Are we just fooling ourselves?

meddle · Testing The Water Joined: 19 May 2004 Posts: 1

Hello, I have been thinking about emigration to New Zealand from the UK for a few months now, but after browsing various forums and the online forms I am still a bit muddled. It's hard to know if you you are understanding all the rules and their implications.

Basically I feel that my chances of residency are not that high and I am not sure of the best route to take. My details are as below.

1. My wife and I both live in the UK and are both 31 years of age and in good health.

2. I have no University education, only secondary school GCSE's and A Levels. I have never been unemployed since leaving school at 19 and have had several jobs, mainly in the Civil Service as an admin officer. I did spell as a Cinema manager for 4 years and then switched jobs back to clerical work about 18 months ago. Basically I assume this means I have no specific trade or vocational qualification and I would certainly not be on the POL/OSL. But would anyone out there consider my work experience as skilled? When I looked on the immigration site it mentioned Administrators was a skilled occupation but clerks/office was not.

3. My wife would probably be the one submitting an application for EOI as she has a 2 years BTEC HND in Arts/Design. She has no work experience in this field though and has worked in an office environment most of her working career. She has 2 City & Guilds Certs for teaching but this only covers her for teaching adults which she did for about 6 months and not children. She is currently a Business Analyst (Studying Time & Motion etc..) for a leading catalogue company and she has gained qualifications in this field although I am not sure if these would be recognized in NZ. Do you think that her current job career would be classed as skilled employment?

3. Between the two of us if I have the right calculations we have around 110 points on the EOI and at the moment this does not place us in healthy position. This is taking into consideration we do not have any job offers.

4. I have been thinking about just taking a gamble on moving out there maybe for 6 months so that we can decide on a place to reside with best employment opportunities. We can survive on savings for this time or I could even sell the house for capital but I don't think this is wise. I would be willing to try my hand at anything but I am worried that even if we find work that this may not be enough as it may not be classed as skilled work or fall under the 45000$ (By the way is this amount calculated from 1 persons individual wage or could it be the combined income if we both had jobs). The last thing we want is to loose everything and have to return to the UK. Does anyone know of this happening to anybody else.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. Has anyone been in a similar position to us. Most people on the boards seem to have trades, job offers or IT experience. Are there any others like us. I don't want to waste any more dreams if we can not have a permanent future in NZ. I am willing to gamble everything but just don't know how high the risk may be.

Thank you,
Mike.

Lee&Nicky · I Like It Here Joined: 15 May 2004 Posts: 70

Hi Mike,

Saw your posting and identified with the whole scenario. I joined this site a couple of days ago as it seems to be an excellent forum for exchanging knowledge, views, experience, frustrations etc.

Don't think I can provide any advice directly to your questions but I think the thing my wife and I have learnt is try not to be put off at at the first hurdle and perservere. Most of the official websites are baffling, and from my limited experience, immigration consultants are very much a mixed bag.

Like you, neither my wife or I have degrees, however we are both qualified professionals in our field (taxation) and I have reached relatively senior levels of management. Unfortunately this seems to count for very little, I knew our fields of experience were specialised but there seems to be little or no flexibility in the "system" to cater for this. I have been frustrated because I feel my wife and I have proved that we work hard and, despite lack of academic success, have carved out successful careers. We have both worked full time since leaving school (except when my wife has been on maternity leave), never lived off the state or really relied on it, are in good health and no criminal records. Sounds like a good track record to me, but sadly does not amount to a whole load of beans in this situation.

However, one thing that my wife and I do have is a reasonable amount of capital giving us some freedom to explore an alternative route, ie studying in NZ with a view to qualifying (in my case as a teacher) in something that may lead to a job in NZ and, possibly hopefully, residency. It's a big decision and requires a lot of effort and investment on our part, but something we are prepared to do. We figure we have to give it a go, if it doesn't work out at least we won't have any regrets at taking the easy way out of doing nothing.

Sorry, rambling a bit and ranting a bit, but my point is that I think if you really want it you could make it happen, but you may have to be prepared to make some big sacrifices (on top of the whole "am I doing the right thing" issues that I suspect everyone goes thorugh, even those with a more starightforward route in) and take some risks. We have kids, so the key is take the risk, but try and keep the downsides as low as possible.

