Some questions please
 

Dear All,

First post after spending some time ‘lurking’ while looking a job in NZ. This site has been most useful in providing a good insight into moving to NZ both good and bad.

I have landed a job and have an offer for a role in Auckland within the construction sector. Still in disbelief that I’ve got the job and it’s both very exciting and scary all at the same time. My new employer is paying for all of the relocation costs which is also very helpful and I will be going with my wife and daughter (2 years old) in the hope of finding a new adventure and a better way of life than we currently have here in the UK whilst giving us the chance to see Australasia properly.

We do have some questions though that you kind and experienced people may be able to help with or offer some kind of insight.

We understand the cost of living is going to be slightly more than our current south UK cost of living but can anybody put that into perspective? We’ve noted the cost of food seems to be considerably more but is there anything else that will be a particular sting? I have had a nice pay bump from my UK salary which will help things but still worried we might not have much disposable income.

How much stuff should we take? I’ve read advice where people advise taking everything and others say take minimal stuff. Things like white goods and furniture etc?

Will white goods work in the same way as the UK, are the plugs and voltages the same?

We’ve just bought a car that is 2 years old. Would it be better to sell this before we go or import it to NZ?

How are the attitudes of Auckland people towards English expats, are we well received or prejudiced against or rejected? This is biggy for me as my wife will be looking after my daughter while I work so it would be good for her to fit in and be well received.

Is working life much different to the UK in terms of pace of work, stress and work/life balance?

My profession is on the short and long term skills shortage list and I am assuming/hoping the visa process ‘should’ be straight forward. I know it is likely very individual but how long might things take to go through (we haven’t done anything yet!)? Also what snags might we face if any?

Lastly (long list I know) what are some good areas to live whereby I can commute to the Auckland CBD? I am willing to consider driving (if this is sensible), taking public transport or cycling if it’s doable but ideally I don’t want much more than a 30 minute commute each way to and from the office. I guess we’d have a rental budget of perhaps $650 per week or more, are we likely to get anything decent for that money? I’d like 3 bedrooms and a garage in an ideal world.

Sorry for this long winded post and congratulations if you managed to read it all.

Thank you in advance for any replies.

Re: Some questions please
 

HI and welcome.

first I would check out the new immigration criteria to see if you can uplift a visa and that it will include the rest of the family. some visas no longer allow family members to get visa's off of other applicants.

Then cost of living, yes it is higher but the main thing to understand is that you are taxed on every cent you earn, so actual income is less that you might realise from a gross amount.
you no longer have free health care for over 13's in most cases, unless its an accident and they approve the costs.
Housing is ridiculous and unless a new build will come with their own challenges.
From my prospective crime and drugs are more prevalent then there ever were for me living and I come from the SE London/Kent borders.

Unless you have owned the car for more than a year, and you would need to prove this, you will pay tax on it if you bring it over.

UK electricals all good, just need a plug converter but again if you cannot prove you have owned them for more than 12 months you will pay tax.

As for area's of Auckland sorry don't know that bit, Auckland not my cup of tea.

Re: Some questions please
 

Congrats on the job offer. No mean feat landing a job from overseas and so awesome that you've negotiated the company paying your relocation costs as that will save you a huge chunk of the migration costs and allows you to spend that money on more important things :thumbsup:


