GingerBiscuit

Hi,
I came on here a while ago and was a little freaked out by some negative posts.. People unhappy they'd made the move.
We are still in the Uk, my husband is a sparky and we have a 9mth old. We did a long tour of NZ for our honeymoon and loved it, we have gone through the whole visa process... But were short on the bonus points necessary ( hubby has 6 yrs experience but 2 of those were apprentice and didn't have the required proof rah rah rah etc)and found it difficult to secure a job offer with no visa in place yet. We obviously spent a fair bit with the process so far.. We are in touch with 'Working In' who, for a fee, can secure a job offer very fast... Does anyone have any experience with them as a company?
We want a better life for our daughter, this country and Europe as a whole is in a rather sorry state of affairs right now... I guess there are problems over there too...
Advice would be very much appreciated

MrsFychan

our experience, so far, has been a very happy one. a few melt down moments when we were awaiting the container but that is not NZ faults. Been here since January 2012 and personally for us it has been the right decision. Just came back from the UK visit and on being asked if we thought it was the best thing we answered honestly "yes it is". We have been very fortunate with where we have set up home, small community in a lovely location with people that are very happy to help you out. Have made some great friends from here and the community we live in and for us its the right place to be so much so that we have bought a house and move in on the 6th July.

My husband was lucky to be offered a job within a week of being here, IT. No need to pay someone to look for job as they would only do what you can do yourself so I personally would say save the money and start looking at places like Trademe and Seek.
There does seem to be a number of sparkies on here that may come along soon to give you advice on that.

I was very unsure about the move over, husband had been wanting out of UK for years and was constantly coming up with places to move to, we even started the process to move to Australia but it just wasn't right. The process for NZ things just seemed to fall into place and I do feel that it was right for us to do it even though neither of us had ever visited the country. Not sure how things will pan out when the kids are older, 10yr old daughter and 6yr old son but will cross that bridge when we come to it.

jill.dalton

We have successfully immigrated to NZ from the US 8 months ago. We came on a business visa so we didn't have to worry about finding work when we got here. That can be a bit heated with the locals, if you come here looking for work because jobs are in high demand right now. Many locals leave for Australia to get work. On a brighter note, we couldn't be happier. We have two young girls that we have home schooled from the beginning but when we visited a couple of the schools up here in the far north we were very pleased and couldn't wait for them to start there. They have been in since January and are loving it. People here are generally very friendly but are reserved at the same time. It works well for us. It seems like most people we have met here have immigrated here from somewhere else to have a better quality of life and that is exactly what we have found. Go For It!

sparkytoad

Go for it, I will help all I can sent you a pm.
Ignore the negs.

Tomsk

Sorry, but I have to disagree with this. I think you need to be aware of the negatives & of the common complaints......& assume that somewhere in the process you will confront a fair few of the negative experiences. How will you deal with having friends & family quite literally on the other side of the world, & a minimum of 24hrs travelling time away. You can't hug on Skype. What about cold houses, lower annual leave allowances, possibly lower income/ higher cost of living, and the whole stress of settling in & establishing yourselves in another country, with a different culture. Finding your way around, making friends, workplace politics etc etc. Some of these things will affect you to some degree or another. I love my life in NZ, & overall I have very few regrets, & am overwhelming in favour of giving life over here a go. But you simply have to be aware of the potential pitfalls so you can have a realistic idea of what to expect. We can all only really speak about our own experiences, no one can tell you what your experiences will be, & from that perspective no one can tell you what you should do. That said, whatever your decision, I'd suggest it be made from a position of having considered positive & negative points of view.
That way you're more likely to be prepared for when the going gets tough.
All that said, I'd always recommend going for it, simply because life in NZ has been very kind to me & mine.

GingerBiscuit

Thanks for the input everyone
Much appreciated!

simonsi

We love it, lots of effort/stress needed to get here but worth it. Wouldnt waste money on an agency, they cant avoid the certification process your husband will no doubt need as a sparky and the jobs market is what it is tbh.

Outside medical, i dont know any cases where an agency has secured a job prior to arriving....

simonmarkellis

Ignore the negativity of some, those of us that love it, are too busy enjoying are selves to post how great it is...

Stormer999

Hi GB, best of luck with your dreams. Read what Tomsk has written it is a good and true post and it will work if you want it too. We have been in Chch now for 3 months and are still settling in. It,s a long way from the UK but then again someone has taken away the doom and gloom of Europe and overcrowding, taken away the grey skies and given us blue skies, friendly up beet people and open spaces to breathe in, (and clean air in abundance).

bourbon-biscuit

The relentless negativity on an expat forum is attributable to more factors than whether the country in question is 'good' or 'bad'.

First off, although there are happy content posters on here, those tend to be in the minority, which you'd be foolish to read as representative of expats in NZ more broadly. I meet lots of happy, getting on with life people who don't really use the internet or only used forums to get here and can't really see the point beyond that. If you're unhappy for whatever reason you are more likely to seek somewhere to offload and vent and get some support and online forums are good for that. Remember, misery loves company

Secondly, use the negative posts to get an idea of the sort of obstacles you're likely to face and ways of overcoming or living with them. Tomsk above talks about the isolation and missing family; skype etc. can help but it's best to carefully consider how you're going to feel being months away from family (24hrs isn't true- you'll only be 24hrs away in a dire emergency if you've got the funds; in practical terms you are as far away from family as the next visit). Are you someone who spends a lot of time with your family? Do you have close supportive friendships you'll miss and do those friendships rely on proximity (chances are they do more than you realise- it's something you work out after several years here)? Damp, mouldy homes are a problem so get all the info you can from here to avoid living in one. Use the forums to inform location choices but take the overtly negative posts with a hefty pinch of salt- case in point the recent ones about drugs abuse in NZ, my subjective experience is that it's less of a problem but my subjective experience means nothing if you end up in a rough area where your teen is being offered drugs and this wasn't your experience in your home country. Then it's tempting to conclude that NZ has some wildly disproportionate drug problem

But most of all, remember it's a process and no doubt one that will push you to your limits, but that it's normal to have periods of significant doubt and grief and that largely, if you let them, those periods pass.

I'm glad we came. It hasn't been as I'd hoped and I've lost much more than I bargained on and it's taking longer to find normal than I could ever have predicted, but I'm glad I came. There's so much to enjoy, particularly if you don't let the negative experiences sour everything. I like NZ; it's been good to us and it feels safe and friendly and quirky. I like that.

NZ: probably not forever but lovely for now.