Becki000

Hi Everybody - I am new to BE, recommended by my boyfriends brother who is moving to Canada, but my boyfriend and I are wanting to move to NZ!

We are looking to apply for a working holiday visa for either 12 or 23 months, with a view to come back to the UK after then or stay for good (subject to permenant jobs / visa etc when/if the time comes). I am struggling to understand what the best way is to actually get over there and set up etc which is the reason for my post. Any help or advice would be more than useful and appreciated so thank you in advance.

These seem like really simple questions but I'd really like somebody to give their opinion or their experience of doing the following:

1. What to take with you? - assuming you can only take one suitcase on a plane (without being bankrupt!) what are you actually meant to pack, just a few clothes and buy the rest there?
2. Once you arrive staying in hostels seems the cheapest option but what about all your belongings where do these go (will they be stolen if left in a hostel unless not a shared dorm?)
3. How long is it or what evidence do you need to show in order to rent an apartment? (UK you need to show several months wage slips and permenant job etc)
4. Can you use UK driving license in NZ?
5. What do you need to have in order to buy a car?

Thank you for any advice you can give!
Rebecca

snaps

I believe the following for points 1, 4 and 5:
1. Clothes are pricey, but you may not require too many here except in the winter.
4. Can you use UK driving license in NZ? - Seems you can drive with a UK license for a year before requiring an NZ licence, it may depend on date of last entry though.
5. Car seem expensive here, but not sure you need anything special to buy a car, an address may help the seller and the buyer receive the documents confirming purchase. You can drive with insurance but I would not recommend this.

snaps

Error in 5. I meant
You can drive withOUT insurance but I would not recommend this.

MrsFychan

hopefully someone who has stayed in a hostel will be able to tell you about the security aspects.
Someone who has bought a car should be able to say if you need some form of legality to drive it, we bought ours with us.

Tom1983

Eeee by gum! A sheffielder, where abouts in Sheffield do you live if you don't mind me asking. I had many a years living in the worn down city

As for New Zealand, there is a place on the South Island called Sheffield that serves some of the finest pies in New Zealand. Oh their chicken and mushroom is delightful. Also doesn't have any football team to be embarrassed about

I'll answer as much as I can for you

1. What to take with you? - assuming you can only take one suitcase on a plane (without being bankrupt!) what are you actually meant to pack, just a few clothes and buy the rest there?
Pack a mix of winter and summer to start with and then take it from there. It mainly depends how long you will be coming for. I think if you are coming for more than 12 months, you may be eligible to bring 40kg of luggage. Double check that as I may be wrong.

2. Once you arrive staying in hostels seems the cheapest option but what about all your belongings where do these go (will they be stolen if left in a hostel unless not a shared dorm?)
Depends on the hostel. The one we stayed in for a short period of time in January 2012 was fine. We had our own double bed in our own room when we were made homeless a couple of years ago. We didn't mind sharing the kitchen (we had our own fridge which we locked), the communal area was fine and even the bathroom wasn't too bad. How the chap who ran the place worked was that you had a key for your room and your part of the kitchen (locks on fridges etc). Nothing got stolen and for $150 a week, it certainly did us

3. How long is it or what evidence do you need to show in order to rent an apartment? (UK you need to show several months wage slips and permenant job etc)
All we've had to show is my job contract every time we've rented a place. Not had to show anything else. If/when you do come over, nearer the time - i'll tell you which companies to use and which to heavily avoid!

4. Can you use UK driving license in NZ?
Only for a year. If you are hear for more than 12 months, you'll have to get a NZ one

5. What do you need to have in order to buy a car?
Roger Waters will answer that for you. Oh and a NZ bank account if you want to buy on finance. I don't think you'll be accepted if you are only here for a short period.

Since you are looking at WHV visas, get yourself down to Queenstown and get a job with Skyline gondola. They're very popular with working holiday visitors and most tend to work there. I think everytime i've been there, its either an English tourist or Canadian tourist that's working there.

Becki000

Thank You all for your help!

Tom - I'm originally from Doncaster but been living in Sheffield for 2 years since I bought my house, I live near meadowhall shopping centre.

Thanks for your responses - how did you find moving across to NZ from UK? or are you NZ citizen originally ?

Just seems strange leaving everything behind and going somewhere without a job or anything..exciting though I suppose!

What does the skyline company do? - we are both in Engineering Project Management so looking for something similar or I would go into events management as well..I applied to a company in Auckland called SkyCity who design and supply casinos and hotels etc but they wou;d process my application as I hadn't got an approved WHV!

I've found that ome companies won't process you until you have the visa and some companies will sponsor you..guess its just finding the right one!

Snap Shot

Hello and welcome to you and your boyfriend.

I have a family category visa, because I am married to a New Zealander, that is the sum total of my knowledge of visas.

