[Bergita]

Hi there everyone,

I've been browsing this forum for the last week and may I say, what a lovely group of people you are.

My husband and I have very recently decided to make the move to New Zealand and we are very nervous, excited and occasionally despondent. There are so many questions I want to ask, but I thought I'd introduce myself first.

We are from South Africa, the three of us (beautiful 3 yr old daughter), and we are trying to emigrate in the hopes of security mainly, for us and our daughter. We've approached an agent and now know that my husband needs a job offer in order to qualify for permanent residency.

Are there any other South Africans on this forum?

Nice to finally speak to you all.

[Sir]

Hi there, My fiance, myself and our 5 yr old son have decided to immigrate to NZ as well. After a lot of research, tears and frustration, we decided the best way is to do it ourselves. My OH is actually in Auckland this very moment, to secure a job offer...so hold thumbs!!! Once he receives this then we can apply for our work visa. What part of SA are you from (we are from Durban)? Keep positive and you will get there...just think what you are doing this for...a better life for you all..best of luck and keep me posted

[Cardy]

Hi i,m not south african but where i live and work cambridge and hamilton in the waikato district NZ north island there are lots of south africans ,all happily working away . there is one in the real estate office i have spoken too ,quite a few in the local supermarket and one at a local engineering company i will see if any of them are interested in posting on the forum for you. all the ones i have dealt with/spoken too have said they are very happy and settled here. Cheers Cardy

[marcia]

No advice here just wanted to say welcome - and think carefully about using an agent they charge a packet and you have to supply all the info anyway for them to fill in the forms - if you go DIY you will get loads of help on here! :nice1

[High]

Hiya!

My husband and I are South African (Stellenbosch) :nice1 and we are working on our ITA at the moment. Our EOI has been successful without job offers :clap - may I ask who told you that you need job offers?

Have you filled in the points indicator on the Immigration website?

There are tons of South Africans in NZ - OH's brother and whole family are living there too. I think it's a bit harder for SAs to do the move, mostly because it takes so long to get the documents (I've been waiting 4.5 months of my birth certificate now! :uhoh ) BUT it's totally worth it!!!! Lekker! :raebanana

Nice to hear from you!

[Smiler]

Bergita

Welcome to the forum. :cheers

I agree with Marcia about agents. Do a forum search but I think there is only one success story that we've heard about agents, the others were successful in getting their money back via the courts. :(

It is easy to DIY, we've nearly all done it that way and although it may take a bit longer from SA, you can always ask for advice on here.

Good luck.

[Bergita]

Thanks for the response everyone.

Well to answer one question, we are from Cape Town. As for the agent - well, it just seemed easier this way, I don't want to mention their name here but if anyone knows of a few different agents and could advise me on the one we've chosen, that would be nice.

We did check the points we have, and without any serious qualifications, we need a job offer to apply. We are both in I.T, my husband gets 105 points with a job offer, I get 95. :uhoh

The thing is, to get a job, we need to be there, and once we have one, we need to organize working visas, and then after that, permanent residency, and it all seems a bit overwhelming without an agent. I have however seen the wealth of information available here, and I'm torn.

It's just so scary, we feel like we need someone on our side, and this agency seems good, can't find any horror stories about them, and believe me I've searched.

As for the birth certificates taking 4.5 months - o.m.g! We're going to apply for them next week, planning to get going around March next year, but still! SA beauracracy moves soooo slowly. And by the way, what is an unabridged birth certificate? Do they normally hand out abridged ones??

Lastly, while I'm here, will we need to buy a return ticket to NZ, seeing as we won't have PR yet when we fly?

[Smiler]

Hi Bergita

I think if you are coming on a tourist visa, you'll need a ticket out of NZ and a cheap ticket to Oz will do. ;)

I can understand the daunting feeling and being over whelmed. There are loads of people though that have got here, got jobs and visa's then. I think the quickest one was about three days or something but otherwise I've gathered from here that it can be 3 weeks ish.

Maybe someone who has done it that way can post their timings, please? :nice1

[High]

Howzit!

Wow, I haven't used that expression in a looooong time! :nice1 (Am in the UK at the moment)

W.r.t. the birth certificate, get one NOW - I mean today, go and apply for one. It doesn't expire, so even if you're lucky and you get it quickly, at least you have it. And yes, they usually hand out abridged ones, which the NZ immigration won't accept - they only accept UNabridged ones, and that's the reason it takes so long to get one.
We've had to fork out HUNDREDS of rands to a company to get it for us, as just going to the government agencies/embassies takes so long. (going on for 5 months now!)

