[CjChris]

After two years of living on one income, we are moving back to the US. OH has not been able to find work, and believe me, we have exhausted all resources and we are really quite sick of thinking about it. He's too young to let his brain go to mush!

Even if he didn't want to work, we just can't afford to live here on what I make. There are too many things we still want to do in life to live paycheck to paycheck again (like we did when we where young!)...and we are nearly there now. So we are going while we still have a little $ left to buy tickets! I can't believe how fast the savings vanished. As you all know, just coming here was a very expensive move. :wah


Could anyone who is leaving or has already left for the US be so kind as to share information about removals--International movers you used as well as pet transport arrangements (yes, gotta take the cats back too!!).

We may have to store our stuff here if the sell-off of car, etc., doesn't net enough to ship our belongings now.

We plan to leave in December if we can get everything arranged.

I appreciate any information you can offer.

Regards,
Cjchris

[Mrs Pony]

aww I'm soo sorry! Good luck getting back to the US!

[Ana&Steve]

Very sorry to read this. I can't help with the moving questions but I wish you guys all the best.

[Sam B]

Gosh, SO sorry to read this. Let me know if I can help in any way.

[Leo]

Oh dear! I'm sorry to learn of your present situation.

I pray for a good turn of events to make everything right for you & your OH :nice1 :nice1

[batgirl1001]

Deeply sympathise with your case. We've read horror stories of how difficult it was to survive on 1 income (especially if the income is not that large) and having to scrimp on everything rather than enjoying life in NZ. We are on 1 income too but fortunately for us we made sure we are financially ready for NZ- having other sources of income including investments and rentals. Can't imagine living here if we have to struggle just to remain. Best of luck

[CjChris]

Deeply sympathise with your case. We've read horror stories of how difficult it was to survive on 1 income (especially if the income is not that large) and having to scrimp on everything rather than enjoying life in NZ. We are on 1 income too but fortunately for us we made sure we are financially ready for NZ- having other sources of income including investments and rentals. Can't imagine living here if we have to struggle just to remain. Best of luck

Thanks for the kind words.

We actually thought we were financially ready for NZ, too, and really didn't think things would add up so fast, but I have a daughter in uni here, and for the first two years, migrants are not eligible for any loans/allowances, so all that has been out of pocket in addition to high cost of living.

Besides that, OH really wants to contribute to the family resources as well as contribute to the greater community. Volunteering has helped, but with PhD he just feels like he is wasting away. The economy has simply not been on our side.

We've enjoyed lots of things about NZ, so it has certainly been a great adventure while it lasted.

[Scorpio]

Sure sounds like a real pity but I can imagine how I'd feel in your situation. It must have been very frustrating for you and OH! :( Wishing you good luck; hang in there for the next few months and may things turn out for the best wherever you settle! :nice1

[Belmont Babes]

Oh Chris I too feel very sad to not have met you and now you are leaving. All the best with everything. I can fully understand how you must feel.

[bellbird]

We listened in over the years (while lurking on the list) as you and your partner prepared to leave the US, and later leave Welly to settle more happily in BOP. Will you go back to Virginia, was it?

At least now you have an IRRV, I assume.

We are VERY, very concerned about the cost-of-living in NZ - housing especially. As our date of departure draws near, we are getting cold feet about the move - about taking a step down into 'cold, damp' housing, sinking all our savings into a decent house in a vibrant community and being paid much less for what we do.

It seems a good time to return to the US as there is great excitement and hope afoot with our new administration (even if it does take another couple decades for us to figure out a nationalized health care policy!).

Good luck on your journey back - you'll be just in time for winter! :cheers

[CjChris]

Oh Chris I too feel very sad to not have met you and now you are leaving. All the best with everything. I can fully understand how you must feel.

Oh, hi!! I'm so sorry I never did get to visit you. We totally changed up the game plan in July and it has been full speed ahead since--we grabbed an international fare sale with Air New Zealand and went back to the US for three weeks (well, I was there three weeks but OH stayed on to look for work and is there now).

We had really fought hard to not talk about moving back for so long because we put so much into coming here; we just hated to admit that maybe things weren't going to go as we planned. We never imagined a scenario where both of us wasn't working. We always thought with our quals that we'd each get a job. Full stop.

But in June when OH was told his skills were "no longer current" because he hadn't worked in over two years, we realized things were a lot more dire than we imagined. Staying would mean that he might never work in research again...total career ruin (and yes, he looked at doing other things, but NZ pretty much expects you to have the exact qual required for a job. They don't seem to recognize the whole "transfer of skills" concept that one would expect. That's our experience, anyway).

When we originally got our cheap fares to the US, we thought we'd visit family, play some music, do some dancing, just have a good old holiday...but once we decided we should consider going back, we focused on figuring out where to move back to. Being there really helped us make the decision a final one.

[CjChris]

We listened in over the years (while lurking on the list) as you and your partner prepared to leave the US, and later leave Welly to settle more happily in BOP. Will you go back to Virginia, was it?

At least now you have an IRRV, I assume.

We are VERY, very concerned about the cost-of-living in NZ - housing especially. As our date of departure draws near, we are getting cold feet about the move - about taking a step down into 'cold, damp' housing, sinking all our savings into a decent house in a vibrant community and being paid much less for what we do.

