[Wolfey]

Hi all,

New around here so don't shoot me, well not yet anyway :)

Myself, Partner and partner's daughters plan to move to NZ sometime during the next 12-24 months.

I have done the quick checks and should have few problems on the skilled migrant route.

One question that I have though. What would you say the costs start to finish are? From initial application to stepping through the front door and falling alseep first night in NZ?
I appreciate this is quite variable, but I am looking for estimates/ball park figures.

What kind of capital are most people taking with them?
I have no house to sell, which can be a blessing and a curse :)

Thanks in advance for any info.

[pinkpiggy]

Hi Wolfey, love the name :laugh

We've only just started down the emigration route - our EOI (Expression of Interest) being accepted just last week. So i'm not sure I can help much with the costs from start to finish, although there will be many on the forum who can.

I really just wanted to say welcome to the forum - i'm sure you will find it immensely useful.

You should check out the New Zealand Immigration Service website (if you haven't already done so). http://www.immigration.govt.nz It's a very useful source of information. You may have to do quite a bit of reading :wah but it's worth it.

Of course, the amount you pay for some of the forms will vary depending on the number of applicants. In our case, it's 2 adults, 2 children.

The EOI costs $300 NZ to submit online

I can't remember the costs of submitting your ITA (Invitation to Apply) but you will have costs associated with this, such as Police Checks (£10 per adult), Medicals plus X-rays (the cost of which varies greately depending again on how many of you there are, whereabouts in the country you're located).

You also have the migrant levy to pay should you be successful.

On top of that you will have the shipping costs of moving your furniture etc. to New Zealand (depending on how much you are taking seems to be between £2500 - £4500).

If you have any pets you would like to take then you'll have to pay for them too (seems to be about £2000 per pet).

You'll also have the costs of your flights, possibly hiring a car, cost of staying in motel/hotel until you find somewhere to rent/buy.

I hope this is of assistance to you - all very vague, sorry, but as I said we're just starting out with all this.

It's a great journey you're about to embark on. Welcome aboard. :clap

[Wolfey]

Hi back, and thanks for the welcome.

I was already aware of the NZ immigration site and have slogged my way through a great deal of that.

Read a few books on the matter too.
I have been interested in moving the NZ for a few years now but things have finally come together for me to get on and do it.

From reading the forums here looks like anything from 3 weeks (with a job offer) to 12 months or so from start to finish. I still have a big chunk of Sterling debt to clear first, but I was trying to get a handle on costs I should expect.
I have read the forums to see the big range in medical costs, I was aware of most of the NZ immigration services costs, e.g EOI, ITA, Levy etc.
Hadn't yet seen the transport costs, yikes sprang to mind when i did! I suppose I was hoping for a "you'll need about £5000" or "about £10,000 should do it" just so I can decide how many children I need to sell into slavery :)

So thanks, for the welcome and thanks for the info.
And good luck with your own application.

Regards,
Slan.

[Charlosparky]

Hi, we move out there on 6th sept, and so far costs have been;(roughly)

EOI £300 odd
MEDICALS £1200 FAMILY OF 6
POLICE CHECKS £30
ITA £585
MIGRANT LEVY £480
BIRTH CERTS £40
SOLICITORS LETTERS RE CUSTODY OF KIDS ETC £57

ABOVE 'PAPERWORK' TOTAL COSTS £2692

NZQA ASSESSMENT £25
ELECTRICIANS LICENCE £35
ELECTRICIANS SAFETY COURSE £280
SHIPPING HOUSEHOLD STUFF TO NZ (3 BED SEMI LESS BEDS AND SETTEES) £2400
FLIGHTS TO NZ FOR 6 £3400

ABOVE COSTS £6150

PLUS WE THINK ANOTHER £2500 TO ACCOUNT FOR NEW FRIGDE, WASHER, CURTAINS ETC SETTEES, BEDS, AND DONT FORGET COST TO REPLACE CAR BECAUSE THEY ALWAYS SELL FOR LESS THAN YOU WANT AND COST MORE THAN THEY ARE WORTH WHEN YOU BUY ONE.

Mmmm THAT ADDS UP TO £11342 :exit

BETTER NOT TO ASK REALLY EH?

OH AND £2550 TO ESTATE AGENT AND SOLICITORS!

[pinkpiggy]

:uhoh Hi Charlosparky

How long has it taken you to complete the whole process? Did you have a job offer etc?

Who are you flying with as £3400 for 6 of you sounds very reasonable?

I think we've guestimated at about £10,000 in total, including costs of application, estate agent/solicitors fees, shipping (will be taking fridge/freezer, sofas, our bed/ dryer (will need new washer) - haven't decided on kids beds (may take at least one) although we will be taking a sofa bed with us fo possibly not.

We have a car to sell here which is only 2½ years old and will buy one if not two when we get to NZ - but they will both be second hand. Saw on an earlier thread today that somebody bought a Subaru Legacy for about £3,000 - that's sounds excellent - we used to have a battered old Impreza but there was nothing wrong with the engine - always fancied a Legacy or perhaps even a Forester.

As there are only 4 of us we think it will cost between £2500 - £3000 for flights (depending on time of year).

We've also budgeted for 3 months in NZ without a job - $3500 NZ dollars per month.

It's not cheap, is it?? But then we're not going for the money :eek: so it's just as well.

[Avalon]

Well, ive checked back, and it looks like all in we paid just a smidge under £10000.00 to emigrate. Thats for 2 of us, shipping a 20ft container.

That includes:
NZIS fees, med checks etc, and the migrant levy.
Shipping
Flights (2 x 1 way business class)

I havent included house sale costs.

We also spent $3000 on 1 weeks car hire and a few weeks hotel accomodation when we first got here.

Hope that helps - and welcome by the way!

