tallguy78

Hi all. I am looking into moving to NZ on a bunac visa and once there hope to secure a job as a graphic designer and apply for skilled migrant visa. I have 10 years experience and for the last 4 years have successfully run my own company. So I am giving a lot up for this move but want to do it for lifestyle reasons. If I do decide to do it I would arrive in the country with approx £6-7 k (11-12k in NZD). What I would like to know is a) for people who have made the move to NZ, what amount of money per person did they arrive with. Is my amount unrealistic to survive on? And B) harder to answer probably, but what are the chances of employment in this field. I have seen other posts and basically it seems many people have really struggled to gain jobs (in other industries) I would apply once in NZ, ideally in Welly but I would also look all over for employment. Basically I don't want to blow this money for nothing. But I guess it is one of life's gambles. And sometimes it pays out.

escapedtonz

Hi,
We didn't arrive with that many NZ $'s. Just a few hundred to tide us over. Still had our UK accounts with all our money in and initially used our UK debit / credit cards.
We also opened NZ bank accounts whilst still in the UK and had transferred some money across a couple of weeks before we arrived.
The NZ $'s we arrived with were just to tide us over the weekend until we met with ANZ bank on the Monday morning to verify our identity, accounts and pick up our ATM cards.
If you arrive with $10000 or more you must declare this to customs but in this day and age there is no need to carry a lot of cash.
The one thing I've noticed here is that most people pay for everything on card - even drinks in the pub and for the tiny amounts.
Eftpos is everywhere.

ChrisWilson7

I transferred £5k (NZ$9k) ahead of my move and am doing fine on that 2-3 weeks in including buying a used car for $3k. If you do a budget to last you a couple to a few months to get you started, including the essential and desirable costs (e.g. room rental, car, groceries, other travel etc. and things you need or want to get) then you should be able to get started with a good amount of peace of mind. It will give you time to get your head around things and look for work. That's what I have done, though I am also looking into temp work now to protect my savings whilst my skilled work search goes on.

If you're on a working holiday visa (I'm not sure what a bunac visa is) you need at least NZ$350 for each month your visa is valid for - 12 x $350 = $4200 (approx £2200).

Catchafire

We had $500 with us, got a job pretty quick, stayed at a backpacker hostel for two months. All good!

madao

I guess it depends what you want to do when you arrive, moving alone or with partner or family etc and your view of acceptable standard of living

We arrived with less than $1000 after travelling before arriving here. We holed up in a long term backpacker place in Welly while we searched for jobs then another one with a bit more room while we built up some cash. All up we spent 6 months in these places. Wasn't flash but a good economical choice while we sorted employment and got to know the various areas of the city.

As for field of work my partner and I are now working in totally different areas to our UK careers. You may need to be flexible to your options if you are looking for work that will lead to a permanent visa given you will be time limited in the BUNAC. It's worked out for us and we both love our new jobs.

As has been said before work can be hard to come by, especially with employers who don't know the immigration process, when they have a load of easily employable NZ candidates. I suggest you have some evidence to show your commitment to staying e.g. Completed some of the immigration steps like medical, police checks, details of immigration agent if you are using one.

I scraped in at my age on the WHV, the BUNAC was the back up option.

Gamble. You'll regret it if you don't.