New Zealand or Australia?
 

We are emigrating next year, initially we looked into Oz however after leaving the NZ an Oz Expo in Birmingham yesterday we were warmed to NZ, now we are confused as what would be the best move for our family! We live in Bury I am an Ambulance Driver an Stuart is a roofer, we have 2 children aged 2 and 11, we want a better lifestyle for our family, we want the children to be children, we want to open a world of opportunities to them, we are a hard working family an we are aware in neither country the streets are paved with gold, we know it will be hard work wherever we end up, we don't know what to do!!! Arghhhh 😜

Re: New Zealand or Australia?
 

hard questions as OZ and NZ are so different from each other.

think your best bet is to look at both requirement needs to obtain visa's and possibly the cost.

not sure on the logistic's of how easy it is to in and out of OZ but costs of travel from NZ to anywhere is high and cost of living can be high because of the high costs of imports

Re: New Zealand or Australia?
 

New Zealand may be many things, but it's not a world of opportunities. There's a good reason why approx. quarter of the population of Kiwis live abroad.

It can be a great place for kids to grow up in terms of outdoors living, but there's also a lot of bullying and a high teenage suicide rate. It's also relatively isolated and parochial.

I'm a Kiwi, but I don't have rose-tinted views about my former home. Be wary of expos as they're trying to sell you a product. Do your web research as to the downsides and negatives of both countries.

Re: New Zealand or Australia?
 

Do you qualify for a visa to either country? That would be the place to start.

Re: New Zealand or Australia?
 

Stuarts roofing trade is on the skills list however to get into Oz he has to do the AQF3 first which is jus getting his trade recognised, it's about 2k then around 5k for the Visa, NZ on the other hand is easier an cheaper to get into his skills are recognised an in high demand in CC, the Visa for NZ would be around 2k, yes NZ would be cheaper an easier but that's not a reason to move there is it?

Re: New Zealand or Australia?
 

Hi,
No sorry that's not a reason to move there at all. Certainly for the 11 year old I would be asking myself how important education was versus them living like children.
That was something I thought about before we moved there, after a couple of years I thought my kids were missing out on doing some of the things teenagers do.
Ask yourselves exactly what you think is a better life. Then research all you can negative and positive and remember you can get a different life moving somewhere else in England rather than 12000 miles away.
Good Luck

Re: New Zealand or Australia?
 

Right, first of all take our views as a pinch of salt

Secondly, look into the visa situation. Is it affordable

Thirdly, where do you currently live in the UK? Are your kids happy where they are? The 2 year old, no probs but consider the 11 year old

However, a family we knew who had kids aged 12,10 and 6 made the move to Australia. The 12 and 10 year olds hated it at first but then after a year loved the place. Of course, your 11 year old will hate being away from his friends (as these two did). It'll take time for them to get used to the area

Both countries are different to each other. Like every country, all have their positives and negatives.

Why do you want to leave the UK???

Re: New Zealand or Australia?
 

We live in Bury, Lancashire! Both the kids are girls as u day the baby is no problem Amber the 11year old we have sat an chatted loads with her, we took her to an Expo, she is happy to explore a new country she is very sociable an makes friends easily something she says she is happy to do. I want the kids to be kids for longer, I want a better lifestyle for us as a family an to be able to open up a world of opportunities to them, we both work hard, Stuart is a roofer I am an ambulance driver, we have a house which I own (mortgage) but we would like a bigger house with some land which is unaffordable for us here, we feel like we can't get in front! If that makes sense, the country is going downhill rapidly, government, immigration ect.... I know every country has its problems an we know the move won't be easy! The NZ visa is much more affordable, the Oz is jus about affordable although we would need some more time plus it's a bit harder to get although its possible! X

Re: New Zealand or Australia?
 

I suggest you do lots of research on the cost of living in both countries before you commit to moving country.

I wanted to move to OZ but the visa and job situation was difficult for us , my husband preferred NZ so that is where we have lived for 5 1/2 yrs.
My qualifications aren't recognised here so I had to work as a teacher aide starting on a basic salary , my husband found part time work but that has dried up due to the downturn in his industry.
The cost of living has gone up - food, petrol and household bills. And of course flying UK- NZ -NZ -UK is more expensive than flying to-from OZ.