You may have researched or read that the cost of living will be slightly more than the UK, but take that with a pinch of salt and consider it is significantly more than in the UK for the majority of goods and services. NZ is a small country on the other side of the world at least 3 hrs away from it's closest neighbour country and apart from dairy products, aluminium production, wood and paper products, lamb & fish everything else is imported so incurs a fee. We pay 15% GST on virtually everything in the supermarket for a start, so consider that grocery items are generally more expensive here anyway then add 15% on top to pay the GST :eek:
It doesn't end there and I struggle to think of things that are cheaper here. All that springs to mind......fuel, motoring costs and car insurance is cheaper. No TV licence or council tax to pay but if you own your own home then you'll have $3k a year to pay in Council Rates. If you are renting you may get away without having to pay for water / wastewater. All swings & roundabouts I suppose. One thing that is very high cost here is manual labour which is why you'll learn that people here like to do things themselves instead of getting a man in to do it for you.
You are very lucky to be offered a salary that is more than what you earn in the UK. In general salaries here in many of the industries are lower than in their UK equivalent with many people taking a hit on the salary in the hope of a much better lifestyle. I for one lost maybe 35-40% and for that I had to secure a role with a more national company which I would have considered as promotion if I'd have done similar in the UK. If I'd have stayed at the same Regional level of company as in the UK the salary hit would have been 45% plus.
Your highest cost will be in rent. Cost of accommodation in NZ is ridiculous for the standard on offer and even more so in Auckland as it is more populated so more demand. $650 a week for a decent 3 bed with a garage should be doable. Be aware to secure a rental at that cost, you will have to shell out around 6 x the weekly rent up front (4 x weekly rent as a bond, plus 1 x week advance, plus 1 week letting fee + GST) this amounts to near $4k :blink:. Then you will have to start paying the weekly rent from the day you move in to maintain the week in advance. The bond is paid back to you after you leave less any agreed amount for damage etc.
Don't do Auckland much myself so only really know the North Shore over the bridge being popular with Ex. Pats and within a commutable distance/time from the CBD. Had a friend lived in suburban Pukekohe which was fine but commute in to the CBD was a pig.
I'd advise you to do a costs spreadsheet for everything in the UK and then do a comparison against it for NZ to see the areas where it'll cost you more and where you will save. The forum can give you an idea of what things like utilities, mobile phones, internet etc will generally cost here.


I'd advise you to take everything...especially as the company will be paying for shipping. Get a 40 foot container of your own and fill it. If you can't fill it then buy more stuff and fill it :lol:
Yes the customs rules state you must own everything you import and must have owned it for at least 12 months but unlikely you'd ever be caught out and have to pay the GST. We brought loads of new stuff with us and declared that we'd owned it longer than a year. Customs weren't even interested in our container. Just reduce the risk as much as you can by disposing new packaging, purchase receipts etc. Just keep the instructions as you won't be sending anything back within it's UK warranty period!!!
Whatever you decide you don't need or want this end you can easily move it on.
I'd only bring the vehicle if the company will pay the fees associated, plus consider its all KPH and KM's here so unless it's got a digital dash I wouldn't bother. You will also have no warranty here and servicing/parts will probably be more. Unlike general stuff in your container you must provide evidence of when a vehicle was purchased especially if declaring you have owned it more than 12 months. If under 12 months you must pay 15% GST on it's NZ worth plus shipping costs and vehciles are worth more here than the UK.


No issues that I'm aware of with Auckland people's attitudes towards British. I've certainly not suffered any from anywhere I've been.
As for work / life balance I'd say it is much much better here and many of the people I know here that have come from overseas will say the same. It all depends on your industry/company/job in reality. A mate of mine still can't believe his boss orders him back to the yard on a Friday at 2pm no matter what he's doing to get a beer and bbq :rofl:


You have a few options for the visas.
(a) Go for a temporary work visa and depending on your job offer salary your wife and child may also gain temporary visas. You can then go for something more permanent later. Advantage is the cost is less & only takes a matter of weeks allowing travel pretty quickly. Disadvantage is they are temporary & individual so you'll have to apply for 3 different visas this way.
(b) Go for a Resident Visa for all family members. Advantage is you are all on the same application. Disadvantage is more paperwork, more evidence required, more waiting, they take several months to process and cost more.
(c) Do both at the same time so you get the temporary ones first and the Resident visa application is always ticking away in the background.
Only major snags may be with the wording of the job offer to satisfy immigration, proving partnership and medicals.

Re: Some questions please
 

If you want less than 30 minutes commute, live as close to the CBD as you can afford. Not sure how far $650 goes on a rental these days but look at Trade Me property rentals for an idea. All of the suburbs near the cbd are nice. Kingsland, Mt Albert and some of Mt Eden are on the train line. If you go to the North Shore you'd need to be in the bottom bit of it to keep the commute shorter. Pretty much all of the North Shore, east Auckland and the inner city suburbs are nice places to live. West and South Auckland - some areas are nice, some are a bit scruffy/deprived and you are a bit further from the cbd.

If you want to look at prices of everyday things - Countdown for online food shoppping (fruit and veg are expensive at supermarkets, cheaper at fruit and veg shops). Homewares, kids clothes, toys etc - look at websites for The Warehouse and K Mart - these are at the cheaper end, quality is variable, kind of Primark-quality clothes.

