saintlysinner

hi my name is jacki, and i am not from the uk, i am from ireland ( republic of )

my husband has just been offered a position in christchurch, just this week-end, and although this has been a long time in the planning.....the shock has just started to hit
although we have been researching this beautiful country a long time, there now seems to be a million and one questions going through my head....most i probably know the answer to, but the shock needs time to lessen !!

we will get the full detail's of the package provided through this new company, to know what or if there are any hoops we need to jump through, before we can up and leave for good.

would love to hear from others having been through this procedure or others who are just started onto this journey into the un-known.

thanks for reading x

BEVS

HeHe. I do vaguely remember the feeling of shock that we could make it happen.

Welcome to our wee NZ forum Jacki. Plenty of us here have made the move .Quite a few are down Christchurch

Wonderful to read you have a job offer as they can be like gold dust. Very pleased for you both.

scrubbedexpat094

Hi Jacki, to our NZ forums. I remember that shock too, when all the talk became real

Many of us have been through it & lived to tell the tale. A good few of our posters here live down in Christchurch so will be able to answer any specific questions you have about the area.

Congratulations on the OH's job offer. Do you work?

Fire away with any questions you have

saintlysinner

thank you for your replies, and your kind welcome

i would be very interested in finding out more regarding school's and desirable living area's from people who have lived there, all houses look lovely in a picture...rather know what we are letting ourselves in for

my husband is a civil engineer, so he will be helping to rebuild the city after the devastation of the earthquakes.

i currently don't work after bringing up my 2 children, my son has a rare condition, which has kept me at home, but thankfully he is 13 now and i am not really needed at home as much, i would like to see myself get some part time work for starters, i used to work in a bookmakers...so hopefully something will turn up for me in this opportunity of a new life !!

i would also be quite interested, in meeting other's who have made this step over, i am quite shy by nature, and feel this could be a great conversation starter and we would like to fit in quite quickly ...once we get there !! or

....if we get there ( still awaiting full package details to see if the move is viable for us ) hoping this will work out for us all the money is looking good at this point, but we are still researching price comparisons, to make sure we are not worse off as still have commitments in Ireland also

scrubbedexpat094

I've moved this into the main forum so that more people will see it & hopefully be able to help you.

Shall have a go at tweaking the thread title as well, to make it more specific. But it maybe something that BEVS needs to do.

saintlysinner

thank you

derab

Hi Saintly,
the bookmakers are a little different down here, most of the outlets are TAB's (government authorised (unofficially owned) betting shops) and most of those operate as an add on to a bar. so to continue as a bookie you will be mainly a barmaid, it does help with the variety of the workday.
you have been looking at most of the Christchurch posts I take it, which will show that you should stay West of the CBD for accommodation and dont turn your nose up at a wooden house, very few wooden houses have fallen in the last 18 months.
Insulation has been a foreign concept for Kiwi builders until very recently, so make sure you ask that kind of question when shopping for a rental.
if you have any questions, please feel free to chirp up and we will do our best.

saintlysinner

thank you for your response

thankfully i would like to think i am pretty versatile, and to be honest any p/t work would be a blessing, just to get out of the house and socialise again ... ( living in rural ireland we are miles from our closest neighbour's ) also good way of meeting new people......potential friends

shall take on board the wooden house info, was slightly put off, but only because im used to bricks and mortar, but safety has to be a first !!

with regard to the insulation, we only got our house insulated recently, ireland not that up to date on insulation either, we were advised to look for a house that has been recently built as the standards are apparently better ?

would you know which particular area's would be suitable for a family ? my daughter is 14 and my son 13 so would need suitable good schools as well,
obviously within a good distance for my husbands work, he is presently working in the UK so a short drive would be a blessing and we may also get to see him.

the company with the offer on the table is Downer, and thankfully the contact person we have, is very helpful, and has asked us to put forward any questions or concerns we have...which is very helpful, but still good to have an un biased opinion from others who have gone through the big move

thank you

andrew.catrina

hi we are a family of 8 wanting to relocate to christchurch my hubby is a fully qualified plumber / central heating installer. can i ask what your husband does? thanks catrina

saintlysinner

hi there

my hubby is a civil engineer,

good luck with your move, we have been applying for work in New Zealand for approx a year now.

jacki x

andrew.catrina

hi thanks for getting back to me, we have been planning to do this for years, now we have the twins and our family is complete we are eager to go!! a visa company are dealing with that side of things, my hubby is a fully qualified plumber / central heating installer, do you know of any places that we could contact?? thanks catrina
ps. so pleased you have a job offer!!

saintlysinner

my husband went through an agency, he mailed his CV off this time last year, and it has taken time to get a response, he went through an engineering agency, not sure if they cover plumbers ?

you could try Google and see what comes up, i think that's how we started this procedure, and if the agency we tried couldn't help...we asked if they knew who could, a few times we were pointed in the right direction, which helped.

we have friends who re-located to Australia ( also engineers ), so have been through a similar experience using an agency .

thanks for the good wishes,
and good luck
jacki x

andrew.catrina

thanks jacki,

we are looking on google, search engines, seek etc. I guess when we find the right one it will come to us,
hope the move goes well - please keep in touch (if you have the time) and let me know how you all get on,
catrina x

EmmaandIan

Hi hun, we moved to christchurch with our 3 children last November, it has been the best move we've made. Hopefully if you recieved the job offer they may give you a relocation package. We were lucky to have one and the best advise I can give is get yourself a visa advisor. We had one from crown relocation service and they were there to answer all the complicated questions and tell us which applications we needed to fill out etc. The paperwork is the biggest ballacher. Anyway If I can help in anyway re housing, schools etc just e mail me. Good luck with it all and hopefully you'll be here before you know it....Emma

BEVS

Hi there.

Try Trade Me ( click link) Just remember that the employer has to show no NZ resident or citizen could do that job as the trade isn't in shortage.

Also, have the pre-assessment letter to hand to email over with the CV. You'll also need to convince the employer that it is a job offer first and then a visa. Tell 'em you'll get a temp work visa to get you there and working quickly. You know the drill from before . Any help with forms etc. let us know.