[CJ22]

Greetings all. Just signed up so I thought I'd say "Hi".

Wife and I have just started the process of "thinking" about moving to NZ. We've been mentally figuring 12 months.

However, we went to an expo and bumped into a guy from a software company, who was keen to talk to us, and we may get job offers (we both work in the same field - software dev). Well, a job offer up front is worth its weight in gold - two job offers is priceless! (No kids, so we're planning to both work). So that might tempt us to shorten the process to 6 months maybe. Even better, this company is an approved employer, which simplifies the process a little.

We don't want to arrive without sufficient funds, as we're aware that we're not going to find it cheap to live there. That's why we were thinking 12 months, which would let us arrive with plenty of cash. So it's a bit of a dilemma - whether to take the quick risky option but with a nice setup if it comes off, or do it the slow way but without the guaranteed jobs. Oh well, we're still thinking about that. We'll see if these job offers turn up.

Auckland is likely to be our destination (though Wellington is an option, as the company has offices there). We'll probably live in the city till we find our feet and get somewhere more rural, as rural is what we like.

Anyway, I'll no doubt be lurking around for some time reading all the previous posts :)

[BaldyBeardyBloke]

Welcome and good luck with your big venture.

You're at the start of a long and winding road (there's a song in there somewhere)

[Mickstim]

Welcome to the forum and good luck with the job offers!

[Silverwing86]

Hi CJ22 and welcome to the forum !

Smart that you're cautious, but with both of you working in IT I would think you should be able to bring in more than sufficient income to do well here. Have they given you any idea of earnings as yet ? If not, you might find this a useful guide: http://www.hays-hps.co.nz/salary.

Difficult choice indeed if you both get offered a job straight off, but comfort level is a purely personal thing and only you can decide where that lies. Plus I would think that there should still be plenty of jobs available in 12 months time, right ?

Good luck with the decision making and let us know how you get on ?

Silver

[Tattie]

Hello and good luck with the move!

just remember 12 months seems a long time at the mo but it flies by!!!

Start getting all the things you need together now. Don't throw any paperwork away. You might be surprised by what comes in useful for the NZIS!

As they said at the expo - if you can get there, you should have no problems with getting a job.

So do you really, really need a job for the Expression of interest or ITA paperwork? Can you get over the required points without a job offer?

All things to think about. Anyway again good luck.

[pinkpiggy]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

I wouldn't have thought you would have too much difficulty in finding jobs given the field you are both in.

Personally I would have a look at a couple of the job sites so you can have a look and see what is out there. www.seek.co.nz and www.search4jobs.co.nz are a couple of good sites to start with.

Do you have a preference for where you want to live?

[holland]

Hello and welcome

J and G xx

[CJ22]

Thanks for the welcome folks.

No we don't have a major preference where we live. I guess we're looking at the north for the most part. As with every other country, there's only so much IT to go round :)

We're still thinking about quick or slow, but we haven't had offers yet and might never do, so it's a bit academic. Yes, we do have enough points for the EOI without offers, so if we can't bag offers up front we're coming anyway, heheh.

This is going to be fun...

[james the mechanic]

My advice is to submit a EOI immediately, without a job offer. It’s possible that you could then have PR in 12 months time (slow way); you can always add a job offer later (fast way).
Best wishes
James

[Lara Croft]

Hi CJ22 - welcome to the forum.

We had in mind a long and slow migration, get PR, sell up, take our time.... then my qualifications didn't get assessed as high as I'd expected, and I was told we needed a job offer to stay 'in the game'.... Well I'm working on the job offer as hard as I can. If one does arrive (fingers crossed for me please!) then we would have to move within 8 weeks - the complete opposite of what we had planned!!!

Funny how things turn out!

Jane

[CJ22]

I'm currently looking at getting job offers up front. That's still in the works - we're scheduled for a phone-call tonight where we will negotiate terms. It kind of hangs on how long they are prepared to wait for us, as we don't have a lot of finance and need time to pay for it all.

However, the potential employer is an 'approved' employer, which I think gets us around some parts of the process and allows us to move more quickly. I need to look into that more. We could look at a work visa then apply for PR while there, I believe.

[Lara Croft]

Hi.
Some employers contribute to the relocation costs - that makes a huge difference!

Jane

[Den]

Hi CJ22 welcome and you'll be glad you joined, I know I am.

[peebles16]

Welcome from us too CJ22 and good luck with the job hunt :)
Karen

[ourquest]

Welcome from us (also new to the forum). Our EOI currently "selected" without job offers, but no further than that. We will arrive in NZ as visitors and take it from there (where one is far more likely to land a position). OH is in IT, so hopefully not "if, but when" as far as a job is concerned. Riskier option to arrive up front, but it does place the timing into your own hands a bit more, and if NZ is really where you want to go then worth considering. We think of it as an adventure. Good luck however it works out for you!