[Alan]

My family and I (Sounds like the Queens speech already!) have decided we want to make the move to NZ as soon as possible, however I just wanted people's thoughts on whether I/we were on the right track.

I currently work for a telecoms company and have done for twenty years, however I expect to take voluntary redundancy at the end of this month.

There is an NZ Expo at the beginning of April in London, which I will go to in order to try and secure a position, however I am also happy to travel to NZ prior to that in order to achieve a position.

Because of our intentions I don't at this point intend pursuing another post in this line of work as it hopefully will only be for a very short period of time until we make the move.

I am concerned however about how even a gap of a month may look to any NZ employer, so would like your thoughts on that and generally on the job hunting as I need an offer in order to secure PR/WTR.

All thoughts gratefully accepted.

Alan

[CJ22]

We definitely got mixed messages at the expo we went to, and I get the feeling that there are no hard and fast rules. One employment agency told us that securing job offers in advance just 'never happened'. We then proceeded to get two job offers in advance (though I do think we got VERY) lucky.

I wouldn't rely on it taking 'a very short period of time' since you are starting from first base. The PR process can take 6 months to complete, and while WTR is quicker, it's not a permanent visa and you have no guarantee that they'll let you stay at the end of the two years. We had the option to do either, as our future employers seem content to play a longer game, so we went with the PR option just so we'd have the comfort of knowing that it would be permanent.

Good luck finding work. If telecoms is your industry, I have a contact who might be able to point me to the right person for you to talk to. PM me your details and the specific work you do, and I'll ask around.

[Alan]

Are you out there now or in the process of going? Also I was thinking that although it is costly if WTR was offered I would take it and then apply for PR in parallel.