[James 1077]

Hi

First post here so here goes!

I'm an NZ citizen but haven't lived there since I was 2 due to my parents deciding 28 years ago to "spend a couple of years in the Middle-East to see a bit more of the world".

A few months ago my wife (who is English) gave birth to our twins and at that point we decided that the UK wasn't the place for us to bring up a family (mainly due to having got on the housing market too late so not being able to afford anything bigger than a small two bed flat with no garden). Also my job as an accountant means long hours and a long commute which means the only time I ever get to see my babies is at weekends and when they are screaming in the middle of the night!

So, being a New Zealander, I thought that I would get myself a job "back home". Anyway, to cut a long story short, I've now accepted a job in Auckland with a large accountancy firm.

The good news is that they are paying for me to move over there (freight, flights, visa for the wife, couple of weeks accommodation, car etc).

The bad news is that they want me to start on 1 April which means leaving the UK in the middle of March to make sure that I don't have jet lag when I start!

So does anyone have any experience of how long it takes to get a residency visa under the partnership scheme as I don't want to leave the wife and babies in the UK to do the flight on their own. The website says up to 3 months (which we obviously don't have) but is this generally shorter and are there ways of "jumping the queue"?

We have got everything that we need to submit the application except for the police certificates and we have sent off for these under the ludicrously expensive ACRO system (£70 each but we get them back in 3 days - and the new employer is paying all the bills anyway).

Finally a quick question to all the Aucklanders out there; can you let me know how tight money is going to be supporting a wife and a couple of babies on a single salary of $105k? We don't have much equity in the flat or savings to bring over so will not be able to use that to reduce mortgage payments etc.

Currently feeling a strange mix of nervousness and excitement about going home! Hope it lives up to expectations!

:yes

[dilanium]

Welcome to the forum- I'm sure someone will be along with answers to your questions soon enough. :)

[dharder]

Hi James,

welcome to the forum :) and congratulations on the twins! How very organised to start a relocating with newborn twins :) I remember feeling smug knowing what day of the week it was when my last set was little, but emigrating is quite another level altogther!

I got my PR last year as the partner of a kiwi, and from submitting all documents to the letter saying approved in principle it took 4 weeks exactly. I know others here have had theirs done equally fast or faster, some took longer.

If it didn't work out, though, could you not have your wife (and children, do they have NZ passports yet?) travel on the UK passport? That would give her six months, and surely by then you'd have the PR.

As far as the salary goes, I can't say much, we just got here. But I think you will find it all depends on the mortgage you will be having, if at all, or how much you will pay for a rental. I think on that salary, you'll probably be fine renting for a bit :)

Good luck with everything,

Daniela

[Tia Maria]

Firstly congratulations! And to add that I've found looking after young children in Auckland is a lot easier than in London - whereabouts in the UK are you from?

$105,000 is a good salary, check out this thread for an idea of how much mortgage you can afford:

www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=10910

Its great they are paying for all your expenses, including freight and I would strongly suggest that you use the chance to fill up a container full of kiddies stuff up to about age 4 - this kind of stuff can be particularly expensive over here in comparison and although it may seem a long way off, my 16 month old is already using little tykes slides, house, bike etc. Luckily we haven't had to buy much for him over here as he has 2 older brothers stuff to use. Also the day to day things nappies/wipes/bags etc anything from Boots on at 2 for 1, it may seem like overkill but you really will appreciate it later!

You will suffer from a lack of equity and so your standard of living will vary a lot depending on where you choose to live in Auckland. So I would work out your 'house price range' or 'rental price range' and look for suitable suburbs but I see no reason you couldn't get your house with a garden. :nice1

Cheers

Tia

[kanatakiwi]

Welcome to the forum James, and welcome home.

that's a good salary, you will be fine on the financial side, except for house purchase which is beyond the means of most people in auckland these days. But if you rent for a while you might find something you like that is not too exhorbitant.
I would suggest your wife come on a visitors visa at this point and submit all her documents here once she arrives. would that work. just make sure her medicals are not more than 3 months old. Other than that you could take your chances on the NZIS system in London but it might mean you have to leave before her, or if it comes to that , perhaps you could ask your new employer to delay your work for a couple of weeks, while you wait. it should come through quickly but if there is a glitch with somethings, it can hold things up.

good luck

[dharder]

I would strongly suggest that you use the chance to fill up a container full of kiddies stuff up to about age 4 - this kind of stuff can be particularly expensive over here in comparison [...] Also the day to day things nappies/wipes/bags etc anything from Boots on at 2 for 1, it may seem like overkill but you really will appreciate it later!

I'll second that. Container full of nappies, if you don't use cloth. I wonder how many they'd let you take before they think you're flogging them off... and I still haven't found flushable wipes, you know, the ones that you can send down the toilet.

Also, I found children's furniture a bit of a tricky one here and wish we'd brought more over. We brought the beds, but desks and other small-ish furniture would have been good. How I miss IKEA!

Daniela

[eternalkiwi]

You could apply and 'get the ball rolling' now. If it takes longer to get the PR approved, your wife could possibly travel come on a visitor visa and you can transfer your file to NZ to complete the approval process.
PR (family) applications usually take from 1-15 months, depending on the number of PR SMC applications and possibly time of year.

Another option could be to apply for a family sponsored (open) work visa which usually takes 4 to 8 weeks to process and lasts 1 year, even though your wife does not intend working it does allow her to live in NZ.

Shawn

[James 1077]

Thanks everyone for their responses!

I'm hoping that my wife gets her PR before we go as otherwise we need to get her a return ticket from NZ back to the UK and the company won't pay for that! :-)

I've now spoken to NZ House and they say that it should be done in time if we get the application in by the end of next week and that they can sort out a 12 month visa if it looks like it isn't going to happen.

So need to get the application in and this house sold!

Still waiting for the kids' NZ passports to come through but I'm not too worried about that as there shouldn't be any issues with their citizenship.

I know that houses in Auckland are out of most people's price ranges so we'll rent to start off with (as we want something in a nice area with room for visitors). The job that I have been offered comes with a promotion once I've mastered the NZ tax system (in about 6 months or so) which will probably be a good time to look for a house as then my wife will know for certain if she wants to stay there!

All very exciting! :-)