Oh well - all worth it in the end, I'm sure! :nice1

As for your tickets, yes you do need a return one - and I'm not sure whether one just to Oz will be accepted. I had to buy one to London (it worked out cheaper).
But like I said, it'll be all worth it!

As your OH is in IT, I say go for it - go to NZ on a 3 month visitor visa (it's free) and get a job - you'll have no problem doing it! My OH is in IT too, and although we're not in NZ yet, he's already got 2 interviews lined up. May I recommend Candle recruitment?

Anyway, my point is that I think you should just do it!

Does someone know whether it's possible to get a job offer, with a starting date a month away, and then submit your EOI, have it picked (it always gets picked it you have a job offer) and go through the whole ITA process in one month? :confused:

[Bergita]

Thanks for the tips, High, nice to see another South African having a positive experience, gives me some hope....

We will look up that recruitment agency for sure.

Week after next is when we start getting all our documents together, end of the month is when we can project a date for leaving..... you know the weirdest thing, is I feel like I've left this place behind already, I feel disassociated and displaced. It's very uncomfortable.

And like all South Africans, I feel a huge amount of guilt for wanting to leave. But I'll get over it. :D

Anyway, I have a tendency to hog whitespace when I get going so I'll stop for now.

[zardell]

As for your tickets, yes you do need a return one - and I'm not sure whether one just to Oz will be accepted. :confused:


Yes, one to Oz is acceptable.

Good luck Bergita (and every one else) with your plans.

Hope it all works out for you.

Julie

xx

[High]

Howzit Bergita (and everyone else) !

Oooooh, I'm so excited for you, it sounds like you guys are really getting a move on! :raebanana Good luck with it all!

And I know what you mean about feeling guilty....I left SA 1.5 yrs ago and I still get nostalgic and "The Guilt"....but then I think about all the times I've been burgled and the feeling goes away! Funny, that! ;)

Anyway, where are you looking at settling in NZ? We've found that most of the IT jobs are in Wellington, and the recruitment agencies there are very on the ball. Good luck! I'll "hold thumbs" for you!

Please let us know how it's going, as we'll be making the move in 111 days (we're counting it off!)

[Bergita]

Most I.T jobs are in Wellington? I was under the impression we had more chance of finding jobs in Auckland. We were kind of leaning towards Auckland anyway, from a weather point of view.

Smiler: did I say thanks for the welcome? (Too lazy to scroll up) If I didn't, then thanks! And thanks to everyone else too.

My bed is calling - goodnight all.

[terbo]

Howzit all South Africans

I am a teacher in Durban, South Africa and I have managed to convince wifey that New Zealand would be the best move for us and my beautiful 6month old daughter.

We were looking to go through an agency but after reading all these posts I am not so sure.Can anyone give me a sequence of events to follow to set this whole thing in motion? I agree with someone who said trying to do all this on your own seems helluva daunting!

At our interview I was told that I was on the skills shortages list and could get more points then another agent said teachers werent! All very confusing!

Anyone from Durban keen to make contact? Perhaps we could help each other through this process.


Kind Regards
Terbo

[smitjo]

Welcome Terbo!
From what I have read you sound very much like Michelle's OH - have I hit the nail on the head?? :yes

We used an agent here in the UK and I have to say that it was probarbly a waste of money as the NZIS are very helpful and so are the people on this forum! The agents that we used here were dreadful and didn't help us one bit - but we did get our PR so that is one consolation!! It is very daunting but there is a great deal of help out there - don't be put off by all the paper work.

Good luck to the three of you. We were supposed to be going in October this year but my OH was offered a job promotion so we will stick it out in this country for another year and then head to Welly in 07 - maybe we could meet up!! :nice1

GOOD LUCK GUYS
Jo

[kiwi zebra]

Thanks for the tips, High, nice to see another South African having a positive experience, gives me some hope....

We will look up that recruitment agency for sure.

Week after next is when we start getting all our documents together, end of the month is when we can project a date for leaving..... you know the weirdest thing, is I feel like I've left this place behind already, I feel disassociated and displaced. It's very uncomfortable.

And like all South Africans, I feel a huge amount of guilt for wanting to leave. But I'll get over it. :D

Anyway, I have a tendency to hog whitespace when I get going so I'll stop for now.
Hi we are also from South Africa (Jo'burg) and are planning to emigrate to NZ. I'm 38 and my wife is 30 something! We have twin boys aged 11 and a baby boy almost 2 years old. We want to go to NZ to give our children better opportunities. Good luck with your applications and your new future. We are only just beginning to gather information and still have to submit our EOI.

regards,

Kiwi Zebra

[Singel]

Does someone know whether it's possible to get a job offer, with a starting date a month away, and then submit your EOI, have it picked (it always gets picked it you have a job offer) and go through the whole ITA process in one month? :confused:
We came here as tourists and OH found an IT job less than a month. He got his work permit within a week so that he could start work. At the same time, we submitted our EOI with the bonus point for job offer and got our PRs 4 months later.

