[Scotty69]

Looking for some help and this forum seems to be the place to get some answers.

My wife, child and I are looking to emigrate to NZ in about 8-12 months, depending on how much money I can save. I have a degree and work in IT but I don't use any of skills on the sklls list ( but I could get some of them in the time till I make the move). But could someone help me with these questions:-

1. Since I have a British passport I know that I can come over for 6 months and it seems that I work but can I get a WP or a residancy while being in NZ? Also what would happen if the 6 months is up but the process of getting some sort of residancy is still on-going.

2. My wife is a bit of a sun animal and wants to live somewhere warm. Which city has the best weather?

3. We would like to another child and was wondering if it would be better to have the child before or after we get out to NZ. (From a healthcare point of view. )

4. How much money would be good starting amount to bring out with us?

5. To afford a 3 bedroom house in an average area how much money would we have to bring in?

6. This is really sad but can you get britsh football on the TV in NZ.

Any help on any of these questions would be much appreciated.

Cheers

[willsken]

If you get Sky then yes you can get the footy. Wouldn't be here now if you couldn't!!! :roll :roll

[red]

Hi, We just got back from a trip to NZ and are planning to move there asap. I'm sure members who are actually living in NZ will have some great advice for you but if you can I would really recommend you try and visit the country first. We rented a camper van and toured around for 2 weeks, not a long time I know, but it gave us a feel for the country and the areas we liked and disliked (some of which were not at all what we expected). As for a warm and sunny climate, Nelson was great, it apparently has the most sunshine hours in NZ. We really liked the area, facilities ie; schools, healthcare all seemed good. We have friends who live in NZ who have said nothing but positive things about the healthcare there. House prices seem to differ depending on where you choose to live (same as here). Although the houses (especially the older ones) are a little more basic in my opinion. We're planning on building our own to get the central heating, insulation etc we feel is important. Again this is only my opinion, everyone has different priorities but I hope all goes well for you.

[Trigirl]

you can visit NZ on a british passport for 6 months but you can't work until you have a work permit. once you have a job offer this should be pretty straight forward to get. if the job offer is not on the immediate skills shortage list then your employer would have to prove they couldn't find a kiwi to do the job. work permits are normally issued for 1-2 years. once you have a work permit your wife can apply for one too and your child can get a student permit (you didn't say how old he/she is so i dont know if thats relevant).

[StevieD]

Hi Scotty, welcome to the forum, sure you'll get plenty of answers here.

We arrived in March, the weather was still very warm (for us uk paleskins) and when the sun comes out you certainly know about it. Talking to a couple of kiwis yesterday and they told us they had a bit of a cool summer, only averaging 27-28 degrees whereas they normally get a lot of days in the 30's! I think that may answer a few questions for your wife.

Can't help with the baby side of things, lots of midwives and nurses out there far more qualified than me on that matter, but as far as money, it depends on what you are looking for. Each of us have our own needs, but things aren't cheap here, don't get kidded on that. You can live well though, you just have to remember it isn't UK and be prepared for the change in culture, Kiwi's do things differently and don't get impressed by wealth and stuff. They have a different agenda, I'm loving it, but as red said, if you can afford it, come down to have a good look round. It is a beautiful place anyway and well worth the visit if you can afford to do it.

Good luck.

Steve

[whiskythedog]

i did this post based on mar 07 average prices (for north island..as corrected)
http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=11192
an estate agent (20 years experience) told me today that she expects a correction in prices by end of year (auckland) - who knows? certainly not me
price of average house is nz around £135000 (say 350000/2.66)(uk £195000)
north probably more expensive than south on the whole but each area have there own large variations (ie queenstown in the south is as expensive as auckland if not more)
exchange rate can make a big difference to budget (presently say 2.70 with 52 week high of 3.06) so if bring in £50k equity can make $15k difference-timing!
weather wise i can vouch only for auckland - been having an indian summer here - been sunny + low 20's c for last 3/4 weeks
football - unfortunately i watched man u lose in champions league - on sky - espn channel (premium subscription) at work (some people were in at 6.30am to watch start) - plenty of football fans here - some bars even open at 6.30am to cater for matches

[willowshouse]

Have a look at Avalon's Money thread which is a sticky at the top of the Money Matters section ..

It is very difficult to answer your question about an average 3 bed house because they vary so much from area to area .. you can get an idea from looking at Real Estate Agents websites but bear in mind that the interest rate here is about 8.7% - 8.9% which makes your repayments pretty big.

In the area I live in (Auckland) you get a very average 3 bed house (ie. nothing special and hardly any land) for around $700,000 currently.

Good luck with your plans.

Dawn

[Sam B]

Whereas $700,000 will buy you a VERY NICE HOUSE indeed in Cambridge, with a nice bit of land.

[Scotty69]

Thanks for all the info. My wife is delighted about the weather info and I thought that house prices would vary, like the UK.

[nippa&pippa]

On baby side, this question been mentioned last week by other member..
http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=11445
Hope that help!

(BTW i forgot to put my link in these post above, here is http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=10197)