sky

Hello,well we,ve made up our minds that New Zealand is the place to go.We meaning me,husband and 3 children.So now we have lots of research to do.Ive just found this site and it looks like it will help a lot.We would love any info on the process from start to beginning.

Don

First step is www.immigration.govt.nz - check out Migrate/ General Skills and work out if you have enough points to go to NZ without a job offer. If the answer is no, you can still go down this route provided you fall no more than 5 points short of the passmark, via a Job Search Visa. More info at the official site above.

There are other ways to get Permanent Residence but Gen Skills is the normal route unless you have close family in NZ.

Cheers - Don

gowie

My wife and two cats are doing the same, but be prepared for a long slog of paperwork and research. We decided to go last Aug, and thats us almost there.
:scared:

PaisleyKev

i'm at the same stage thanks for the link.

jajpe

hello sky,
welcome to the forum. we are always glad of as much interest in nz as possible. the more people asking the questions the better for all of us and there are a few folks on here who have already taken the big step and are very good at helping where they can.

we are maybe slightly further ahead than yourselves although we have not applied or anything yet. we are a family of five also and hoping to go to christchurch under the general skills catagory with me as main applicant as i am a nurse and it seems they are fairly short of nurses. we have a fact-finding holiday booked for april so i might be of more use to you after that, but in the meantime if you have any more specific qestions fire ahead and hopefully someone will help.

jajpe

hi gowie,

are you not going too or are you just sending the wife and the cats!!

Watt Dabney

Hi Sky, Gowie and Paisley Kev

My Hubby, 2 kids and I have been in Christchurch since Nov although newbies I will be glad to help or chat whenever I can.


Paula

ratliffe

I t would be a good idea to find out for sure if you are eligible for a work search visa first then maybe see where you would want to go in New Zealand, I also am going to nz in April on a fact finding holiday jobs,houses,schools,areas etc but i am only going for 2 weeks.Maybe i can be of some use after then
Cheers Gavin.

sky

Thankyou everyone for all your replies.I can see i have found the perfect site to find out everything we need to know.I cant wait to get started now.

jajpe

hi sky,

i see you are online this morning. if you can (and only if you want to of course) please tell us a bit more about your situation. any particular reasons for wanting to go and what would you plan to do in nz? also is there any particular area you are interested in?

there are a couple of very useful expats on line at the moment who are very good at helping newcomers like you and me and the rest of us would always learn something too.

what ages are your children? are they old enough to be excited about this or do they know yet. our three are 10, 9 and 7 and have accepted the whole thing really well so far. i imagine the holiday will tell the tale though- - for all of us!!

look forward to hearing some more!

sky

Hi shirley
My children are 16,10 and 3yrs.We havent told them what we are planning yet as we dont want to disappoint them if it doesnt work out.

JoB

Hi All,

We too are in the same situation as Sky. Havin decided to move etc.
We have enough points as we have close family there but my husband is waiting to become HV authorised (High Voltage and don't ask I don't know what it means). Anyway all he says is that he will become more 'marketable' on the job front. I work for BT (management)so I am hoping their will be opportunities for me too. Although I like the thought of not having to work and staying at home for my kids.

I've got two kids 7 and 4, they came with us on holiday to see their cousins in NZ last year and my 7 year old cried for 3 nights before we came home. So I don't think they'll have any trouble adusting, they loved it.

I joined a newsgroup for people in NZ a year ago now. I haven't been on since but that gave me a real flavour of the attitude of kiwi's. Some good some not so good.

Anyway it's nice to see more NZer's on this forum.

Good all with your applications.

Jo

gowie

Aye, if i don't get my visa along with hers, she'll be on her own

We are await confirmation from the Occupational Threapy (her job) board granting her the ok to practice. So as soon as thats ok its the green light, but the agency she is using is already putting her through for posts, so it's seems she definatly be going.

Tara.

P.s hello to everyone whos on this thread, i'm a discussion forum virgin, and seeing as i'm doing this from work i'd better not chat for long!:lecture:

Don

Learning difficulties for the 3 year old is very unlikely to mean your application will be rejected. There isn't really any need to declare it, your youngest's medical will not examine his/her ability to learn. This problem is unlikely to place a significant burden on the NZ health/ social security system and is thus pretty insignificant (as far as your app is concerned.)

Cheers - Don

sky

Thanks Don! your a Star,I was really worried about that.