[Nat Packer]

Hi. We are getting married in July, and after that are going to start planning the move to New Zealand and submit the EOI. I've been looking into finances and found an article that says all the costs to actually get to NZ add up to about 10K! What a lot of money! We're not on the property ladder yet so it's sacrificing our house deposit to go (which we've not saved yet) but it's what we want, so we'll have to start from the bottom in NZ. Is anyone else in a similar position? Anyone find it tough financially starting from square one in NZ. Does anyone afford to be a stay at home mum in NZ (not a mum yet but trying to plan our future).

Also, anyone else in the Manchester area who fances meeting/chatting about the process?

Thanks

Nat

[Hippywench]

I'm not too far from you. I work near Manchester airport.
There are North West meets; there's one coming up on 28th June in Warrington. Here's the thread for this year's meets:
http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=15425

We'll be taking pets over so our costs will be even higher - about £15k.

We have a house but I'm not expecting to make a lot of profit. It needs some work doing before we sell so its our biggest stumbling block at the moment.

[Nat Packer]

Thanks for that link. I've had a look but I can't find anything recent. Do you have details about where they are meeting? I can see they planned to meet in Feb but can't see one for June.

Wow, pets can be very expensive!

Yes, it's a hard time to sell at the moment, but there are still some people buying. It would have been a good time for us to buy if we waited for prices to fall, but then we are tied to a house, so better to just take the plunge and go. We are hoping to move in just over a year.

[Kiwi-In-Texas]

Hello and welcome. Good luck with your plans.




Suzanne.

[Hippywench]

Thanks for that link. I've had a look but I can't find anything recent. Do you have details about where they are meeting? I can see they planned to meet in Feb but can't see one for June.

The thread is quite long, the new date is mentioned right at the end. There's supposed to be a new thread for the 28th June meet but I can't find it. The meets are here (http://www.pub-explorer.com/cheshire/pub/mascratmanorwoolston.htm)

[dusk]

Hey nat,

good luck with your plans.

those figures don't sound too far off, especially if you are moving household goods and pets over :)

I think you might have just looked at the first page of that link - there should be a little box at the bottom of the page if you scroll down that has the page numbers onit and you can click on the last one...

[stevenh]

Hello from Manchester also. We're looking to emigrate to NZ in the next couple of years following a recce trip next year. We feel our main barrier is going to be selling the house in the current market (we seem to have enough points and skills in one of the shortage areas so should be ok on this). If you do plan to move to NZ in the near future I don't think it's worth getting on the property ladder in the UK (particularly as house prices are predicted to drop by 8% this year). I'd consider renting for now.

[Moorf]

Yep, including flights, removals, visa fees, etc etc etc you are looking at around 10K UKP (argh, I hate no longer having a pound sign :wah )

Welcome Aboard :D

[Nat Packer]

Ah yes, silly me, I didn't even think to check that it was more than one page long.

Thanks for all the help, I think me and my fiance might well go to the next one. It will be nice to talk to people who are going through the same thing, as so far I've found a lot of resistance from people I've told.

I was just looking at my points to try and work out how many I'd have, and can anyone tell me if you can included points for work experience and then include points for work experience for a shortage area on top of this, or can it only be included once?

Also, should the person who has the most points be the main applicant or doesn't it matter?

Would we have to have our qualifications assessed before we submit our EOI?

Sorry for all the questions

Nat

[slider]

Hello, and welcome to the forum :)

[adkck]

Hi and welcome.

Yup, hubby and I are in same boat. We have liquidated all our assets that we could now (i.e. traded our new car for used, saves us a TON of money in car payments, insurance, etc). I have sold a lot of things and so has my hubby. We managed to squirral away a nice little nest egg from that. We don't have cable, none of the "nicey-nices." We stopped eating out. I use coupons.