It seems a good time to return to the US as there is great excitement and hope afoot with our new administration (even if it does take another couple decades for us to figure out a nationalized health care policy!).

Good luck on your journey back - you'll be just in time for winter! :cheers

Hi, thank you for you well-wishes. We are not going back to Va; there aren't any research jobs there; we'll go to NC to the Triangle region, and that is still close to my family in Va, plus the landscape is very familiar (lush mountains and only 3 hrs from the beach). There's also lots of live music there--the symphony, old time, blue grass, etc., and we have missed that tremendously.

I'm an educator, so there are lots of opportunities for me there as well.

We are aware that the economy is crap in the US....but like you say, things are improving, and I have high hopes for our current administration!

We did get our IRRV. It cost 140 for me and OH and 140 for each of my daughters (they are over 20). All we had to do was download and print an application, fill it out before going to immigration office (we went to the one in Welly), then it took 15 minutes for the officer to check our dates to make sure we'd been here the required number of days in each of the last two years, then he printed our blue stickers and put them in our passports on the spot.

Some day, once we've replenished the savings, we hope to come back for summers here (we love the Mount and Papamoa areas). I don't know that we'd ever move back full time. I won't discount the possibility, but I doubt it. We saw lots of problems with damp houses in Wellington, but luckily here in Tauranga it is much better (mostly because weather is much better). I love the house we are renting now. It's very warm and dry and comfortable if not expensive (440 per week).

What I wish we'd done was stored our stuff in the US and just rented a furnished place here until we knew whether we were sure this was for good. That would have been much cheaper than having it here from the start and having to take it back. Yes, it has been comforting to have our own things, but the cost and the effort involved in moving has been tremendous.

I think the whole thing has aged me. I really want to feel like me again, but I have lost something that I will never fully recover, and it has nothing to do with money.

[Nathan]

My two cents.....

Re: employment....
NZ job hunt has been pretty weird. I won't bore you with the details, but it's been a pretty good hoot on a number of occasions. But the bottom line is that NZ has no use for either my broader experience or either of my areas of specialization. I don't want to go back to exactly what I was doing, and in the US my achievements are recognized as broadly applicable.

Re: going back....
There's a lot I'll miss about NZ and I don't look at our experience as a failure. I think NZ will eventually be a great place to live a few months out of the year. I know that having made to move will make me more attractive to the US employer that I want to work for.

Re: where we're going...
Probably not back to where we left. We've picked a new place. It seems to offer both the social/community elements we want and the career opportunities we need.

Cheers

[CjChris]

Right, being here has certainly had both good and not so good elements. It has been an education and I have certainly benefited from the work experience because in my estimation, things have been wildly successful for me career-wise in NZ. Having said that, I need to acknowledge that we are a team, and we need to be where the system works for both of us. :D

[jen]

Best of luck to you both! You moved a couple month before we did so I was another one of the people following your posts with great interest & appreciated your info.

[Belmont Babes]

Ahh Chris it sounds like you are getting sorted. Your posts certainly read as if you have made the right decisions for you. Good on you. I wish you all the best with your futures. You must get in touch if you are returning one day. I will PM the details. Nat X

[andrewp]

Good luck guys. I hope everything works out for you.

[Bruckner]

I don't have any advice but just wanted to say good luck to you both.

Emily

[CjChris]

Thanks very much!

[mussomutts]

Hi!
I'm sorry it didn't work out for you over there.
We left NZ 4 years ago to head to Canada and are feeling over here, just how you are over there by the sounds! We used Challenge International Pet Movers when we brought our dog here, They were fab; www.petman.co.nz ,the fella's name is Warwick and he was so helpful with our big dog Nellie, I would absolutely recommend him! We will be using his associate in Vancouver to get all of our furry family home to NZ.
I hope all goes well for you guys!

[mclarity]

I think the whole thing has aged me. I really want to feel like me again, but I have lost something that I will never fully recover, and it has nothing to do with money.

I have been away from NZ for three years already, after having gone through the whole immigration and settling process. I can empathize completely with your sentiment. With time though the sense of loss does fade and one needs to remember the reasons why one left. The mind can play tricks on one. And also, who knows what the future may hold.

[unar]

Hi,

It is really sad to hear you guys are leaving. Your story is freaking me out a bit. What line of research are you in? I am a biologists, really scared about finding a job. If "transferrable skills" are not counted, I am going to be screwed. There is always the lottery :)

Any way, best of luck back in the US.
-Una

[CjChris]

Hi,

It is really sad to hear you guys are leaving. Your story is freaking me out a bit. What line of research are you in? I am a biologists, really scared about finding a job. If "transferrable skills" are not counted, I am going to be screwed. There is always the lottery :)

Any way, best of luck back in the US.
-Una

I've PM'd you.

Cheers,
Christine

[Nathan]

I accepted a job offer yesterday. The company recognized all of my skills as transferable to their industry, so I'm basically starting again where I left off, but in biomanufacturing.
It's everything I was looking for, intellectual challenge, socially responsible company, sustainable industry, ... and in NC.

[JandM]

Good luck for everything to come. :nice1

[Daniel]

I accepted a job offer yesterday. The company recognized all of my skills as transferable to their industry, so I'm basically starting again where I left off, but in biomanufacturing.
It's everything I was looking for, intellectual challenge, socially responsible company, sustainable industry, ... and in NC.

All the best for you :nice1