If you want I can post details of our monthly expenses - electricity, phone etc, we are a family of 2 adults, 2 primary-school aged kids. It's been a great place to bring up
kids imo BUT we bought our house 10 years ago when prices were (literally) half what they are now. Auckland has become very expensive property-wise. Think our kids are having a good childhood, lots of beaches, outdoor stuff, etc but much harder financially moving here now than it was 10 years ago.

No problems being an English expat. There's loads of us here and every second Kiwi I meet has a dad/cousin/granny from the UK...

Re: Some questions please
 

One example - we recently bought a clothes-dryer. My Mother-in-Law knows people that work for the local kiwi/Chinese household appliance manufacturer so they could get it for us at the 'cheap' price available to staff. That price was only double the cost that you get an equivalent machine in the UK from Dixons. The normal stores here have them at four-times the price you would pay in the UK (you can get them here a bit less than usual here if they have a sale on).

See my answer above - you should bring them. I think the electrical stuff should work OK. I have looked into this question a bit recently and my conclusion is that the power supply here is the same as the EU and now so is the UK so they should be OK - with the proviso that the plugs here are different and I don't think the household power supplies here would cope with running something that draws as much power as a full-bar electric heater. The plugs here don't have fuses so you wouldn't want to take chances with things like that.
A significant proportion of the people living in Auckland are immigrants. Most immigrants in recent years come from Britain, India and China - also many that I find myself working with are from South Africa.This is a topic for a whole separate thread. In my line of work expect the management to be inept and for you to spend all day banging your head against a brick wall. Other people have better experiences.The things I think might trip you up are health and criminal record. If your BMI is not 'healthy' that might slow things down based on recent threads here, if you have in the past served a criminal sentence longer than 12 months then that could be a show-stopper.Auckland is a colossal suburb. To be 30 minutes from the CBD will have to be in the middle of it. The areas that close to the CBD are all great - the bad areas are further out of the town-centre.

Re: Some questions please
 

We are in the process of moving so I can't answer all your questions.

The thing holding us up just now is medicals, my husband and I both thought the medical would be totally fine, we are both healthy, normal bmi, however a couple of blood results came back just outwith the 'normal' ranges, meaning an automatic referral to the health assessment team. Currently waiting on their response on that. Our panel doctor doesn't think it will be an issue as the results were so minimal she still marked them as normal and gave us both an A grade certificate.

Fingers crossed she's right!

My husbands profession is also on both lists he has a job offer from an accredited employer so has went with the work to residence talent visa, myself and our children have all applied for visas based on our relationship with him.

Good luck!

Re: Some questions please
 

Thanks for all of your replies they've been most useful.

I guess in short housing might be expensive then the nearer we live to the CBD. Neither my wife or I are outside 'normal' BMI range or have any previous criminal problems so fingers crossed that side of things will be smooth.

Based on what you say Clappy I think it might be prudent for us to purchase some things before we go and ship them. Stuff like our kettle, hair dryers, microwave and other things that may need replacing soon should probably be done in the UK before we leave. Same goes for clothes etc. We should do a big shop here in the UK and ship it all I think.

'A rush and a push' I'll have a look into those locations you mention on Trade me. I think by the sounds of things property seems to shift and be taken quickly and it will be difficult to sort from the UK which means likely rushing once we're there to find a house to rent.

With regards to shipping our stuff. Can anybody recommend a reputable shipping firm and explain how it will work? Do they turn up at your house with a lorry or something? Also what sort of timings are we looking at. Will it take a long time for our stuff to arrive. I assume we may need to stay with family or in a hotel in the UK if we want our belongings in NZ when we arrive or shortly there after?

Re: Some questions please
 

Sounds like you're in the exact same boat as us. Are you also moving to Auckland to work there too?

This is my worry about the medical. Although we're healthy we have both had previous blood tests where some of our markers have been marginally out of range (although we're both pretty healthy). My fear is this will severely delay things.

When do you think you'll be making the move?

Re: Some questions please
 

Yes my husband has been offered a job there, they want him to start on 30th October, however he has agreed to do all we can to be in NZ by 30th, however won't actually start work until mid November giving us time to settle in a little and find our feet. His employers are happy with that.

I would get your medicals booked as soon as possible then hopefully any delays won't hold you up to much.

