[john & becky]

You will see from our profile we have been toying with this for a year or so, but our plan is to sell up and move to Napier or surrounds with no blue stickers, no jobs and no real idea of what lies ahead. I am a plumber in UK, my own business working all sorts of hours with the phone ringing constantly. I am obviously on the skills list but have not got a job offer or indeed had any offers or tried to find any.
What will we find when we get there, how easy will it be to get residency and nationality, find a job, buy a house, (possibly mortgage free) and get on with enjoying our lives with our children, 8 and 11??
Plan is to just go for it, if we fail then so be it, if we succeed then we will be far better for it...........

Your opinions would be most appreciated...........

[jo-and-jeff]

Unless one of your family members is a Kiwi, or is descended from a Kiwi, in order to get residency, you're going to need to get Skilled Migrant status through the EOI/ITA route. A job offer would speed that process up, but it won't change the fact that you still have to go through that process.

Without either of those and without a WTR visa, you will have "Visitor" status and won't be allowed to stay in the country for a long period of time. New Zealand is very strict about immigrants and does not allow people to just come here long-term without going through the proper channels.

You will also be required to have return tickets out of the country in order to enter, and (if I remember correctly) may have to be able to prove a savings balance of $1000 or more for every month you plan to stay in the country.

And if you do get a job offer and one of your family members fails the rigourous medical requirements, you might be refused a WTR or PR, anyway.

So this might not be a great route to take unless you are absolutely confident that you will be able to get a job offer in a very short period of time, and you will probably have to lie at Immigration at the airport and say that you are just coming here to visit (not a great way to get on good terms with your country of choice).

New Zealand has highly-regulated licensing procedures for a lot of industries, and plumbing is one of those. Before coming over, you will want to check that your credentials will be sufficient to enable you to work here, and there is a fair bit of documentation needed to prove those credentials, so you will want to bring that documentation with you when you come.

Searching the Forum on "plumbing" provides a wealth of information from other plumbers who have migrated here:
http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/search.php?searchid=161572

Your sig says "EOI submitted 26/1/06 with 130 points" -- but if you have that many points, shouldn't your EOI have been selected? I thought the threshold was lower than that.

Good Luck!

Jo

[Lisa&Andy]

I could be wrong but I am sure I read recently that the EOI threshold had gone up to 140 points to be automatically selected from the pool. Could be wrong but at the Manchester Expo I am sure the NZ rep for NZ govt. told us that too? Don't quote me though cause I am often wrong :laugh

Lisa x

[Lisa&Andy]

Sorry didn't mean to take over your thread!! ooops :uhoh I think probably one of the best ways to get to NZ (if you are planning a long term ish move) is to go through the paperwork process, especially if you have children. However, that is only my opinion ;) At least if you go through the process and are accepted you won't have to worry about that when you get to NZ. When you arrive there will be sooo much to do (presumably and from research) and at least you would knoe if you could get work there or not. My hubby is an electrician and has just had his experiance and quals assessed, and has been given a provisional license to work in NZ, the paperwork does take time but hopefully will pay off in the long term :exit

Lisa x

[The Hodges]

I would say, get the paperwork sorted out 1st and then it is one less thing to do once you are there. It will be well worth it.

By the way, great profile picture. ;) I was wondering how many people recognise Vicky Pollard. :laugh

[veronica]

plenty of people have done just what you have suggested. try doing a forum search. It might be an idea if you can afford it to fly out and approach some people here and see if you can get a job offerby being on the spot. If that happens it may be that you have to come out ahead of Becky, could she cope with maybe finalising the selling of the house on her own.