[H & Rick]

I have been reading these threads with interest for a few weeks now..

I am curious .............why New Zealand?

Is there a common denominator for this choice that we all share :roll

[dawn]

I didn't have a choice, hubby's been in the UK 10 years and he's had enough, he wants to go home.

I must say, it was such a hardship for me to agree!

I think your question comes back to the old Quality of Life discussion, we all want something better for ourselves and our families and we don't feel our needs are being met, I know mine certainly aren't being met by the UK.

What's your reason?

[willsken]

For us.....

Must be English speaking

so

Australia - too hot too many creepy crawlies
Canada - too cold and too close to the US
US - worse than the UK :exit
NZ lack of popuation = space space space! lack of crowds, lack of traffic and their love of sport loads more reasons as well, but the Bill is calling! :laugh

[ruthyroo]

Easy to get jobs
Easy to get visas
Part of the world we hadn't been before, and lots to see and do i.e. good marketing by 100%NZ!

[H & Rick]

Hi Dawn

To be honest, I am still not 100% sure..

I get up every day to sit in loads of traffic. I work in a job in an unpleasant area, where I see lots of distasteful people who shout at me on a daily basis, many of them have learning and social disabilities and I try to help them - I have to say there are some nice ones, then I get into that queue of traffic again so I can get home.

I hate crowds an get really wound up having to fight my way to the checkouts every time we go shopping.

I hate having to cross the road when a group of hoodies (chav's) are hanging around on the street corners. Summer is coming......please keep your shirts on... I would not mind if it were worth looking at!!! :D

Everything seems to be rush, rush, rush..

I could go on and on...but I am staring to sound like a manic depressive..Woody Allen style!!!

I'm not expecting NZ to be the answer to everything...but it has to be better than this..

[willsken]

Totally true and said 100% better than me! :roll

[sizzlingbadger]

A couple of years back after not settling into our 4th house in 4 years :wah a conversation between my husband and his brother changed all that. It led us to getting PR and nearly a year to the day after deciding we do it, we emigrated. Haven't looked back since :D

[Albertz]

Why? thats a very good question, as the days, weeks & months pass I ask myself why?.
Maybe just maybe sometime soon I will be able tell you all why but until then :(

Come on NZIS end the pantomime :D
:exit

[Diny]

Simple really - hubby is a Kiwi, kids are 'half breeds', so NZ was the obvious choice. I'm one of the few who love the UK and never had any great desire to leave, it's just that I had a desire to move to NZ. Had visited many many times before we came here to live so I wasn't under any illusions. Life here is no better/worse than back home. We've taken a sideways step, but that step has landed us in a very nice place !!!!!!

Diny

[dawn]

Hi Dawn

To be honest, I am still not 100% sure..

I get up every day to sit in loads of traffic. I work in a job in an unpleasant area, where I see lots of distasteful people who shout at me on a daily basis, many of them have learning and social disabilities and I try to help them - I have to say there are some nice ones, then I get into that queue of traffic again so I can get home.

I hate crowds an get really wound up having to fight my way to the checkouts every time we go shopping.

I hate having to cross the road when a group of hoodies (chav's) are hanging around on the street corners. Summer is coming......please keep your shirts on... I would not mind if it were worth looking at!!! :D

Everything seems to be rush, rush, rush..

I could go on and on...but I am staring to sound like a manic depressive..Woody Allen style!!!

I'm not expecting NZ to be the answer to everything...but it has to be better than this..

I agree, I have all the same reasons too. Part of me has always wanted to live "somewhere else", I guess I was just lucky the love of my life is from NZ :D

[Kali ~]

Hi,
I think the reasons are repeated over and over again in this forum. The reason that combine it all, is the unconformity whit the place or country in wich we are. The feeling that something is missing; the job, the time, the space, the life. Needs that are not satisfied.

In my country: the impossibility of have a good life and enjoy your family at the same time. If you want to have a good life, you have to use all your energy in work, then you come back home at the end of the day, and the only thing you want to do.. is sleep.

So you have to make a choice: have a good life, o have a good family.
WE CHOOSE BOTH, so we decided to go.

People can say i am lazy, people can say i am smart. I don't care.
I just want to enjoy my life.

[dawn]

So you have to make a choice: have a good life, or have a good family.
WE CHOOSE BOTH, so we decided to go.
Good answer, I think I might have to steal that!

[Kali ~]

jijij..
all yours if you want...

;)

[Jerry]

Hi,
Good question :=)
My points are: Quality of life (including sea, enough space, wild life..) + English speaking country.
Other options:
a) Canada: I was seriously thinking about it, but I still favour the wild life of NZ
b) Australia: Spiders, snakes, … but maybe still an option. Quiet close to NZ.
c) US: I was absolutely not interested in the beginning. Then I got 2 job offers and they promised both to organize a green card. That would be by far the easiest option for me to get outside of Europe. I told them, “sorry, I will go to NZ” – 3 month later I still do not have my visa. Not sure, if it was the right decision.
d) UK: My preferred fall back solution, if I do not get the PR. I already worked there a couple of years ago. British people know how to behave. I like the humour, the British accent and I do not need a visa. Soooo many job offers there in the IT industry – like heaven. It’s just the weather 
e) Just a semi-option: My spouse got a job offer in Switzerland – a one year contract. It would be fine for moving there before going somewhere else. But it is not the change of live I expect. It’s too close to the Austrian culture.