If you buy a one way ticket you may get extra baggage allowance free if you travel with, say, Emirates. I realise from what I've read on here, some visas require you to have your return ticket as part of the emigration rules. We flew with Air New Zealand in 2011 and paid for another 35kg of luggage each because we were flying one way. We requested this when we booked our one way tickets and paid for the extra suitcases each at check in.

On arrival you could stay in a B&B or Motel or backpackers lodge etc for a few days, that you have pre-booked before leaving Britain. TradeMe is a good source of classified listings for places to stay, jobs, cars etc. We stayed in a Holiday Houses place on a self catering basis. Holiday Houses is the name of the company, please Google it as I haven't provided the link. Other useful sites for accommodation are: airbnb and bookabach.

This should be near to work or just somewhere to rest and, 'come back to yourself' before looking for longer term accommodation and/or work.

1. Just bring the clothes you own relevant to the season in NZ on your arrival. No doubt you will buy things in NZ. However, you might be disgusted at the price and quality here i.e. Tesco quality, M&S prices. You might not think much of your possessions at present. You'll miss your (..........) after a while in NZ.

With the cost of food, car rental, accommodation etc, buying clothes will seem like an unnecessary expense.

2. Hostels usually have a luggage room which is locked, just ask what the arrangements are. I haven't stayed in one but ask about how to secure your valuables i.e. is there a safe for your passport etc when you don't want to have it with you. Just take precautions like you would in your home town.

3. Apartment rental. References are required, ask your current boss for one. Also, ask your prospective boss in NZ for a rental reference. Your bank in Britain could be approached by you for a rental reference. Have you been tenants in Britain ? You could ask for references from your landlord.

When we rented in Christchurch, NZ after arriving in 2011, we did not have a job, but we did have funds, which we were not made to prove or even asked about IIRC. Back then it was easy to find a rental as we were moving into a city that a lot were moving out of. We found a property to rent in Christchurch using an old reference of my husband's from his flatting days 20 years ago. The reference was undated, conveniently ! The other reference was provided by my Dad. My husband asked him to sign a reference as we had stayed with him for a few weeks before leaving. We just made use of the fact that my surname changed since marrying my husband ! We then used our reference from the Christchurch rental to rent a property where we now live.

4. You can use a UK driving licence in NZ, as has been mentioned, for a year. Then, if you are staying, you need to get an NZ licence. The process for this is easy. You just go along to the AA shop locally in New Zealand. There is no DVLA here in NZ, it's done via the AA retail outlets. It's governed by the New Zealand Transport Authority (NZTA) but they are a Government Department that deals with the admin, they don't seem to deal with the public like DVLA do.

I got my NZ driving licence within a few months of arriving in NZ, just 'cause it was an admin process that I wanted out of the way. I just went along to the AA retail outlet and asked what I needed to do. I then filled in the form, had my photo taken there and then, paid the fee, took the sight test and was given the ok. I was given a slip of paper with my driver licence number on it and was told my licence would come in the post in a few days, which it duly did. Getting your NZ driving licence on the strength of your UK licence it is still described as an exchange. However, the AA don't keep your UK licence and it is still valid. Oh, and the really good part about it is, they don't carry over any points from your UK licence to your NZ licence. Way hey !

Prospective employers seem to be obsessed with driving licences in New Zealand. I have been asked if I have a driving licence for every job I have applied for in New Zealand, which is surprising as the job has got nothing to do with driving. Some have even asked what kind of licence I have and asked me to supply my licence number. Go figure. I think it's a sneaky little background check, but hey.

Once you have your NZ driving licence no one will care that you got it in exchange for a UK one. Also, the police don't mind if you do not have your address on your licence. Some people prefer not to have it. I do, as sometimes it's handy for i.d. such as the video rental shop etc !

Just as a by the way, demerit points are handed out at 20 points at a time in New Zealand, valid for 2 years not three years like Britain. Once you get to 100 demerit points, then you lose your licence. How long for depends on the nature of the offence/s. I got two individual speed camera offences in NZ for which I was fined about thirty quid each. No points though, as it was a speed cameral offence. Go figure ! Normally speeding fines are one hundred and fifty quid, they don't muck about ! So it seems to be different if the police catch you speeding than a speed camera. Even if it's a mobile speed camera, operated by the police. Again, go figure ! If someone is caught doing 140kph it's an automatic ban for four weeks.

5. Buying a car. As has been advised - money. NZ second hand cars are expensive, the folk lore being they hold their value on resale. I was annoyed that my car insurance company halved the insured value of our car within 2 years. That's what the current value of it is, apparently, according to them. So I paid ten or twenty quid extra to get a better write off value in the event of a crash.

