really.
Hope that assist..If you want anything else happy to help
Richard

Originally Posted by LittleGreyCat

Thank you very much for the comprehensive answer.
Best wishes to your wife.

Originally Posted by richandsarah3469

OK - where to start.....update....

It's been over 12 months since I posted here - thank you for all the comments - but we have now made the move over to Auckland.

The move was slightly delayed since getting my job offer (by 12 months!) due to a major health issue - ie: my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer just as we are sorting out medicals etc for our Visa application to NZ. Everything was put on hold whilst she had the operations and treatment etc, and to cut-a-long-story-short, she is now 100% cancer free again and back to her (old) self!

So, my new employer was very supportive and put my job on hold until everything in the UK was sorted-out, and after going though a fairly straight-forward Visa process (which we did ourselves with no assistance from Visa Consultants - if anyone wants any advice feel free to ask and I can tell them about our experience), we arrived in Auckland at the end of May '23 - via a few short-break stopovers in Malaysia, Vietnam, Bali and Oz.

My wife found a job with no bother. As soon as her visa was approved it seemed to free-up so many job offers and she started teaching within 2 weeks of arriving here.
My Employer put us up in a hotel for 4 weeks, hired a car for us, and reimbursed our flights, accommodation and visa costs, and we had a few weeks off whilst we looked for somewhere to rent.

After a bit of searching we found a lovely house in Auckland, and we are so happy to be here - honestly feel like we've been here for ever...we feel so at home. Met the neighbours and been invited in for beers - nice!

Initial thoughts about the move are really positive.......We arrived in a period of nice settled bright weather in May, which was lovely. Yes it does rain - really hard - but the weather brightens up so quickly. The light is so much better here, than the long grey UK days (we haven't seen anything like that here) and this is winter!! The wind likes to blow a bit too.....! Auckland feels very 'familiar' to me, but the trees, vegetation, birds are different from the UK, and it feels like I'm on holiday still everyday - despite working, commuting etc.

We have a bit of a commute from our house to work - both around 30 mins - which is so much better than the UK. However on the odd occasion when I need to be in the CDB by 8am SH1 is a long crawl! It is always nose-to-tail. I am fortunate that I can manage my own time and try to avoid that one.

I agree that the food costs are high, but I really don't feel as though it is significantly more expensive than the UK. Eating out is very similar in cost - I did feel that prices in the UK had increased since covid. Obviously veg and fruit are expensive in NZ but the quality seems so much better than the mass imports of the UK. We don't eat meat so can't comment on how that differs.

We've been out and about around Auckland and visited North Shore, West Coast, East Coast, Rotorua - even had a trip to Wellington for the weekend (now that's a windy place!!!)

In summary, so pleased to have made the move here, despite the challenges that have been thrown in front of us. I appreciate we still have our rose-tinted glasses on, but I think we'll be keeping them on as they are significantly better than the grey tinted ones in the UK!!

Thanks for reading these ramblings.....

Originally Posted by Mishclark

VEry pleased to see you both made it over and are enjoying it!
That's excellent news that your wife has recovered, enjoy your new life in Nz 🙂