We are on the market now but with the way the market is, well will not profit from the selling of the home. We don't care as much as long as we don't have to bring money to the table. Then we are going to stay in an apartment for awhile and that will save money as well. :)

Save, save, save. Find out what you can cut back on, liquidate anything you can now. It can really add up. :)

I wish you the best on your plans.

[slider]

you are looking at around 10K UKP (argh, I hate no longer having a pound sign :wah )

Welcome Aboard :D

Moorf
Not perfect but...Hold down the Alt key and key in 0163
NB - You must use the numbers on the keypad. Those above the QWERTY keyboard don't work :nice1

[Hippywench]

Thanks for all the help, I think me and my fiance might well go to the next one. It will be nice to talk to people who are going through the same thing, as so far I've found a lot of resistance from people I've told.

I was just looking at my points to try and work out how many I'd have, and can anyone tell me if you can included points for work experience and then include points for work experience for a shortage area on top of this, or can it only be included once?

Would we have to have our qualifications assessed before we submit our EOI?

Nat

I'm sorry you're getting a hard time from people. We have some resistance from certain family members. Most people are supportive but then there are those who think you can just pack up and go and think I've changed my mind because I'm still here months after deciding to emigrate.

I'll leave the EOI question to people who've already been through it.

As for qualifications assessment - it depends. I'll be going through nurse registration which removes the need for a separate NZQA assessment.

[adkck]

Hi there again,

We have not told anyone yet about our plans. Not a soul. We will when the ITA is sent and approved. We have a feeling we will get the same reactions as everyone else here around the forum, "you are nuts," you will be back," "why" and so forth. My hubby and I have a strong feeling no one, not our friends, family, co-workers will understand, not one bit. Anyway....:o

As far the EOI, my hubby was the principle applicant. He claimed his work experience and he was on both lists, which we claimed. The short shortage list and long term shortage. He is in IT and has extensive experience in computers and has done it all. He has an impressive CV. :) Plus, with my Master's Degree, he was able to claim 20 more points. :)

As far as the NZQA, it depends. I have a feeling hubby will need one but no word from the NZIS since we have been selected. Waiting can be tough! LOL

Good luck with everything. :)

[stevenh]

What a shame people are expecting negative opinions once they break the news to friends, family and colleagues about emigrating. I'm hoping people will wish us luck and to be honest the couple of people we've told about our plans have been supportive and understand our reasons.

[BaldyBeardyBloke]

Hello, welcome and good luck.

Can recommend the North West meets as a great place to get some good info and advice. Vixxann will probably be there - she'll be the one running around going 'whoop whoop' having just sold her house after a year!!!!!!

[peebles16]

Welcome along to the madhouse from us too :)

Karen

[Leanne]

Hello and welcome!
:)

[Hippywench]

Thread for 28th June meet is here (http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=18876) in case you didn't already know.

[padfoot]

Hi Nat Packer

We work in Manchester (live in Northwich) and are also hoping to head for NZ.
We've spent £70 on police certs, £690 on medicals (although OH had to have extra blood tests), £115 to submit ITA and £8 to send it all to NZ House! Plus the Migrant Levy is £230. Not a cheap process.

We are also taking our 2 dogs with us, and with shipping out personal belongings etc, and us, this will come to about £15k including selling costs for our house - you need to be sure this is what you really want to do. Though, it'll all be worth it in the end :yes

[Nat Packer]

Yes we definitely want to go. There is so much pressure in this country to get on the property ladder. We're well aware that if we move to NZ with hardly any savings and have children soon after arriving that we'll be renting for a long time and struggling financially, but the best things in life are free and we intend to do a lot of walking and inviting people round to our house. Does anyone know if there is as much pressure to buy a house in NZ? In this country it's one of the first things that's mentioned whether you own your house or are 'just renting'. Nat

[JandM]

LOTS of people rent their home in NZ.:)

[Andy-Dee]

The next NZ meet for the North West is the 29th June at Muscrat Manor - all welcome and StevieD and family will be there.