Re: Some questions please
 

My 'estimated start date' on my contract is the 30th October also! Although I find this extremely optimistic of them!

Have you found accommodation etc yet?

Feel free to PM

Re: Some questions please
 

I currently pay $650/wk for a 4-bedroom in Blockhouse Bay, nice new tunnel connection to the motorway network so the CBD is a relatively easy 20-30min drive and excellent bus connection to the CBD too. Same will go for the suburbs East of Blockhouse Bay but those to the West still have big traffic bottlenecks so commute can be longer.

Auckland only really has a motorway network south of the Harbour Bridge so unless you want to bus in and don't need to travel for work I'd live South of the bridge.

White goods will work fine with the exception of anything rated over 2.4Kw as the capacity per socket is less here as stated above.

Importing a car - having done it 7yrs ago I wouldn't do it again, any saving gets rapidly eaten up with renting while your car gets shipped and compliance tested. Sell in the UK and buy when you get here would be my advice.

Re: Some questions please
 

you need to contact a few shipping companies but make sure they are members of the appropriate federations like British Association of Removers (Overseas Group) www.bar.co.uk Once you get a quote you like, then post here again to see what folks think.
They will explain the various options. They can come and pack everything for you , you can pack some items yourselves, they may bring the container to your door to load, or, as in our case moving here, they came, packed, loaded onto truck, took to their stores, stored until we said to ship , packed container and shipped it. Took just over 4 weeks to the Philippines so I presume around 6 weeks to NZ. Be sure to ask whether the price includes clearing in NZ and delivery to your new place. They will advise transit times etc and what documents etc are needed. Oh, once you have a container number you can track the ship online - great fun for the kids (and Dad!)
Anyway, look up local companies and get a few in to quote.

Re: Some questions please
 

Thanks for all the replies. So by the sounds of things it would be better to live south of the bridge for commuting reasons. I’ve been looking at rentals around New Lynn, mount Albert and Blockhouse Bay and prices seem to be affordable for our budget with a decent amount of space and a garage etc so that is really good. I’m wondering if I could even cycle to work from that sort of distance provided the traffic and roads are not particularly dangerous.

So we’ve seen that plugs under 5amp will work in NZ apparently, but we have a few electrical items were the plug seems to be in excess of 5 amp. Will this be a problem, could these be changed or will they just work or not work at all? (I’m terrible with electrics)

Re: Some questions please
 

The physical plug will need to be changed, anything drawing 10amps and under will be fine (or rated at 2.4Kw max).

You could bike, there are some cycle lanes etc as you might expect, I wouldnt think it fun in wet commuter traffic though.

Re: Some questions please
 

Forgive me being dumb, when you say physical plug will need changing what will need to be done? Can I just simply wire a 10amp (or less) plug onto the appliance? Will it still work correctly?

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You can change the plug on the appliances and they will work providing their rating is 2.4Kw or less (so not some heaters, dryers etc).

Fitting a 10A plug won't make a device that draws 13A safe so only bring devices below the 2.4Kw limit, you may as well sell the others in the UK.

Re: Some questions please
 

Thanks for the reply. Next silly question- how do I work out how many kw an appliance draws based on the volts and amps values on the plug?

Re: Some questions please
 

I'd guess any volts/amps values on the plug are generic British Standard ratings for the type of plug and is no relation to the appliance rating.
You only need worry about appliances with a heating element so convection heater, fan heater, the tumble drier, hair drier etc although out of them I'd only worry about any heaters and the tumble drier.
The appliance should have a nameplate sticker on it with voltage/current/power rating so it needs to be no greater than 2.4kw or 2400w or 10 amps draw. If you can't find the sticker try the instructions. If no instructions google the appliance on the internet. If still no answer, leave it in the UK. Domestic voltage is the same here as in the UK - nominally 230v AC.

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You can't - go by the makers power rating label.

Any plug values will be the rating for the plug itself and not the appliance.

Re: Some questions please
 

Many thanks guys.

So for example my nutri ninja has a 13amp plug but only draws 900w. I assume this will work just fine given how much wattage it draws?

Re: Some questions please
 

Yes, ignore the 13amp, as long as the wattage is 2400w or 2.4Kw or less it will be fine.

Re: Some questions please
 

I can answer most of your questions having lived in Auckland for a few years and returned to UK in the last six months.

