scottishlad

hi everyone, first time poster here and hopefully will be using the site for a while to come.

I am a 24 year old carpenter/joiner from scotland who is considering moving to Christchurch in the new year. I may have a job lined up which pays $24 ph to start with but could rise, is this enough for a single person to live off?

The woman who i spoke to via Skype told me i would need roughly £2000 to get me there which would include flight, deposit for digs, tool transportation etc.... is this enough? I would be starting work pretty much straight away but still seems low.

I would be travelling on a working holiday visa to start with then see how things go.

Thanks in advance....Mick

Catchafire

Good day Mick and welcome to BE

I work that out to be just shy of $50k, based on a 8 hour day. Can you live on that? Depends, it close to borderline, but I am in my 40's and not used to living on beans on toast and spending the rest on booze anymore.

Coming on a WHV is smart, means you can change employer, so when you arrive, you might find some better opportunities, once you start to know people and how things work.

scottishlad

Hi mate and thanks for the reply!

To be fair i will probably be living in shared accomodation so that should bring the costs down! I would probably be open to working a lot of hours as well and i dont plan on spending most of my time and money on the sauce

The company i will be working for is 6 month contracts so that would probably tie me to that company for the duration of the contract. I wouldnt be too bothered about this as long as i can live comfortably.

Cheers

jonesy115

Hi mate,
I've just arrived in Christchurch this week and I start work on Monday. I would recommend that you put closer to 3k away for getting over here but that all depends on if your going to do your visa application yourself and on how many tools you are shipping out.
I managed to get my flights through the agency I'm working for and I got double baggage allowance that was about £750, I shipped 100kg of tools out here which cost me around £900 and I paid a immigration company to do my visa application and visa for me, this worked out really bloody expensive but I knew it would be right first time around with no come backs and it was one less thing I had to worry about while I sorted stuff out at home. They charged me $1700 which is about £900 and my visa worked out at £156.
I'd have a look at the different companies that are taking on out here first, you might get a better deal with the wages, my deal is closer to 58000 dollars but that's only for 3 months and it increases after that trail period.

Hope this helps you

Justcol

you'll be taking home around 750 ish a week
digs maybe 200
food maybe 150
you'll need a car which could be around 3k for a reliable munter
what you do with the rest is up to you

scottishlad

cheers mate.

the visa application is supposedly £85 online and is instant basically, keeping in mind its the working holiday visa i`ll be getting.

The other costs are a $500 deposit for digs which the agency has a deal with and then flight and tools. there isnt much outlay at first but suppose best to have more eh?

Did you move out on your own? Yeah could always try find better wages when over but wouldnt imagine there would be a big difference.

Cheers

scottishlad

I will try go without a car for as long as possible tbh! maybe invest in a peddle bike? hopefully have other people on the job who could pick me up etc.

Persephone

Do the visas yourself, they're not difficult to do and generally if you make a mistake NZIS will contact you about it rather than just throw the application out.
If you get stuck then ask on here or NZIS directly

jonesy115

Yeah I'm on my own, it's a bit daunting at first but it's a great adventure. I came over with and agency called Canstaff, they do a package where they sort all your flights, digs, bank account and tax number with you so you don't really need to worry about anything apart from paying for it.
I know they are looking for joiners at the minute so you might want to look at their website to see what they have got going on.

scottishlad

Similar to the one im going with, they sort everything out and i just need to pay for it! I`ll have a wee look tho, cheers

jonesy115

Give me a shout if you need to know anything, hopefully if can help you out a little

scottishlad

Will do mate, appreciated! first question when i arrive will be... wheres the pub? second question will be.. u joining me?

jonesy115

I've only managed to find one near me as it is. Thing is most places have moved out of town so everything seems to be scattered about. I will have a beer with you when you get over