ant.8175

escapedtonz

Hi,
Congrats on the successful job offer, however nobody other than Immigration can approve you a visa. Jobs for people from overseas don't come with approved visa's. Maybe they're doing that to make it look more attractive and less hassle ?
When you get the job offer in writing you can use that to start an application for a visa that will let you live and work in NZ. Depending on the type you go for your partner and dependents may be able to go on the same application (Skilled Migrant Resident Visa) or may have to apply for their own visas's based on your visa application if you go for Essential Skills or Work To Residence. The company may advise you to apply for a certain type of visa and may employ an approved Immigration advisor to assist you in the application, however you'll have to do the majority of it yourself regardless. They most certainly don't do it for you.

I work in Hamilton so spend quite a lot of time there.
So, location out of the main city but not too rural is easy for the Tron. Sounds like Cambridge will be very much up your street. It is a beautiful small town around 20 - 30 mins drive away. Used to be a tiny farming community in the days but is growing rapidly. Its has a really cool town centre, great shops, cafe's and restaurants / bars. Great golf course just on the outskirts that runs along the Mighty Waikato River. Has all the main shops you need, supermarkets, petrol stations, fast food and all the other services to pretty much prevent you having the need to go in to the city. It has a very leafy semi-rural feel to it and is home to the national cycle dome and has some cool biking and walking tracks close by. Also great schools in the area.
Could be a bit pricey for you for a 4 bed rental though?
There is a lot of building going on at the moment so there may be opportunity there to get a rental that is brand new and at a good price whilst there's a bit of competition.
Quite a few of my colleagues live in Cambridge or in Leamington which is right next door and in my opinion the same place as there doesn't appear to be any discernible break from one to the other.
Another small town that is within a decent commute would be TA (Te Awamutu). Smaller than Cambridge but still a decent enough size for you. Also have a couple colleagues live there also.
I wouldn't head North. Other options are going West, so Morrinsville and that way on but getting a bit more rural and much quieter for the kids out that way.

ant.8175

Robbie2010

I would look at Te Awamutu. It's about 30 minutes from Waikato hospital and although not as pretty as Cambridge it has better facilities (cinema, leisure centre, indoor pool) and will be a bit more affordable. However if you're into cycling or rowing then Cambridge is the place for you.

Justcol

I lived in Cambridge for a few years, its a lovely place, although it grew to big to fast for me so I left. Not sure you'll find much there in the 2k price range as prices took of a few years ago.Te Awamutu is another good option, similar to Cambridge but not quite as affluent, still a lovely town with more affordable housing and easy access to Hamilton and the hospital. Morrinsville will also fall with your 30 min commute and is even more affordable but a fair bit more rural. There are places to the north of Hams, like Huntly or Ngaruawahia that I would try to avoid.but others to the north like Rototuna and Huntington are modern and nice for families

Cambridge has a cinema and lake karapiro (rowing) and the velodrome (cycling) are very easily accessible from TA

MrsFychan

looks like you need to make sure its tornado safe: https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-z...CGTVYqGwh5051Y

Justcol

When I first moved to Cambridge 10 years ago a tornado touched down on the local football pitch. It snapped a big tree and took the roof of someone's shed.
I wouldn't be worrying about them