Engel

I am a teacher planning on start work at the end of Jan 2013. I have had a lot of advice about what to take and what not but it has been conflicting and I would like to benefit from anyone who has made the move short term.

I am just emptying my house to be let and making choices about what to do with stuff. The movers say take everything even old furnature as it is more expensive to buy than ship. They also say take my car for the same reason.

I am planning on a two year work visa and have been assured that it will be no problem to stay longer, but there is a big difference knowing that it is only two years. Any ideas?

Catchafire

Do you actually have a two year work visa in your passport?

Taking your car sounds like madness to me. It easy and cheap to buy a good second hand car here.

BEVS

Hi and welcome to our wee NZ forum.

All the best with these plans .

madao

Hi

My partner was a secondary school teacher in the UK before we came out. We came on a WHV but now have residency. This was achieved through the job I got when we arrived though as even though my partner had her teaching qualifications assessed she couldn't find any schools that were interested. ( she now works for the earthquake commission)

We were told there are now too many teachers in the country so it's difficult to get a foot in the door with no NZ teaching experience and secondary teaching has now been removed from the skilled shortage list. I could be wrong on that though as we've not kept up the immigration knowledge now we are permanantly in.

In terms of shipping we came out with nothing, sold all our stuff before we left, and have basically started again. I know people have different views on this but we've kitted out our new place with mostly brand new stuff for a very reasonable price. Sure we've not got everything yet and are slowly building our collection of "stuff" but it's worked for us.

We've found Trade Me is great if you bide your time and wait for the right deal to come along. 60 million in the UK bidding on EBay for stuff compared to 4 million here on Trade Me so it's easy to win auctions and get some great deals.

Not got a car yet as we livein the centre of Wellington but again they seem cheap so no regrets about not shipping one out.

MrsFychan

What visa are you coming over on please and where abouts are you planning on living?

Ajohnston1984

Where you heading to?

Doing almost the exact same thing but heading out to Auckland at the end of the month!

Cant wait!

Engel

How long did it take to get your certificates back? I'm hoping it is less than 40 days.

BEVS

Ajohnson1984 is entitled to work in NZ . He doesn't require any visa. He also has work lined up.

By the sounds of it , you don't.

You cannot plan on a two year work visa Engel. It doesn't happen that way.
It would be interesting to know who is assuring you there will be no problem with an ongoing teaching contract here in NZ. Many home grown teachers are struggling to get work , let alone a perm contract.

Caz8NZ

I think it depends on what you think your plans are long term and what your options are for your stuff in the UK.

Firstly - have you been/spent any significant time in NZ?

If the answer is no - do you know you want to stay here long term. What will be the cost to ship all your stuff.

What is the quantity of stuff you have? What would it cost you to replace it all? Here or in the UK. Whats it going cost to ship it here and then if you decide to go back to the UK after a couple of years, whats it going to cost you to ship it back. How much is it going to cost you to set up home here from scratch, and then again in the UK if you decide to go back again?

Your car - is it a particularly new/nice/expensive car? if so - might be worth shipping. If not, i believe there is quite a bit involved in shipping it over so probably not worth it.

Ajohnston1984

Looking at my emails, it looks like it took 50-55 days for the NZQA process, if thats what you mean?

Ajohnston1984

Yeah, maybe I should have said that my situation regarding visa was different.

I also had people telling me that the job situation was scarce but managed to get a job within about 3 weeks of actually looking. Maybe I was just incredibly lucky but it does show that there are jobs out there.


Good luck Engel! You'll never know if you don't try!

HeatherGirl

Hi Engel

My qualifications took 52 days to come back from the NZQA. My provisional NZ teaching registration came through a week after that, having lodged an application with the teaching council simultaneously.

Secondary teaching is no longer on the skills shortage list and I've also heard that there are are surplus of teachers looking for work. However on the news the other day they reported that it was predicted there will be a shortage of teachers again as many are due to retire, so who knows!?!?

Good luck with your job search - I'm looking too, ever hopeful!

HeatherGirl

BEVS

Don't call it luck . It will be your own effort that found you the work .

Funny one really . Everything and everyone is stating that teaching jobs are thin on the ground. Also , that homegrown are preferred & that it helps to have some knowledge of Te Reo etc.
Maybe certain subjects are over-subscribed with teachers and other subjects not. It also maybe depends on what area of NZ you are looking at.

What would have helped you is that you have no visa restriction so an NZ employer was free to offer a job to you rather than an NZ teacher.

As teachers are not considered in shortage here in New Zealand any NZ employer/school head wanting to offer an overseas teacher work would have to prove that there is no NZ teacher that could take up that position.

This website may be useful to the OP = NZ Education Gazette.