We as a family may not get in at all, either immediately or in the longer term, but we know its what we want to do and we are prepared to give it all we've got. If it doesn't work out, well thats life, but at least we can say we tried.

Lee

Moorf · Posted: Thu May 20, 2004 2:12 am Post subject:

Hi Mike

We're "just doing it" - we're both 30-somethings, no kids, married, professionals (both without degrees but with HNDs etc and lots of relevant experience) and have sold our 4 bed house in the country, are living in our tiny 1 bed flat in Sussex just waiting for Sept to come and then we are off on a six month visitors visa with the aim of getting interviews, jobs etc when we are there - if it doesn't work out we'll go via more "official" routes - EOI etc which we may place before we leave - but whatever it takes we are prepared to "have a go" - the worst case scenario is we end up using our house capital from the recent sale in 2 yrs time to buy same house only cheaper as market crashes in UK!

Keep us informed of what you are up to - what I love about this forum are the "first hand experiences" that people provide - good AND bad!

Cheers
Moorf

SIMAKRA · Posted: Thu May 20, 2004 2:59 am Post subject:

Mike,

best thing, ask a consultant, they know all the different typs of visa,

I think for a work permit it is not necessary to have a degree, just a job.

Once you worked for at least 2 years in NZ, that will give you extra points,

but I thought for PR you would need a degree acknowledged by the NZQA?

But better ask an expert!

SIM

Dianne · I'll Hang Around A Little Joined: 19 May 2004 Posts: 23

Hi Mike, and good luck!

We're 29 and 37, no kids, big house here and bored to death, and we're going to go on a 2 year workinn visa if we don't get through on our EOI by September.
Eek

In the end, you have to just go for it and make it work, is what I'm thinking.

Good luck with your plans - keep us informed.

Dianne

kiwi · Valued Member Joined: 02 Apr 2004 Posts: 126

And we would never let you starve...you can always crash on my lounge floor!
Nic

ruthyroo · I'll Hang Around A Little Joined: 24 Mar 2004 Posts: 39

[However, one thing that my wife and I do have is a reasonable amount of capital giving us some freedom to explore an alternative route, ie studying in NZ with a view to qualifying (in my case as a teacher) in something that may lead to a job in NZ and, possibly hopefully, residency. It's a big decision and requires a lot of effort and investment on our part, but something we are prepared to do. We figure we have to give it a go, if it doesn't work out at least we won't have any regrets at taking the easy way out of doing nothing]
Hi there
Just wanted to butt in on the teaching training idea... at present if you travel to NZ to study there, you will be treated as an overseas student - and pay much higher fees than native NZ'ers, and will not be eligible for the various incentives that are on offer. UK teaching qualifications are extremely well thought of in NZ, and would be no draw back in applying for teaching jobs there. Would you consider doing your training in the UK (where you may be eligible for reduced / no fees and financial incentives) then applying for work in NZ? I understand that you are looking at a 3/4 year teacher training course as you don't have a degree, rather than a 1 year PGCE, and it might seem like a long time to wait, but maybe something to consider? Maybe if they become desperate enough in NZ they will start inviting education students to apply under the same financial conditions as native NZ'ers!

Lee&Nicky · I Like It Here Joined: 15 May 2004 Posts: 70

Ruthyroo,

Thanks for your reply.

I have worked on the assumption that I would be an international student and therefore have to pay the fees (about NZ$18k per annum I reckon). Although I would pay less fees in the UK, the cost of living and supporting my family I reckon would leave me worse off financially. Seems a bit crazy doesn't it? As we are committed to going to NZ we figure why not go and study out there, in the overall plan it won't cost us more than the UK. You mention intl students not having access to certain incentives, do you know what these might be? The one that has caught my eye is the Uni creche, useful for my 1 year old and gives my wife some time off. Would this not be available to an international student?

We are also plannin to do an SMC application. I have been told we would be at 165 points with a job offer in NZ. I was thinking then, what if I do a 1 year uni course in 2005, on student visa, with also an application to do the teacher training thereafter, but at the same time be available for interviews etc for the purposes of SMC application. This way I figure that for the time I looking for jobs under SMC, I am putting it to good use by doing some studying. If the SMC doesn't work out, I can continue with the study route. Does this sound a viable plan.

Any thoughts very welcome.

Cheers.

Lee