Cost of living, housing costs and quality are the big hits, rentals are wild and the Auckland rental market under supplied, any quality property is rented almost immediately at the first OPEN HOME they have. Get your ducks in a row, references, proof of income, bank details and a glowing resume of yourselves to give to the agent at the visit and be prepared to miss out on lots of properties. It is a cut throat business just getting a house to live in except in areas where you wouldn't want to live. Check insulation, heating, history particularly if the property has been completely redecorated. The drug P is a major issue in NZ and houses are often used as P labs, correctly they need serious decontamination after such use but it is common to just redecorate and new carpets to cover up the damage - the results can be deadly so be warned! We looked for a property in the Kumeu area, very smart but 4 out of 6 country homes we viewed there were ex P labs, it is a big problem.

As to what to take, everything if it has any quality at all. Most stuff is more expensive in NZ if you match quality, far cheaper at the WAREHOUSE chain of stores but nothing lasts at all! Car tax on importing your car is prohibitive if you haven't owned it for 12 months plus and compliance is a pain if the car is not nearly new. Buy a cheap Jap import there until you get used to the way they drive, awful but you will learn quickly.

Changing a nice UK plug for a flimsy NZ one takes a few minutes, watch the ratings on whiteware, 2.4Kw max in NZ really. TV's are iffy except the very latest ones but are very expensive in NZ.

Generally NZ is friendly to UK emigrants, it is very common, again it depends on the area where you live. Trademe.co.uk is the Ebay type site in NZ and has all the rentals and properties for sale. $650 will get you a basic house in most parts of Auckland but it will be basic and hard to get anything of quality, $850 - $1,000 is more representative on the North Shore and better suburbs further south, stay North if you want safety and good schools.
Check the Decile rating of the schools which they all publish to get an idea of the area, Decile 10 is good, 5 or less avoid at all costs.

I hope it helps, our experience was very different but NZ is far from 100% Pure, don't be seduced by the sun and smiles. Emigrants are a major source of income for a large sector of the population and most get ripped off at every turn so keep your wits about you and trust no one! Good luck!

Re: Some questions please
 

Thanks for the replies. Chrisrobinson the rental one is alarming, particularly as we won't have any land lord references (we're home owners here in the UK) so wondering if this might make it more difficult for us to rent?

Things are moving fast right now for us. House is up for rent, medicals next week, we've had the shippers/movers in for quotes and things are progressing.

I'm thinking we'll be out there early November at this rate

Re: Some questions please
 

Nah wouldn't worry about the references. We had never rented before and had only ever owned property in the UK. We've never been asked for references and we've rented 4 different properties since we've been here. It will be enough for the agents/landlords to meet you in person or speak on the phone/Skype and for you to complete their rental application forms. A good bit of advice is to also enclose a personal blog about who you are as a family, what you do for jobs, kids interests, add some pictures etc. Just a simple word document. It seemed to work for us according to the feedback we received...it made us more than just a name on an application form.

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We were looking on the North Shore, a property was advertised with an OPEN DAY the next weekend, usually they wouldn't let anybody see the property until then. We always turned up early, an hour early and that wasn't early enough, the road was packed with cars for a good property. The Agent knew about us, we had sent everything to him in advance, including references. At first we explained the lack of references and supplied endless other info BUT they have a checklist and References are top of the list, we never got a look in.

Your UK boss, UK bank manager will give you references hopefully and these help a little. Your employer in NZ should back them up if asked, ask!

It can be very competitive and a lot of properties are let for a higher rent than the advertised figure, it all depends on demand.

If nobody is there, small a rat, P Dens and flooding properties get a local reputation but you probably haven't heard about it so are ripe 'Tenant material' for what is in truth an un-let-able property.

Take lots of financial data showing you can easily afford the rent, a solid job or jobs helps a lot but you will run into other potential renters with perfect references and the agent will be drawn to them, just easier! Remember that agents in NZ are usually not qualified, they are on commission only and it pays them to get the best deal with the least risk, your task is to make yourself look like this person!

Trade Me is invaluable, the ads are listed in date order, the latest first. Avoid the old ads, hundreds have rejected those properties and believe me they know better than a new comer to NZ!

