southerner

On balance I would think you might find a move to Auckland a backward step from a financial point of view. However, you don't sound like you are over the moon about where you are now (although accepting of it), so what harm is a paid trip to NZ. You never know, you might absolutely fall in love with Auckland, and/or they might be willing to pay your husband a very good salary (it doesn't happen all the time but sometimes peeps can get really good salaries in particular industries, even compared to the UK's).

Basil Brush

Thanks anyway Pixi-dust!

I have sent karma to all that have replied. All the tips & kind words are very thoughtful & are gratefully received.

If only life came with a set of instructions!!!

SarahB

You definately wouldnt be wanting to work in Papatoetoe and live at North Shore... the traffic would be pretty bad.

We live at Beachlands which is just past Whitford... we've recently been looking at house prices here and theres not a lot for under $500, nothing thats any good anyway. We love it around here and it seems a nice area though..... some stunning views around here too and good community spirit. A full section in Beachlands is 1/4 acre and one of them, even with a crappy old bach on it will be at least $400... youre paying for the section here. We found that if you look round the Hanua area or Karaka way then you can get more for your money than round here.

JAJ

I presume you mean you want to wait to get your Australian citizenship first.

Bear in mind that one of the requirements for Australian citizenship is that you should intend to continue to live in Australia or maintain a "close and continuing association" with Australia.

Nothing stopping you changing your mind and leaving after you have been sworn in as a citizen, however.

If you do move to New Zealand then as an Australian citizen you have immediate permanent residence in NZ. After 5 years you can apply for New Zealand citizenship if you wish (under current law, you would keep both British and Australian citizenship).

Basil Brush

Yes, sorry I should have written "citizenship" not PR!

I would definitely stay for our Oz citizenship because we have lived here for coming up to 6 years & we do consider Oz to be our home now. Even if we went to NZ there is every chance that my son or all 3 of us may want to come back in the future/near future. Who knows, maybe the job won't be to my husbands liking....anything can happen!

Not only is Oz my country of preference, (as I've never had any desire to live in NZ) but we are also about to buy land here and have friends here that we would continue to visit at least twice a year. I believe these factors will fulfil the requirements for the close & continuing relationship with Oz. If this move goes ahead, then it would be purely a career move, not a lack of commitment to Oz in any way & I see it as no different than any other Aussie going overseas for work.

JAJ

Be careful. If you tell DIAC you are planning to move to New Zealand, don't be surprised if your citizenship application is refused. Intentions are a grey area so think carefully about how you are going to handle this.

Bottom line is that it's only safe to start thinking about moving after being sworn in as a citizen, not before.

Basil Brush

Hi JAJ,

Thanks for the advice. Hopefully we won't be going anywhere!

Regards,

BB

Basil Brush

Afternoon all!

Judging by the comments on here it would seem that Papakura and Papatoetoe should be avoided as far as an area to live, although it happens to be the area that the OH's job offer is.

As I explained in an earlier post, we have moved several times in Oz and our son has had to move schools too, which is something I feel particularly bad about. Now that he is in high school, it's important that whatever school we pick from the outset should be the one that he stays at because he is getting to a crucial stage in his education.

I don't want to move to an area that we can afford to rent but not afford to buy as this will mean that ultimately we have to upsticks again, or also making the mistake of renting in an area that has an older population and our son being isolated from having social contact out of school (these are some of the mistakes that we've made in Oz and although OH's job has been the main reason for our previous moves, a couple of the moves have been due to our mistakes when choosing suburbs). I desperately want to get it right for our son's sake as he is already unhappy about the possibility of this move to NZ. At the same time, I need to take into account the distance to Papatoetoe for my husbands daily commute & would like to do as much research as possible, in an attempt to get it right 1st time, so as to avoid changing our minds and moving all the time.

We know more of the salary details now & OH should earn around $100k with 1 teenager and 1 fat labrador to feed!!! We are also hoping to add 1 more to our family over the next year or so, so should also allow a bit more expense for that eventuality. Although the salary does look quite good in comparison to others, it's worth noting that we don't have much of a house deposit (less than I initially thought-around $30k). However, we will rent initially and try to boost this to perhaps $40k. Whether I get a job will be dependant on the baby situation as I'll be 35 this year and don't want to leave it too late to have our little one, so for now I will assume that I won't be working.

Alfriston and surrounding areas such as Whitford, Clevedon, etc have been mentioned as being good travelling distance to Papatoetoe, but I don't know much about the facilities in these areas including schools, shops, population, etc. Would we have to be mega rich to live in these areas? Alfriston seems to be the cheapest of these 3 suburbs (although I could be wrong as there aren't many properties on the websites for these places). Are there any good secondary schools / shops / swimming pools / dog walking areas, etc in any of these suburbs? If I could find a school with a good reputation around those parts, then maybe it will help me to feel less guilty

Also here in Oz there is a AU$12k first home buyers grant that we are eligible for if we build a house, however it doesn't sound like there is anything like this in NZ....can anyone confirm this?

Plus it doesn't look like employers pay any superannuation as the job offer doesn't list this....is this the norm in NZ? The offer does list medical insurance & life insurance though, which is something we don't get here in Oz.

Sorry for all these questions - trying to do as good a job as possible with this fact-finding mission!

Cheers,

BB