katie8383

Hi all,

I am new to this forum. My partner and I are currently working towards moving over to NZ to join family. We have been to NZ before and fell in love - we have visited Auckland and the Bay of Plenty.

My partner works as a project manager in Construction and has his final interview with a NZ accredited employer next week.

I am just wondering if anyone knows how common it is to be offered a relocation package to move over and work in NZ. It is just me and my partner, we do not own our own home and wouldn't have to ship any of our furniture over (we will either sell our belongings or give to family). We are hoping we would be offered some temporary accommodation (up to 6 weeks) when/if we do make the move. The company have already said they will pay VISA costs etc which sounds promising.

Wondering what everyone else's experiences have been when relocating/support offered from employer?

Thanks in advance

escapedtonz

The subject of relocation expenses / a relocation package didn't come up until I specifically asked the question during the interview stage for all three of the roles I was interviewed for before coming to NZ.
Our migration circumstances were a little different than yours in that we'd already got the Resident Visas and had already booked shipping and flights etc months before I even looked for a ob so the relocation package offered a little different.
​​​​​​I negotiated NZ $10k for shipping plus full insurance cover of our container which was easily another NZ $3k worth.
We got $5k for temporary accommodation.
We were given full use of a relocation migration expert who sent us books and gave us loads of advice...someone we could call on anytime.
We also got a rental SUV from Hertz from the airport paid for the first 2 weeks until we bought a car and they also paid for internal domestic flights from Auckland as that's were our international tickets came in but the job was in Wellington.
Received the extra $15k in my first fortnightly pay and it was tax free.

katie8383

Hi. Thank you for your reply.

That sounds like a good deal...I know we would be happy with that!

The only reason I'm asking is because we don't have much in terms of savings behind us, however we also don't have any financial commitments over here either seeing as we are not home owners or parents.

Would be interested to hear people's opinions about making the jump without any savings behind us. Please bare in mind that our combined salary will be around $160-170k NZD. Is that enough to live on for 2 people in Auckland? For a rented apartment etc. We could wait and save up, but we have a potential opportunity coming up that may not come up again.

Thanks

escapedtonz

Yes we thought so too and if we hadn't already secured the visas and booked international flights I'm sure we'd have also received them as part of the relocation package.
I have to say though that this isn't the norm across NZ. A lot of companies sell jobs on lifestyle and not by offering much in the way of relocation.
I suppose it all depends on the employer.

160/170 per annum between you is a great salary for Auckland and you'll easily be able to live on that money so long as you don't go mad on rent and shopping as it is easily spent. It is gonna be tough with no savings. For example, how are you going to secure a rental property as you need to spend 6 x weekly rent before moving in. If you're paying 500 a week that is 3000 up front then 500 on the day you move in to keep you in advance ?
We brought along around £40k to set ourselves up in the first year and it is so easily spent - securing a rental, buying cars, paying up front for insurances, buying a couple new appliances and furniture. Unlikely you'll be able to secure any finance until you have at least 3 months worth of salary behind you.

katie8383

Hi again. Thanks for your reply

movingtonewzealand

Hi
I came over with my partner who had a job as a carpenter. His company organized car hire for 4 weeks, hotel accommodation for 4 weeks and $2000. We don't have kids and shipped some of our belongings in a container that arrived about 6 weeks after we did. We had about £10,000 spare cash that went towards rental deposit, bare essentials before we could get our stuff from container and spending money before he started work. We probably could have managed with less cash and got by to be honest.

katie8383

Hi. That's good to know. I would say we will probably have about the same amount in cash to bring over with us, I was worrying that we would need about £30-40k with us. Suppose it all comes down to how much of a good relocation package we could negotiate.

Can I ask how much it cost you to ship your stuff over? We have been to a few seminars about moving to NZ and there have been a few removal companies there and it just seems so expensive! I mean, we do have our own furniture but we don't think the value of the furniture combined is as much as what it will cost us to ship it over!

Justcol

But what is it going to cost you to replace it in NZ, especially as you've said you've not got a lot of money to bring

katie8383

Good point. The only things we would bring though are our bed, mattress, 1 two seater sofa, a coffee table and a tv unit - worth around £700 in total. Is that even half a containers worth? I get that to buy all that in NZ is going to cost a lot more than £700, I just thought we could get a furnished rental to start with as there seems to be a lot around when I look online.

Bo-Jangles

What about all your other small stuff, kitchenware, pots and pans, pictures, towels, kettle, toaster, bedding, clothes, pillow, tools and what not? The list is endless and if you think about the cost and hassle of of replacing absolutely everything you own it's a no brainer and likely you will regret not hanging onto all your own familiar things.

escapedtonz

We shipped a near full 40ft container from Preston, UK to Wellington, NZ via PSS International and NZ Van Lines in Feb 2012 and they did all the packing and unpacking and we paid a little bit extra as the container truck was unable to gain access to our property so the packers had to fill a smaller truck a few times then travel 500 metres to the entrance of our estate to fill the container. Total cost was a tad under 5000 quid for a door to door service including 1 x hand built cushioned pallet box to house and protect a huge glass kitchen table top we had. That did not include any shipping insurance which is approx 1.0 - 1.5% of the value of the contents OR you can just elect to insure individual items - say maybe the LCD TV's or whatever. You can also insure via a 3rd party like Letton Percival in Liverpool who are around half the cost of taking the insurance via the international remover. In total it all took 12 weeks and we had to pay around another NZ$500 this end to get some things through MPI checks.
20ft container will be at least 3000 - 3500 quid by now I'd guess.
Best option is to get a few quotes and remember the cheapest isn't always the best. We went middle of the road and used the one we felt more comfortable with or more to the point the one spouting the least bullsh1t.

Luckily my new employer insured the whole shipment for free on the company insurance AND they paid for the shipping by means of a relocation package that I negotiated.

katie8383

That's fantastic that they did that! That's what we are hoping for if my partner gets the job (we will find out within the next 6 days!)