Good luck, persistence counts and you will find something but it is not quick unless you are willing to take risks on area, as I say the Decile ratings of the schools in the area clearly indicate the desirability of living there. A very simple and easy to do test, just look the school up on Google!

Re: Some questions please
 

Ummm...don't you have a visa sorted yet?

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Two things that helped us when we were looking for rentals:
I got my old manager from my last job before we moved to write a reference for us, saying that she'd been to our house, we kept it tidy, and based on that she would recommend us as tenants. She signed a few copies of that for us, with her contact details.
The second one was, we had to sell ourselves. So when we found our second rental that we really liked, I opened the conversation with the owner by saying ''Of course, we're landlords ourselves", which we were, as we were still letting out our house in the UK at that stage. That basically swung it for us, and we stayed in that rental for three years before we bought our own place.

Re: Some questions please
 

The rental market in Auckland at the moment is brutal, and has been for a few years now. There will usually be a few people chasing anything decent when they come up.

The letting agent will be looking for tenants that won't give them problems like not paying the rent, damage or wanting to break the lease before the end of the term. That does mean that they will judge you when they meet you.

So references on their own might not be necessary but evidence of a respectable job with an income will help.

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Nope, my NZ employer employs a firm that sort it out for you and the medical is the last thing on the so they can apply for the visa. I'm hoping there won't be any hiccups

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Thanks I think I'll probably do the same thing, maybe even a reference from our neighbours might help too.

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Oh ok - fingers crossed!

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Hopefully they understand the new criteria, do you know what visa they are going for?

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One small word of caution, we also thought there would be no issues as we are both fit and healthy, normal bmi etc but both our medicals were referred due to part of our blood result being slightly outwith the norm! They are also busy just due to a large volume of applications at the end of August, people applying before the changes took affect.

Good luck!

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Well as above we're all very fit and well but....

We completed the medical on Monday. They told us if any of the blood work fell outside of the normal range they would call us and if it wasn’t the medicals would be submitted to NZ immigration. My wife and daughter’s medical were submitted with no abnormalities. The dr called me today to advise my creatinine had come back slightly elevated (112 with the ref range 90-106).

He advised this was fairly normal for an athletic individual would does a lot of strength training. He put notes on the form to suggest this and submitted the medical but said it ‘may’ deferred simply because I’m out of the ‘normal range’.

Can anybody provide any insight into this and what it will likely mean? Is this likely to delay my visa?. The dr said they may want a retest.

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One of my husbands results were outwith normal our panel doctor suggested he do another test to back up the results which he done, this delayed his emedical being uploaded by a week. I had two results slightly out, however my panel doctor didn't see it being an issue.

Both medicals were referred, mine was uploaded on 31st August I was advised it had been referred on 6th September and it was completed without needing further testing on 15th September, my husbands was uploaded on 7th September, and didn't hear anything until he chased INZ up yesterday, they advised that it's with the health assessment team. They did say that generally medicals are completed 10days after the health assessment team have all the information they need.

I'm hoping and praying they don't want anything further and it's completed then we are all granted asap. We hope to fly 4wks tomorrow - fingers crossed!!

Good luck!

Re: Some questions please
 

ANY medical results that fall outside the stated normal limits will mean a referral of the medical report. Immigration officers are not medically trained. Immigration cannot decline a visa on medical grounds (for not having an acceptable standard of health) unless an MA has advised as such so it is the MA's responsibility to investigate any results to establish if the applicant meets the health standard guidelines.
Yes it will definitely delay your application....weeks / months....all depends on what the MA comes back with and if they want you to repeat a test or have anything further in addition to the normal medical.

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Well that's a bummer. I'm doubtful now that we'll be out in NZ for my intended start date (end October).

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Couldn't say one way or the other as it all depends on the MA and they don't rush. MA's aren't dedicated to Immigration. They are usually GP's who have been through the accreditation to also assist Immigration so don't expect them to be working full time on Immigration workload.

Which visa ?

You can always go for a medical waiver.

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I am applying for a talent work visa and my wife will be on a partner of work working visa. I'm not going to lose sleep over it all it is what it is. If it delays things then so be it. The positive side I guess is there was certainly nothing major amiss on the medical.

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The average 25 working days for processing is up for us on Monday so there's still time for us to be granted before then meaning the two referrals technically didn't hold us up, although I'm not holding my breath!! I am keeping my fingers crossed!