I love the views from my house but that is about all . I'm not settled here, I still wish I was living in Australia I could earn a decent salary and live in a vibrant city like Melbourne.

Suggest you look into the statistics of both countries and decide if you can find work and buy a house on your salaries.

This is just my opinion. :)

Re: New Zealand or Australia?
 

Just out of interest, which visa for NZ costs around 2K? Or is that just the fees for an agent to do the process for you? It is generally unnecessary to use an agent for visa applications to NZ, they are not that tricky;)

Also I had a look on the shortage lists. Roofer does not appear on the Long term or immediate skills shortage lists. It appears as roof tiler on the Canterbury SSL only, is this what you mean?

If so, it means that you would have to move to Chch and you would get work visas only. These are temporary.
You would only be able to apply for residency if you can claim enough points to apply as a Skilled Migrant or find an accredited employer to work for. I don't want to put you off but it depends on your circumstances as to how easy that will be.
Being on work visas with little chance of gaining residency means that you could end up having to leave NZ when your visas run out. That is the worst case scenario but it could be worth assessing how likely it would be for you to get residency at some point in the future [unless you can apply now of course!]
P:)

Re: New Zealand or Australia?
 

You do see the irony in wanting to be an immigrant when you think your country is "going downhill rapidly" due to immigrants. Right?

Re: New Zealand or Australia?
 

Mass immigration in the UK is the problem as it's unsustainable. Immigration itself if done right is beneficial to both the immigrant and the Nation they migrate to.

Re: New Zealand or Australia?
 

Can we please not go down the British immigration route. It's not good for my heart if there is to be a discussion about Labours open door policies.

To give you some advice, Australia is a better country in terms of salary vs living costs. Over here, the salaries are shite and the cost of living is expensive. Even more annoying is that anyways that can make life a bit cheaper, get clamped down by the government but Bill English is more bothered about money coming in than peoples lifestyles, and Gerry Brownlee needs his daily 200 pies to do his extremely difficult earthquake rebuild job. I've mentioned in the immigration note that they're clamping down on benefit paid, plus they want to make it more expensive to buy abroad and pay GST on purchases. They could set GST on foreign purchases at 1,987%, yet it would still be cheaper to buy a book from Amazon than from Whitcoulls or Paper Plus

How long have you been an ambulance driver for? I'm sure that's on both short skilled lists. You could be the main applicant

Re: New Zealand or Australia?
 

Hi there and welcome to BE.

As others may have already said, the first thing is to look at what visa options you may have. Whether or not you would be able to emigrate to either country.

The ambulance service in NZ is mostly run by the St Johns. Please click this LINK
Please note that although this link states Ambulance officers are on the NZIS immediate shortage list, I can't actually see this occupation on the current list. I may have missed it though.
Your likely route in would be to start as a volunteer.
An Ambulance Officer is seen as a skilled occupation. If you found a full time job, it is possible you could apply for NZ residency under the skilled migrant policy. Please read HERE for descriptions and standards

A roof tiler is also seen as a skilled occupation. This occupation is on the Canterbury immediate shortage list. If your OH were to find a full time position in the Canterbury area, the first step would be to apply for a temporary work visa. You and any children would apply for visas on the back of this.
If the employer would provide your OH with a full time AND a permanent position then it is possible you could then go on to apply for NZ residency. The hours, wages and terms would need to match the criteria for the policy.

Re: New Zealand or Australia?
 

I have only just seen this thread so apologies for the delay! Firstly yes Stuart would be applying as a roof tiler off the Canterbury Shortage List, he has emailed all the accredited employers and we are waiting to see if he gets a job offer! I have been in touch with St Johns and I cannot apply until I am actually in the country, my specific title isn't on the skilled list. Yes I see the irony in applying to emmigrate to another country and I have explained to my daughter that we would be immigrants, I have explained also the reasons we are leaving the UK! If the UK had a stricter Visa or Immigration process perhaps we wouldn't have the same desire to leave, although immigration is not the sole reason we are choosing to move! Also we are both skilled workers who work hard to provide for our young family not being in receipt of any tax credits or benefits, we would continue this work ethic even if we lived in Mars! We feel Stuart would bring his skill and expertise to NZ and is actually excited at the prospect of being part of the CC rebuild. We don't live a flash or expensive lifestyle but we value our time as a family and feel the time would be of better quality in NZ X