You don't have to have car insurance in NZ, it's not a legal requirement. However, when you go to get car insurance just give a verbal account of your car insurance history. You can take your no claims discount confirmation with you if you like. However, they don't do much more than shrug, take your money, then issue you with your car insurance. Look on the brightside, no more, 'Go Compare' adverts !

Japanese imported cars are good value, IMHO. Can you drive an automatic ? That's what's popular out here. It's a quiet scandal that cars imported from Japan are registered at that year's registration. Everybody knows this. Our car was manufactured in 2001 in Japan but registered here in NZ in 2011 as we are the first people it's been registered to as we are the first owners in NZ.

All cars sold by a dealer in NZ have to be NZ roadworthy. Don't let a car dealer give you the impression that he's done this for you as a favour. Japanese cars are sneered at as, 'Jap crap' in New Zealand. Ours is a Mazda, with a manual gearbox imported from Japan. I won't buy an automatic, I don't see why I should have to. We paid just under five thousand pounds for it. It's been a good car for us, i.e, has got it's MOT (Warrant of Fitness = WOF in NZ) without much heartache each year. NZ has just moved over to annual WOF's when up to last year it was every six months.

A tax disc is the registration of the car or regio as it's shortened to in New Zealand. It's mostly done online and you get the registration in the post. It's a rectangular piece of paper similar in size to a tax disc to be displayed in the same place as a tax disc on the car windscreen. Like UK tax discs they can be purchased yearly, six monthly etc. I understand they are doing away with tax discs in Britain as it's all computerised anyway. I wonder if they will adopt a similar scheme in NZ. Anyway, no matter.

We spent our last six thousand dollars on our car, the balance to make it up to the ten thousand dollars required we put on our credit card. We had to, we needed a car and had no more money. My husband's new job had just started and he was not getting paid for a fortnight. That's another thing, salary is paid fortnightly here in NZ not monthly. We hired a car as the car dealer also deals has a car rental business. We got the cost of our rental car back by way of a discount when we purchased our car. We didn't know this was going to happen until we bought the car. This meant we got our month long car rental for free, it was almost like getting a courtesy car !

The car dealer asked to see my licence for when he was registering the car. Stupidly I had forgotten to bring the slip of paper with my NZ licence number on it so I showed him my UK licence and that's what the car is registered to. He did not have a problem with it.

MrsFychan

WHV means you can work in certain jobs for part of the time your visa is valid for, you cannot work the full length of it so you do need to check out the criteria for that.

Most companies when it comes to visa's do no understand the process. If you were looking at getting a more permanent visa it would be job offer then visa, and when you say "sponsor you" I believe it just means they will aide you in gaining the visa with help in moving costs etc in the end you would still need a valid visa to work and only Immigration can give you that. (sorry if I misunderstood your meaning of sponsor)

Tom1983

Aaaah Meadowhall or chav central as commonly known by the local South Sheffielders. I had a few years in the slum of Lowfields before moving to Halfway.

To give you some advice on the job hunt, its best you wait till your out here when coming on WHVs. That way they'll see that you have the right to work in the country. Also, are your CVs kiwified? Go to newkiwis.co.nz, send your cv to them and they'll do one for you. That got me the job out here. Also, look on sites like workingin etc as they tend to have some positions available. However, they tend to favour those that are going to be coming on a permanent basis when interviewing abroad. You'll get asked about your intentions of why New Zealand and will less favour those just coming for a couple of years.

Skyline are a popular touristy style company that have locations in Rotorua and Queenstown. Also have locations in Singapore and Calgary I think? It's an activities style company, where you start off by going in a gondola to the top and then take part in a luge ride, bike track, paragliding, bungy jump etc. Loads to do. Rotorua and Queenstown are a must for any WHV person, cracking places to visit! I recommend them since they do employ a lot of WHV people but it won't be ideal for you with your job background. You might get some event management work with them though

The move was fine as my partner and I had nothing keeping us back in Blighty. Our house got sold recently in London, we're just waiting whether or not we can stay here as our 2 and a half year visa runs out in 4 months time. I

I think with your line of work, you may be requested on a more permanent basis than just a WH. Having said that, if you make a good impression with the company your working for, i'm sure they'll have no issues sponsoring you. Just a few legalities they'll have to follow

Becki000

Just to let everybody know me and my partner have secured our visas and will be joining the Auckland society in October this year! Many thanks for all your help everybody.

We have decided to bring a suitcase each just clothes etc, stay in a rented room for a couple with some other house mates etc hopefully in the city center to avoid buying a car as they are pretty expensive. No jobs lined up yet as we are on WHV and not coming until October but hopefully we can secure a job or some interviews before we come.

If you are ever in Auckland towards the end of this year would love to meet up and get to know a good circle of friends Thanks again

Rebecca