Relocating to NZ - have I missed anything?
 

Hi

I'm hoping I have a pretty straight forward situation here re visas etc but wanted to run it by you all to see if I've missed any potential hiccups. I'm married to a Kiwi, we've lived in the UK for the past 11 years and have a son who has dual nationality. We're selling our London flat, or trying to. Once that goes through we want to move to NZ.

I work for a global firm with an NZ branch so I will transfer across, keeping my current role and work from home. We won't know when we can move for sure until we exchange on the house so my plan is to apply for a 2 year work visa at that point because it's quick, then apply for residency once we get there. We're not criminals, vaguely healthy and will have cash behind us from the flat sale.

So two questions -
1 - From the little info I've given above, is there anything that could cause me any problems with getting a visa?
2 - I believe that on a working visa you can't join Kiwi Saver. Are there any other restrictions such as access to healthcare etc?

Thanks!

Re: Relocating to NZ - have I missed anything?
 

You will have to prove that your relationship with your kiwi wife is genuine and stable to get your visa. I assume it's a family category visa you are applying for.

Also, your medical and police checks should not highlight any problems.

I'm married to a New Zealander, have been since 1994. I came to NZ on a family category visa in 2011 when we relocated to NZ.

I chose to pay into Kiwi Saver when I was working in NZ. When I started a new job I chose to opt out as opting in is voluntary although it will be, 'taken as read' that you are joining KiwiSaver if you don't advise that you want to opt out. Although you have to choose which as part of the new job paperwork - it's a tick box exercise.

As for healthcare - first job, find a doctor that is taking on new patients. Triage centres / accident and emergency if you don't need an ambulance are good and their scale of charges is clearly written on a board in the reception area. There is an organisation called, 'ACC' which may fund your care if you qualify.

We came home back to Britain in November 2016. All good.

Re: Relocating to NZ - have I missed anything?
 

As a partner of a NZ citizen you should apply for a Partner Resident visa which gives you the right to work/live/study in NZ. We came over from the UK 20 months ago and I was granted the Permanent Resident visa straight away as we had been married for 16 years. I'm not sure how long you have to have been in a relationship to be granted that visa but hopefully somebody more well versed in the ins & outs of INZ visa regulations will come along shortly. Pretty sure though that after 11 years of marriage (you do have to provide evidence of your relationship covering the last 12 months) you should be able to qualify for the (permanent) residency too.

https://www.immigration.govt.nz/new-...e-family-visas

Re: Relocating to NZ - have I missed anything?
 

I agree with the others, the Partnership visa looks like it would offer greater stability and more options.

I moved here on a Partnership visa. My (kiwi) spouse had to sponsor me which meant that her criminal record was taken into account as well as mine but she didn't have to take the medical. I had expected the requirement to provide the partnership evidence so had collected Council Tax bills with both names on, Tenancy agreements in joint names and travel agent itineraries that showed us travelling together over the two years before I applied. I also provided our marriage certificate which is not enough proof on its own but provides one more piece of evidence as part of a package.

Partnership visa holders are treated as Permanent Residents from day 1.

The Partnership visa has travel conditions for the first two years but once the holder has lived in the country for two years (spending most of the time here) it can be made permanent. The travel conditions just mean that if you leave for a long time and then try to come back, that visa is not valid any more and you have to apply again from the beginning, or it might take longer than two years to make permanent if too many days have been spent out of the country since day 1.

Re: Relocating to NZ - have I missed anything?
 

12 months up to 5 years relationship evidence - Partnership Resident Visa.
5 years + relationship evidence - Partnership Permanent Residency Visa.

Re: Relocating to NZ - have I missed anything?
 

Thanks for your replies.

Partnership visa looks good. My husband and I have been together 11 years and married for 7. I believe that once you get that visa there is a time limit for moving to NZ. Given that we haven't sold our flat yet I can't get it now in case it takes another 12 months to sell. Once we do sell and have reached the point of no return on the sale contract we'll probably only have a couple of months before moving to NZ and I'll need to work straight away so I'm still thinking I need to start with a 2 year work visa because it's so quick to get. Partnership is around 9 months I think. Please correct me if I've got that wrong!

Re: Relocating to NZ - have I missed anything?
 

Should be valid for a maximum period of 12 months from date of issue.
Applying via the partnership route shouldn't have to take so long. The 9 months you quote is typical processing time for a Resident Visa via SMC which takes way longer as Immigration have to consider qualifications and skills/experience plus a full check on a job offer and the employer etc.
All they need to check via the partnership route is your actual partnership, health and character. I'd be surprised if it took longer than 5 / 6 months.
Family route and Partnership route Residency Visa applications are the highest priority for Immigration processing.

Re: Relocating to NZ - have I missed anything?
 

Which means, among other things, you can vote and you may be called for jury service !

Re: Relocating to NZ - have I missed anything?
 

