New Zealand - British Expat Forum

Hello - newbie here

Thought I'd introduct myself as I might be a regular poster here in the months to come.

My name is Jo, and I currently live with my husband in Bristol (UK) - we made a decision a few years ago to emigrate, and settled on New Zealand. As we knew that we needed to raise the money / settle debts / get married etc, we plumped on 2010 as an aiming point for leaving the UK (partially because we wanted to be out before the ID cards came in, and partially because the 2010 World Science Fiction Convention is going to be in Australia, and we thought we could have a visit if our money held out)

Now that 2010 is getting round the corner, we are starting to make more concrete plans, including that of going to the London jobs fair and seeing what sort of jobs we can get

We are hoping to move to the Wellington area of North Island.

Hi ho,

I am a new member too, and just like you wanting to move to the Wellington area, upper or lower hutt. We want to move in the next 4 to 6 months. Not sure though when it will happen. We are selling everything new start and all. Not looking forward to that.....off the plane, bags in hand, where do we go, what do we do next type of feeling

Hiya
I did try to reply earlier, but the forum crashed on me...

It is really scary, isn't it? Every so often, I get the "OMG what ARE you doing?!?" thoughts.

Very impressed with the selling everything - John and I aren't quite in that situation yet (probably 6 months from now we will be) - but then we don't have that much to sell (one of the reasons for going is that we can't afford to buy a house - every time we get a pay rise, the house prices go up again!), and I suspect that what we do get rid of will pay for a drink on the plane

BTW - how long before you started making definite plans did you go out to visit? We've settled on NZ (through quite a lot of research, not least through knowing a number of Kiwis), but will be making our first trip out there this September. Everyone keeps telling us that we are mad!

Hi again

We have never been to NZ, do not know anyone out there, our teenage kids have never even been on a plane. We have only looked on the web. Yep, we are mad and scared to death at times. Mind you selling everything feels so good. It's like the biggest spring clean ever. We have loads to sell, house and shop, 3 cars, bike, quad and all the bits and bobs that go along with a 4 bed property. Most has now sold

We just thought it was a good idea and started to make plans straight away. How long have you been planning?

We've been thinking about it for about three years now But we had to set a later date for emigration as we wanted to get married (so had to save for that), and we both had student loan debts (and my husband has a credit card debt) that we want to clear before we leave.

So how long have you been planning for? Have you managed to get visas sorted, or are you winging it?

We are winging it. On a wing and a prayer
only been planning for a few months now, but want to be there now

Wow - very impressed! How do your children feel about it?

They can not wait to go. We have great kids, never been in trouble, very honest and caring. Don't hang about outside upto no good, So don't fit in in the UK.

LOL - it is sad when that becomes the exception, not the rule, isn't it?

I thought that as Kay and David have kindly promoted me to moderator on the forums, that I'd post a little bit more about myself.

Since originally joining the forums last year, my husband and I have started on the long route to gaining our PR visas for New Zealand.

Our time line has been:
October 2008 - took a recce trip to NZ, 2 1/2 weeks in a campervan, and decided that all of our previous research had paid off, and that this was definitely where we wanted to live.

December 2008 - submitted our Expression of Interest online; with me as the Principle Applicant, and without a job offer, we had 115 points. This was enough to get us pulled out in the next draw, and by mid December, we had our Invitation to Apply for a Visa.

April 2008 - finally got all of our documents together and submitted our ITA to NZIS London.

We are currently waiting for NZIS to open our envelope (we know they have it because they took our application fees!) and assign us a Case Officer, which we should hopefully get beginning / mid July. We are expecting to have an interview as we don't have work to go to, and possibly extra medical tests for my husband (a couple of his medicals results were slightly higher than "normal").

So - I am not technically an Ex-Pat yet, though we hope to be in Windy Wellington by Christmas.

Whilst I make no claims for being able to give any sort of advice, I did a lot of research before settling on New Zealand as a place to live, and can give pointers based on my experience (I've also used the New Zealand Immigration Website a lot (http://www.immigration.govt.nz/), so can help find official information if you are struggling - it is not the easiest of websites to get anything coherent from!)

Cheers
Jo

Hi Jo

Welcome, again.

Thanks for your posting. I'm sure you'll be a great moderator for our New Zealand forum.

It's amazing how people seem to find it difficult to get the info they need from the government sites. We see this all the time on our Canada forum.

I think part of the problem is that the govt. sites don't cover all the ifs and but which people have. Plus it's easier to 'speak' to a human on a forum than to go on a bureaucratic wild goose chase.

Kay wrote: I think part of the problem is that the govt. sites don't cover all the ifs and but which people have. Plus it's easier to 'speak' to a human on a forum than to go on a bureaucratic wild goose chase.

They also do tend to put everything in bureacratic language which takes a while to get your head round! (lucky for me, I used to be a civil servant, and my current job involved dealing with local and central govt on a regular basis!)

Hi,
We are on our way too! 2 weeks yesterday and absolutely terrified, but so excited too. We are going to live in Northland and have found a job in Whangarei. We are arriving with 4 kids, 2 dogs and 2 cats!! What a nightmare to organise, but we can't wait and are looking forward to our new adventure. We have sold the house and sent our belongings 5 weeks ago and are currently sitting on deckchairs and watching the tiniest t.v. on a box.

Anyone else just arrived? If so, how are things going and do you have any tips for settling in ?

Ullo and welcome to the forums!

Wow - you must be getting so excited now! What are you going to be doing?

We've still got 50 days to go (in fact the plane takes off in 50 days and one hour... I have a countdown clock ) and I'm nowhere near ready! (just getting more packing quotes in an effort to knock down the prices!)

The idea of sitting on deckchairs and watching a small telly amuses me. We went through similar. We were lucky enough to sell some of our stuff to neighbours and they were kind enough to let us keep it until the very last moment. We were grateful for any small favours like that.

It's not easy, but chin up. You'll get there!

Good luck to all!