[family5]

Hello,

Im new to this so hopefully you will bear with me. Im 39yrs old, registered UK nurse. 15yrs as acute surgical and 4 yrs as GP practice nurse and p/t emergency triage sister for out of hours services. My OH is 53 and has just retired from the Police service. Hes now a house dad! We have three children, 9, 7,and 5.
For every reason probably already discussed on this site, we want to emigrate to New Zealand and would very much appreciate any advice re the 'process', eligibility, where to live, etc etc.
We think it will take about 2 years to achieve. Again, would appreciate your advice as to whether we are being realistic.

Many Thanks

[icemaiden]

Hi and welcome to the forum. As I'm sure you've probably seen, it is absolutely packed with fantastic advice to guide you through every stage of the process - both practical and emotional!! You could start off by going on to New Zealand Immigration Service and trying to ascertain the number of points you have to make sure that you reach the magic 100 mark. This is the link you want -

http://www.immigration.govt.nz/pointsindicator/

After that, you need to fill out the full expression of interest form and get it submitted to NZIS. That will start the official ball rolling and the process (without a job offer) can take a full year. Good luck with it all: the search facility on the forum here is great but if you can't find what you want then ask away.

[JandM]

Hello, and welcome to the forum. :)

One thing to add to what Lindreth said - the Search button on the blue bar above may help with finding what has been said about any queries you have. But yes, do ask about anything that crops up. Good luck!:nice1

[family5]

Thank you for the warm welcome. Loads of questions, will have to put them in right order;-)

[Jacqi B]

Thank you for the warm welcome. Loads of questions, will have to put them in right order;-)

don't worry - even if you try to put them in the right order you'll then remember something else.
Just ask away.

[tea drinker]

Hello and welcome from me too :)
Ask away, someone will come along to help out.

[BkyMonster]

I think 2 years is a reasonable estimate including selling up and everything, so that seems realistic.

[IanW99]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

I assume that you will be the pricipal applicant, if so then you should start on your nursing registration as soon as possible.

After you are registered you can then apply for jobs and PR which should be granted reasonably quickly (months) and be in NZ in no time.

If you want to get to NZ even quicker then with a job offer you can apply for a 30 month WTR which takes weeks.

Would recommend the PR option if you don't mind waiting a little longer.

If you are organised and don't have any problems along the way such as medicals or house sales etc, you could be looking at between 6 months and 1 year.

Ian

[clairelouise]

Hi and welcome to the forum!! :D

[family5]

Thank you all for the friendly welcome. Im glad to hear 2 yrs is realistic because we do have to sell our house etc, etc, etc. and the UK is not in a good shape at the moment- huge understatement!

Thanks for the advice re visa. Yes I would be the principle visa holder. My hubby will continue as head chef, bottlewasher and school run king. (Hes pretty good at DIY as well though).

I did work as a nurse in Sydney 12 yrs ago and I still have my Queensland regisitration but I dont suppose its counts. I will start on my registration asap.

We are thinking of the north Island for the kinder, warmer weather but specifically where we seem spoilt for choice. No firm decision yet. Advice will be gratefully received.

Thanks again to you all, its so reassuring to know we can put our thoughts into some perspective with your collective advice.

[dusk]

Welcome :)

If you ask where to settle in NZ you're going to get a different opinion from everyone depending on where they live :)

Narrow down what you want - city, town, rural look into the places you could be working (hospitals etc) and have a look on google and wiki to help you get an idea of areas you might find more attractive than others :) NZ is not THAT big a place but there certainly is no shortage of variety when it comes to finding a new home :)

[JandM]

About choosing a location - what are you looking for in a lifestyle? What's important to you? Urban/rural, near mountains/beach/walks/amenities? Small town enough for you, or do you want lots of shops and cosmopolitan atmosphere? What hobbies etc. do you have already or want to take up? If you can give some answers to those points, people will probably have some suggestions for you.:)

[family5]

Thank you very much for the advice re areas.
Our initial thoughts were to look for an area that is not city centre, more semi rural. Perhaps the equivalent to a UK market town (hopefully with less rain, yobs, violence, litter, wheel clampers et al) but with a larger town/city being accessible for work etc.
Ideally not too far from a beach as we want to encourage our children to break free from their lifestyle in the UK which is mainly based inside the home due to bad weather, unsafe streets and no facilities to speak of. Weather is important in so much as a warm sunny climate will help the children achieve the lifestyle desired - not forgetting ourselves.
Education and work are two other factors we need to research of course.
I will certainly be looking at the information sources you have suggested. Thanks again for your help, it is very much appreciated.

[Scotty69]

Hi and welcome to the forum:nice1

[JandM]

Just so you don't miss out on considering it, I wrote this about Auckland on a thread some time ago, in answer to a newcomer who (going only from newspaper reports) was assuming it was all the same and 'a city'. It might give you a start. Lots of parts of it are much like you describe, and there are miles of country, even inside it. Our family live very happily in Titirangi. We rented in 2007 in Henderson Valley (and the house was, illogically, on the top of a mountain ridge!). Kiwi relatives were/are in Devonport, and Takapuna, and Dairy Flats, and Howick. No doubt others will be along to tell you their experiences as residents in different areas (and in other perfectly nice places on North Island:nice1).

I suggest you go to this link http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl then call up 'Auckland NZ'. Then zoom out till you can see Torbay in the north and Manukau City in the south - this is all Auckland. Then make sure you're looking at the aerial photos.** Notice the green and blue? Apart from in the very tight downtown district, this beautiful green and blue are everywhere, in gardens and parks and areas of native bush. The place is built on mountain-tops, and yet minutes from the sea. It's different from anywhere else. Zoom in close on the different centres - and in between.

You could also go to http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-me-property/index.htm and have a look at a few of the homes listed under 'Auckland'. Most properties have photos of the surroundings and views, as well as the interior.

You'll gather that what I'm saying is there is peace and nature and a lot of space even WITHIN the city boundaries.

**These days, there's also the Google maps Street View feature, which means you can pretty much walk about in any place that interests you. Good hunting!:)

[family5]

Thanks for the information we will be researching this evening. Auckland is perhaps more significant in so much their are direct flights from Manchester.
Thanks again. (Cant get over how friendly and helpful you all are!)
With Kind Regards.

Just so you don't miss out on considering it, I wrote this about Auckland on a thread some time ago, in answer to a newcomer who (going only from newspaper reports) was assuming it was all the same and 'a city'. It might give you a start. Lots of parts of it are much like you describe, and there are miles of country, even inside it. Our family live very happily in Titirangi. We rented in 2007 in Henderson Valley (and the house was, illogically, on the top of a mountain ridge!). Kiwi relatives were/are in Devonport, and Takapuna, and Dairy Flats, and Howick. No doubt others will be along to tell you their experiences as residents in different areas (and in other perfectly nice places on North Island:nice1).



**These days, there's also the Google maps Street View feature, which means you can pretty much walk about in any place that interests you. Good hunting!:)

[TheJezzers]

Hello and welcome we started the our plans last May and are now heading over in August to start our new life. We are going to rent our house out because of the housing market hitting the rocks. We have no morgage left on our house here so we are going to use the rent from our house here to rent a house in NZ. A bit scary but we have to give it a go.:exit Goodluck on your plans ahead.:cheers