OK, my post has errors in it!

Noone can vote until they have lived in New Zealand for at least one year at some point in their life.
Who can and can't enrol? Electoral Commission

Re: Relocating to NZ - have I missed anything?
 

Partnership it is. Just got to sell the flat now and we can get moving! Heading to Wellington initially, will see how we cope with the winter/wind and get to know surrounding areas a bit before deciding where to buy. Currently in love with the Wairarapa but plenty more to explore.

Thanks for your input.

Re: Relocating to NZ - have I missed anything?
 

Good luck with that. We had our house on the market at the time of the Brexit referendum & it took us 4 weeks to get an offer (Brighton) and then the approx. 8-9 weeks to complete (luckily our buyer was a 1st time buyer so there was no chain involved).


It was a frosty start this morning in Welly and we had to scrape our car windows (reminded me of England). Luckily we were only visiting - where we currently live it has never got to the window-scraping stage, but then we've only been here one winter;)

Re: Relocating to NZ - have I missed anything?
 

The Wellington winter didn't really bother us. We went through 3 of them during our time there and apart from a handful of frosty starts and a couple of sleety downpours each winter they were pretty mild. The thing that got to us though was the wind. It is just a constant and often very strong with plenty of severe episodes. I commuted by bike a lot then also (motorbike and pushbike) and it was bordering on dangerous quite often.
Highly recommended you renting for a good period before deciding to buy. There's so many places to live and the terrain so vastly different depending which direction out of the CBD you travel. Lived in a few different places when we lived there.
The Rapa is pretty nice and was the weekend destination out on the bike. Especially liked Martinborough as just reminds me of Hill Valley out the original Back To The Future film. Beautiful village. I just wouldn't like to do the commute to Wellington. The Rimutaka road is insane at the best of times in good weather. It is often closed during winter due to snowfall and then you have pretty much no option to get to Wellington unless you wanna head towards Palmy then travel down SH1.
If its the rural option you want there are other places closer - e.g. Ohariu Valley, Whitemans Valley/Blue Mountains, Makara and Wainuiomata (although that gets a bad rep).

Re: Relocating to NZ - have I missed anything?
 

Thank you. We are keen on the rural option so I'll look at those other areas. We were thinking Featherston in the Wairarapa to reduce the commute as much as possible but I hear what you're saying about the road. There's the train but I don't know how reliable that is. Keen to check out the Kapiti coast once we get there too. We'll definitely rent for a while, I understand the terrain is really important and if you're not careful and end up on the wrong side of a hill you can be pretty damp and dark for most of the year!. If only Brexit hadn't screwed the London property market we'd be there already, sigh.

Re: Relocating to NZ - have I missed anything?
 

No worries.
Featherston fine but a pretty quiet place in all honesty, however I get your reasoning with it being the closest community to the Takka's so will reduce the commute as much as possible.
I can't stress enough how much of a pain in the ass that commute will be on a regular basis. I only ever did it on the m'bike when I was on a ride out and it's pretty awesome in that respect but if I had to do it for something other than recreation I'd be my idea of hell on wheels. Rapa side is rough as. The Welly side is pretty new and well maintained. Rapa side really narrow. Not many passing lanes and the ones that are in place aren't the safest but yet full of idiots who don't know how to drive. It's very curvy with loads of blind corners and a couple of 25kph hairpins - in fact a colleague/biker mate of mine killed himself on one of those corners a few years ago. Was going too fast around one of the hairpins at full tilt and highsided himself coming out of the corner in to the path of a car.
There are regular slips and mini rock falls that encroach on to the asphalt. There's regular road works with NZTA or the local council having to fix something so traffic light control and down to one lane and as I said closures can be frequent in winter. The train is fairly reliable from what I understand as it runs through the Takka Tunnel so the hill or weather over the hill doesn't affect it. If I had to choose a community to live in on that side of the Takka's as close to the hill as possible it'd be Carterton. Much nicer place that Feath.
Kapiti Coast is pretty nice. Much more commutable to Wellington now than it ever was in the past now there's a bit of the new road. There is still a lot of new road development as NZTA continue on with the Transmission Gully project but defo in the future, when it's all completed by 2022/2024 or whenever it is, the whole of the Kapiti Coast will be a reasonable commute to Wellington under the hour mark. We really liked it out there - especially Raumati Beach which would have been our pick as the community is really nice and it's a great place for the kids. We were just disappointed with Kapiti coast beach and the sea there. Thought it'd be a bit more tropical, beautiful sand and feel like being on holiday all the time when in reality it's pretty rough and very windswept on most days with lots of driftwood etc. Not the kind of beach you go to for sunbathing and chilling out. More for walking the dog, having a kick about or fishing than getting a tan in summer.
Renting for a while is a good option. It is essential you experience all of these unknowns before committing to a place to buy and live. Nowhere is perfect. Each has its own compromises.