[wolfysmith]

Hi There,
Some friends of ours have recently gone to NZ on a holiday visa and then found work whilst out and then applied for residency whilst in NZ. Has anybody else come accross this. It certainly sounds alot less stressful??? But clearly a big gamble if it doesn't work. What are your thoughts???

[dilanium]

I've heard of people on the boards doing this as well. It is quite a big gamble, but supposedly it is easier to acquire a job when you're here rather than applying from overseas (I am in Uni, so I'm not sure how easy it really is either way).

[tea drinker]

There are many of us who are attempting this route but planning it before we leave the UK :D

Yes it is a risk but you can make it a calculated risk.

I have my professional registration in place, been NZQA assessed, my profession is on the ISSL and I will be classed as a skilled migrant. My last Police cert is now out of date but I will take a current one with me (lasts 6 months). Haven't decided yet whether to get medical done before I leave or when I have a job offer (last 3 months) I will be applying for jobs asap after I arrive and will either apply for work permit (most likely) or PR depending on time scale.

I'm sure that other 'leapers' will add to this. ;)

[Angel2850]

Yip, not me personally, but I have at least eight friends who have gone this route. It might be a gamble, but if you give it a shot and it doesn't work, then you can always go home and apply etc from there.
Once you get over here, you'll realise that things are a little backwards in some ways here (not a bad thing at all, it reminds me of home 20 years ago) - and that people are probably more likely to hire you face to face than over e-mail/phone whatever, and as long as you've got two brain cells to rub together, you can probably find a job. and its easy to get a work permit (at least to get started) once you have an offer of employment. Then you go on to apply for PR later.

[Silverwing86]

Hi Tea drinker,

Haven't decided yet whether to get medical done before I leave or when I have a job offer (last 3 months) I will be applying for jobs asap after I arrive and will either apply for work permit (most likely) or PR depending on time scale.

I would suggest waiting with the medical till you have the job offer, not only because of the limited validity of the medical (three months I believe), but also because I understand that having the medical done in NZ is considerably cheaper.

Whatever you decide, it sounds like you have things well and truly in control :nice1 and have done everything possible to be successful in your venture, best of luck !

@Wolfysmith: yes, many people choose this path and most are successful. It all depends on your situation, how you feel about taking a gamble and, I guess, how much you want to be in NZ ;). If you come over as well prepared as Tea drinker, you're bound to do well. Do the research, find out what your chances are on the job market and gauge your own feeling about this gamble. Being well informed and prepared will surely help you in making this potentially life changing decision :clap. Good luck !

Cheers,
Silver

[sunnyb]

Hi, we've done it this way. We came over at the end of November with 2 teenagers and a baby. Once agencies knew our tickets were booked, they got interviews lined up. People seemed very keen to see my husband the minute he landed which was reassuring. From landing to getting a written contract took 5 weeks. We thought this was pretty quick, but were told it took that long because we arrived just as people were heading off on summer and Christmas hols !

We shipped all our furniture and didn't realise that you have to pay import tax of 10% on the value of your goods unless you have a valid visa at the time the container lands in NZ (not at it's final destination). We had a lucky escape because my husbands visa was granted the day before the container landed in Aukland - I thought we had another week because it wasn't due into Wellington so be warned.

When we left England, we had a backbackers hostel booked for 2 weeks and didn't know how things were going to work out from there, but were assured from reading posts on this forum that they just do. They did :raebanana. We've had loads of help from people we've met and are now in our rental house, the kids are booked into school and our furniture was delivered today.

Although it seems like a huge gamble when you leave home, we've found it far easier to do it this way. My husband was offered a job last year and we were working through the paperwork. It was unbelievably stressful trying to tie everything together and we ended up having to turn down 2 job offers because we couldn't sell the house in time.

Doing it this way, we closed everything off in England and then came out completely focussed on sorting things out here. I think moving to a new country is going to be as stressful as you can imagine anything to be so which way you do it just depends on what kind of stress you can cope with best :uhoh

Whatever you decide, I hope it all works out as well for you as it has done for us so far.

Regards, B :exit

[wolfysmith]

Thanks Guys
That is very interesting. It certainly sounds like an option. To clarifly we can come over, my husband look for work, if successful apply for a work permit and then potentially apply for PR? We lived in NZ in 2002 and were granted PR. We returned home when i was pregnant with my 1st. We now regret that decision and think NZ would be a better place to raise a family. We know Nz and their culture so feel confident we would be going back with our eyes wide open and there wouldn't be that big life change shock that we had the first time.I also lived out there as a child for a short time so it is quite a familiar place to us. But it is just deciding on the easiest and fastest route to take. Any advise or tips would be welcome.
Thanks

[JandM]

were granted PR.So haven't you still got it? I'm puzzled - oh, unless if you don't stay a certain length of time, it doesn't stay valid, is that it?

[wolfysmith]

J&M

That's right the PR has run out and we've been told we've got to reapply again. Our fault and our mistake for coming back to the UK but would having PR before and not keeping it count against us with the NZIS if we went back out, found jobs and applied from NZ??

[Angel2850]

Dont think it would count towards you at all - they are still battling to get people to stay in NZ and as you were eligible before and were (I'm sure) an upstanding citizen, then can't see why logically they would hold it against you - I think it would count FOR you.