There are a lot of documentations that NZIS wants for verification and therefore it is impossible to go through the whole ITA process in one month. For example, I have to get the UK police certificate and this doc took a month to arrive in NZ. We have to send our formal qualifications to NZQA to endorse our education levels that we claim in our EOI and this process took 6 weeks.

We find that the whole immigration process went fast and easy (just a couple of emails with the case officer) when we are physically in NZ.

[High]

Hi Everybody!

Terbo, I also think an agent is a waste of money - they won't help you at all!

And yes, it is a lot of paperwork, but hey, it's all worth it and it really isn't THAT bad ;)

I say, go for it, we're all here to help you if you get stuck! And save the money for :cheers that you would have spent on an agent!

[terbo]

HI all

yes Jo you are right! I have not met you yet but Michelle has told me about you. I have spent almost the entire day flitting between here and other NZwebsites and NOW my head is spinning! All part of the journey I suppose.We are looking to be in Auckland in Jan 2008 although I would love to teach where the trout fishing is best(Michelle is a big city girl!)

So we have lots of time and the more I read the more I think we need to try do this without the help of an agent.

I havent told school yet and I think they are going to flip as I was one of 2 guys they were fast tracking(the other guy is going to Canada!)

Anyway nice chatting to you-I will get Michelle to post a message soon

Thank you everyone for all your words of encouragement

Bye for now
Terbo

[Bergita]

Wow, quite a few SAffies. I've just got one question today, or request rather. Could all those who have had bad experiences with agents PM me with the agent's names? Or those who have heard bad things about a particular agent?

I'm so confused, which way to go, agent or no agent. I need to make a decision soon.

Please, please, please help me out here, I don't want to make the wrong choice.

[Lizelle]

Hija,

My OH and I immigrated to NZ from Pretoria in October 2004. We did not use any agencies, and everything is very easy.

He was on the skill shortage list, so he came over on a tourist visa (that you can extend on the immigration website online - takes a day or two - for another 3 months if you want), received a job offer in a week, and received his workvisa 2 weeks later. Then we applied for residency, and all was well.

Terbo - I had a look on the website, and the bad news (or good news, depending on your qualifications) is that the only teachers on the list is:
Short term skills shortage - waikato, wellington or otago/southland region: Montessori teachers
Long term skills shortage - Early childhood education

I agree with a lot of people, getting an agent is a waste of time. The process is really pretty straightforward. There is no hidden clause that makes it difficult, you just have to have a bit of patience. It just takes a bit of time to get all the paperwork, but you have to do that yourself anyway to give to the agent. The website has all the information you need, it just takes a bit of playing around to get used to where the information is displayed.

Also, if Afrikaans is your home language, you don't have to take the english language proficiency test if you have a matriculation certificate. And, we did not need to get our qualifications verified. There is a list (with pretty much all of the south african universities on it) of qualifications that they simply accept without having to get it verified.

Now, on the subject of wellington and weather. Auckland has pretty poor weather most of the time (she says, hiding slightly from the invariable indignant response from all those people who actually like Auckland). And very humid for someone from Pretoria (terbo, don't think that will bother you durbanites very much :)
It feels like everytime I talk to my dad, the weather is cold and wet (and we just had the coldest, but the sunniest june since 1972!!) We also decided not to move to wellington because of the wind, and boy am I regretting it now! Also, Wellington has a higher average salary and a lower average house price than Auckland. I can not testify to the Wellington traffic, but Auckland traffic is terrible (depending on where you are and where you want to go, of course). Pretty much everything turns into an outing rather than a quick thing.

Well, there is my 2 cents worth.
Cheers
Lizelle

[terbo]

hey Lizelle

Thanx for the heads up.I must be confused cause I checked yesterday and secondary(high school) teachers were on a list I just dont know which one now! Please excuse my ignorance I am still very new at all of this

PLEASE CAN YOU TELL ME WHERE TO FIND THIS LIST OF ACCREDITED SOUTH AFRICAN QUALIFICATIONS!!!!! I am in the process of doing the whole NZQA thing and it would be a hell of a relief if my degree was already accredited

Thanx so much once again for your help

[High]

Hiya

Pretty much everything is on the immigration website...here is the SA qualifications links:
<http://www.immigration.govt.nz/nzis/operations_manual/6493.htm>

Hope this helps!