Resume: Learning Spain and going to Venezuela could be done before receiving the PR! (Just a joke)
But to be honest: My thoughts will not be finished until I have settled down in a new country.
And my opinion is continuously changing a bit. But since my ITA lodgement I get more and more NZ minded and I read NZ news regularly and scan the job market over there. But still: I can not explain why.

[Jenny & Mark]

About 8 years back I had a dream (actually a series of dreams) about immigrating to NZ and woke up in the morning with this inbuilt great desire to go. It has been hard to explain to family and friends, but I just have this impulse to go as if NZ is my home and it is calling me. I sound like I have lost my mind. :uhoh

mark.

A better reason is that Jenny is from NZ and we would like to start a family there. :)

[Oregonkiwi]

I found an old thread on the same topic when I was searching for something else, if you want to take a look at that too -
http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=2285

[Gretchen]

I recently applied for a job in NZ where I had to answer this very question. This was my response: My family and I would like to make a significant change to our lifestyle as well as experience another culture. My husband and I visited New Zealand last January to attend a friend’s wedding as well as tour the country. We had such a great time that we decided to research the social, economic and political climate of New Zealand. We learned that New Zealand has a more collective approach to issues such as health care, education, and environmental conservation and this approach is reflected in governmental policies as well as the daily habits of the typical New Zealander. We feel that the attitudes and lifestyles of New Zealand are more compatible with our own attitudes about life and raising our children.

[David with a dream]

Nice one Kali, spot on. By the way who will you be following in the world cup? David

[Questor]

Our reason is fairly simple - and the reason i say to people who ask me at work - Why not??!

[jubjub]

Our reason is fairly simple - and the reason i say to people who ask me at work - Why not??!

I like your style :cheers , wish I had thought of that one.

[marcia]

For us.....

Must be English speaking

so

Australia - too hot too many creepy crawlies
Canada - too cold and too close to the US
US - worse than the UK :exit
NZ lack of popuation = space space space! lack of crowds, lack of traffic and their love of sport loads more reasons as well, but the Bill is calling! :laugh

ARE YOU MY LONG LOST TWIN??????????????? :laugh

Ditto the above reasons!!

[willsken]

What about the Bill???? :D :D

[Kali ~]

jijij... not really intrested in football, but i have always said that i am with the team who wins!!! (that way i never loose)...

;)

[David with a dream]

Good answer Kali :clap , but the wrong one!!!! If we don't then as long as it's not Australia I dont care :D ..................David

[Charlosparky]

Why NZ?

Well i love the UK and always will, but I work in a well paid job and still i do not have any chance of living the life me and my family deserve. I live on a city estate of ex council houses in Nottingham, 70% privately owned and lived in by nice law abiding people, untill about 4 years ago a nice area, but now terrorised by the 5% of mindless nutters who wont work ligitimately for a living and constantly rob/abuse/disrespect us all.
1. I would like a 4 bed house with a larger garden and in a nice area not ruled by chavs on mopeds and drug dealers in £60,000 cars with shiny meatcutter wheels. Where i can walk to the shop after dark with a reasonable expectation not to get mugged or stabbed, and where my kids can play/cycle without the risk of being abducted/verbally abused/chased/robbed. I cannot afford this move in the UK but I can in NZ
2. I would like to like to have some nice weather yet still live in a green and pleasant land where i can enjoy the wildlife, and have a day out without paying £5 to park the car . I can find this in NZ, like UK scenery on steroids! and park up for a fair fee
3. I would like my children to live in an area where there are oppertunities after school that may tempt them more than the local temptations here which consist of drinking, smoking, vandalising, claiming benefit- no seroiusly, i had to really argue hard to convince my 17yr old son who thinks his 19yr old cousin has a perfect life because he lives on benefit, has his rent, bills, council tax paid for, and has all the free time in the world. Kids here really do see that as a viable option after leaving school. I hope this chav lifestyle is less likely to tempt them in NZ
I could list another 5 items but i know i'm ranting. I also wouln't pick the US or Canada due to gun crime. I can see the uk going that way, especially in the cities. Oz is too hot and bland. No, i see NZ as another UK with the culture in the slow lane, admittedly catching up, but in the meantime buying us all some quality lifestyle

Ahhh thats better (slow breaths) :)

[toesonthenose]

1.A polynesian island nation, 2. english speaking, 3. apple orchards, 4. no overwhelming desire to blow up Arabs and steal their oil (yet anyway)!

[barryp]

Actual work/rest-of-life balance.
Emphasis on one's actions rather than one's possessions.
Temperate climate.
Nonviolent dominant culture.
Universal health care and education.

(The English language, or something akin to it, isn't a requirement but should make the transition a lot smoother.)