[Wolfey]

Thats excellent info thanks all.

Looks like £10k is the ball park figure to bear in mind.

No doubt I will be harassing all you guys over the next few months a lot more frequently.

[Avalon]

Thats excellent info thanks all.

Looks like £10k is the ball park figure to bear in mind.

No doubt I will be harassing all you guys over the next few months a lot more frequently.

No problem - most of us love helping people out. You can get a lot of useful stuff from people on here :D Some of us probably should get out more - but while we arent doing that - ask away :D

[zardell]

Some of us probably should get out more - but while we arent doing that - ask away :D


:laugh :laugh :laugh

Julie

xx

[Wolfey]

No problem - most of us love helping people out. You can get a lot of useful stuff from people on here :D Some of us probably should get out more - but while we arent doing that - ask away :D

That's an offer I will remember. I must admit to suffering from the "not getting out more" syndrome too.
A problem I intend to rectify in NZ!!

[Avalon]

That's an offer I will remember. I must admit to suffering from the "not getting out more" syndrome too.
A problem I intend to rectify in NZ!!
:D

Write a promise to yourself now -

"I will not get to new zealand and spend my life on the ENZ forum"

I think I forgot to do that :o

[kiwidebs]

:D

Write a promise to yourself now -

"I will not get to new zealand and spend my life on the ENZ forum"

I think I forgot to do that :o

:laugh :laugh Me too!!

[jubjub]

http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=3416&highlight=total+cost

heres a thread I started a while back with our totals on it....

Only thing I would add, although I think I made the point on that thread anyway, is that you tend to "lose" money when you get here, it just disappears as if by magic... so add a bit extra into your budget!

[Wolfey]

http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=3416&highlight=total+cost

heres a thread I started a while back with our totals on it....

Only thing I would add, although I think I made the point on that thread anyway, is that you tend to "lose" money when you get here, it just disappears as if by magic... so add a bit extra into your budget!

Ah useful, thanks for the link.
I heard a few aspects of NZ described as magical. Until this moment money loss was not one of them :)

If I get as much out of these forums as I think I may then it would be very selfish for me to get to NZ and not pass that on to others.

So I'll make a half hearted promise to "get out more" with some time to spare to give something back :)

[Charlosparky]

:uhoh
How long has it taken you to complete the whole process? Did you have a job offer etc?

Who are you flying with as £3400 for 6 of you sounds very reasonable?

.

singaprore airlines manchester-singapore, 15hr break, singapore-auckland
£488 each online enonomy class, x7 (family of 6 + 1 friend on holiday visa) £3416. oh and we have another £59 each for auckland -whangarei.

EOI went in oct 05, ITA came 2 weeks later but didn,t submit it till 17th FEb 06, PR approved 29th March 06, house on sale last week in June, offer accepted 3 weeks after, should be done by and of Aug (1st time buyer) NZ 6th SEPT (fingers crossed) Had a job offer so i was lucky really.
In hindsight there were lost of things we could have started sorting before the EOI which held our ITA up (police checks and medicals in particular) :nice1

[pinkpiggy]

We've applied for the police checks last Saturday. So that's one less thing to worry about. :)

We're going to leave the medicals until we receive our ITA - still keep checking the NZIS website to make sure we haven't been deselected ;) as keep thinking something is bound to go wrong.

We've already had the house valued but aren't putting it up until the boys go back to school, which being in Scotland is 22nd August. So in all likelihood, if everything goes according to plan it will be up by beginning of September. Have been told due to location, popularity, position of our estate, and past selling experience of these bungalows, we should be able to sell it in 6-7 weeks. Still won't hold my breath ;) .

[Avalon]

singaprore airlines manchester-singapore, 15hr break, singapore-auckland
£488 each online enonomy class,
Is that 1 way or return?

[Charlosparky]

Is that 1 way or return?
One way- after all this effort to get outa the UK I wont consider coming back for a LONG time :laugh It is actually £399 each before taxes etc, just booked it onlie direct with SIA, but was the same price on Expedia.

[felix]

Hi there. We moved a 40 ft container, 2 adults and 3 kids. It cost us around £12000 in total for everything to get on NZ soil. Well worth every penny, 15 mths on we have a life style that we could never have had in the UK. NZ really is everything and more we wanted. Good vluck..it is soooooo worth the effort!!! Kind regards, Dom

[Angie and Mick]

Welcome to the forum Wolfey. :)

Quick question is it a woman who has written the post, just a thought as it would seem most on the forum and the organisers are women.

Angie

[Lupin]

Hi :)

I was awake at 4am this morning and wondering about how much it's going to cost us :uhoh It's roughly as follows:

PR application including medicals, postage and migrant levy: £1300 (ish)

Flights for family of four one way from UK-Perth (spending two weeks exploring WA) and then Perth-NZ with Malaysia Airways and NZ Air total: £2600

Shipping a 20 footer plus insurance £4000-45000

Hidden costs for us include replacing the car (UK one an old Skoda so will only get perhaps a few hundred but will buy something for a couple of $K in NZ), buying luggage and "incidentals" along the way (including home set up costs), which considering this whole process seems to follow the laws of DIY, I've guesstimated, then doubled and arrived at about £2000.

So £10000 seems a fair figure to expect it to cost us. I had this initial crazy idea that we could get it all done and dusted for £5000, so the double it rule of thumb seems to work!

[Wolfey]

Welcome to the forum Wolfey. :)

Quick question is it a woman who has written the post, just a thought as it would seem most on the forum and the organisers are women.

Angie

Nah fraid I am the from the more murky side of the gender pool.
I am in the active phase of gathering all the info I can about going to NZ. My partner is letting me do all the work, she'll probably take an interest later when it is something a bit more concrete and less pie in the sky.

And thanks for the welcome :)