[Lizelle]

terbo, nope, you are not confused. I just looked through it again, since i was sure that i did not see it. turns out i don't read so good :)
Secondary teachers are on the long term shortage list (but really not on the short term list)
Links:
Long term shortage list:
http://www.immigration.govt.nz/NR/rdonlyres/063ECB35-F5D5-44D8-8325-7041A727A9D5/0/1093June307pgweb.pdf
Short term shortage list:
http://www.immigration.govt.nz/NR/rdonlyres/89185A40-27D3-41F4-84BE-30129920411D/0/ISSLNovember2005.pdf

Also, just another point on the Auckland question, remember that you get bonus points if you are not going to live in Auckland.
You also get bonus points for being on the Long term shortage list (Absolute Skills Shortage). I did a quick check (not knowing anything about you, so I assumed a little), and with 2 years experience, no joboffer, without a partner (since I know even less about her :), and assuming you live outside Auckland, you get 105 points (which is enough). A joboffer is worth 50 points, so that would give you more than enough points.

And since you are on the long term skills shortage list, future employers have a really easy time getting a visa for you, they do not have to prove that they searched for someone in NZ, and did not find anyone, it is taken as proof that there is no-one, since you are on the list

Links:
http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/stream/work/workandlivepermanently/
select the "Skilled Migrant Category Quick Check" from the lefthand side (under "More Information"), and select the "online points indicator" from the window that opens.

Sorry about the confusion, I hope I did not give you a minor heart attack...
Lizelle

[terbo]

Hey Lizelle

Glad I cleared that one up was freaking a little!I know that if I find a job outside Auckland I get 60 points and in Auckland then 50. At the end of this year will have 4 years experience at one of South Africa's leading boys schools.

What I seem to be battling with(now that I have decided to do this without an agent) is the timing factor.All teachers have to have qualifications assessed-so this is where I am starting- to gather info for NZQA.Then I have to apply to join the New Zealand Teachers Council. This can also be quite a lengthy process apparently. We are looking to be in NZ in Jan 2008 for the start of the new school year. So now I sit with the problem of making sure everything comes together simultaneously.

Any thoughts?

Also with police clearances-spent more than a year in the U.K. playing rugby less than ten years ago so now I have to to get a police clearance from there as well as South Africa- how do I do that? Are they only valid for a certain amount of time? Do I phone the British Embassy?If I have friends over there can they get it for me?

Thank you sooo much for your help-admin has never been one of my strong points! so I really do appreciate all the help as wife is very busy looking after 6month old daughter so is also battling to unravel the puzzle that is emigration.

When we get there we will all have to meet up and drinks will be on me!

cheers for now!

[terbo]

another quick question when would be best time to submit EOI? Agent suggested getting qualifications sorted first.

[Lizelle]

terbo, I have looked around on the website a bit, and this is the info I have for you (I like doing research, must be why I am studying it :)

On the timing for EOI:
I agree with the agent, mostly. You need the police clearance and unabridged birth certificates to apply for residence. The catch comes in the fact that the police clearance is only valid for 6 months (both british and south african). I must say that I did not have much trouble with my police clearance (was done in Pretoria), it took about 4 weeks from what I remember. British police clearance (will say more on this later), takes 40 days.

You have 4 months to submit your residence application after you have been invited to apply (which takes on average about 1 month from the time that you have been selected).

You need to have your registration with the New Zealand Teachers Council (http://www.teacherscouncil.govt.nz/) when you fill in your actual residence application (not needed for the eoi). They say it takes about 4 weeks (but I have no idea if this is real or imagined time, but again, it should not take longer than 5 months)

So, you can actually, you don't need any paperwork to submit your eoi (though I would advise having your unabridged birth certificate before you apply, since it takes anywhere between 1 week and about 3 weeks after hell froze over for you to get that).
Everything else is done reasonably quickly (in the scheme of things). But I would say to start the process in tandem (after getting your birth certificate). Apply for the eoi, and then get all your paperwork in order. You have about 5 months from the time you submit your eoi till the cut-off time that you must supply your paperwork.

On the police clearance:
UK does not give police clearance certificates. They give something called a "subject access"
from http://www.nzembassy.com/info.cfm?c=14&l=56&CFID=959319&CFTOKEN=8425861&s=nz&p=715
"Obtaining a Police Clearance Certificate from the United Kingdom

The United Kingdom does not issue Police Clearance Certificates. However British police advise that instead of this, a person can apply for what is called ‘subject access’. This is where a person requests access to information held by the police about them. For London you can find full information and download the form at: www.met.police.uk/dataprotection or contact your local police station.

For other parts of Britain go to www.police.uk/forces/default.asp to find your local police force website, or contact your local police station."


Cost you 10 pounds. You need to apply to the police in the area (district?) that you lived in. If you know someone in the area that you lived, I would suggest that you ask them to go ask the police how you should send your form, and how your paperwork should be sent, and if a friend can apply for you if you send them an authorizing letter.

Something to remeber, in NZ (and it seems to work the same in the UK), you need a special "justice of the peace" to authenticate copies of your paperwork. When you are in NZ, they do not accept copies signed by the SAPD. So I don't know how they want the copies authenticated if it has been sent from South Africa, so that is another thing to ask about.

A good place to read about all the ins and outs of the residency application is the residency guide:
http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/stream/work/workandlivepermanently/LinkAdministration/FormsAndGuidesLinks/ExpressionOfInterestGuide.htm?level=1

They seem to cover most of the info

Just on another slightly tandem front:
If you are thinking about coming to NZ on a visitor's visa, looking for work, applying for a work visa, and then applying for residence (a sequence of events that is totally acceptable to the immigration service).
You need police clearance, birth certificates and registration papers when you apply for a work visa, so be sure to have all those before you fly out of South Africa.

Your visitor's visa can be extended online from the immigration website, takes about 2 days, and you don't even need to get your passport stamped again. When you get a work visa for 2 years or more, you qualify for state health and most other benefits.

If you are thinking of going that route, be sure to apply for 2 police clearance certificates from the SAPD, since you need to supply another one when you apply for residence (again, keep in mind the timing, you will need to submit your eoi fairly quickly after that, since your police clearance will only be valid for 6 months)

Wow, I seem to be writing essays again, so I will stop now :)
Will hold you to that drink

[Lizelle]

man, I always seem to get something wrong....
You DO need to be registered at the teachers council before you apply, they ask for a registration number on your eoi.
So, scratch the bit about that on the previous reply, and get the registration as soon as possible

Sorry about that, I think I'll only hold you to a small drink :)

[High]

Just about the certification of SA documents - I believe NZ accepts documents certified by a solicitor, so if you're willing to fork out a bit you can get it all done in one go by a solicitor. Shouldn't cost more than a couple of hundred rand.

Or else, just send the originals via courier.

Good luck! :nice1

Oh yes, and by the way, I totally agree about getting the birth certificate asap - I applied for mine 5 months ago, hell has already frozen over and pigs are flying and I still don't have it. But that's getting it from the UK South Africa House. Hopefully you won't have such problems!

[Lizelle]

yeah, the birth certificate thing is terrible.
When I applied, they had just moved to a new location, and apparently no-one though that perhaps they should know where everything is, even though they are moving.

I had to wait for it, since OH was already in NZ, and I had to fly with all the paperwork.

It was hilarious, in the end I phoned a lady with all the details of both my and OH (parent's birth date, and where they where born, alons with their ID nrs and full names). She wrote it all down, and VOILA, week later I had the certificates. Just goes to show, don't know why they don't just quickly print the thing out, it is not as if all the information should be all that difficult to find.

Just on that note, I applied for my driver's license in NZ on the Saturday of a long weekend (the Friday and Monday were vacation days). Just a test, don't need to do actual driving (you get a book with all the questions that they will possibly ask you, you study that, and then when you write the test, you get a paper with multiple answer questions where you scratch off the answer that you think, and then you will immediately see if the answer is right or not - about 20 questions or so)
Anyway, I went in the Saturday (without an appointment), did the test, got my photo taken digitally.
I GOT MY LICENSE IN THE POST THAT THURSDAY!!!!!!
I think all South Africans waiting for months just to make an appointment, not to mention the wait for your drivers license will appreciate that

[Lizelle]

i don't know why, but my smiley faces all end up at the top of my message, and not between it

[terbo]

Hey Lizelle

You are a star this will make things a lot easier in terms of timing.Already phoned varsity and they are putting papers together so that pot is warming up.Gonna get the missus on to birth certificates next week





thanx for your help once again!!!

gotto run people circling this computer who will freak if they know what I am doing!!!

Later

[Lizelle]

no problem.

Just keep one mantra in mind:
"Patience, patience, patience, patience, patience, ... (you get the idea)"

Most things takes just that bit longer, and turns out to be just that bit harder to do than you originally thought. But just push on, you are working with government, after all, and the world might just come to an end the day they start working efficiently.