Who Dares Wins???

chrissie · Posted: Sun Mar 14, 2004 9:12 pm Post subject: Who Dares Wins???

Hi everyone. Huge big thanks to everyone who makes this such a fantastic site!
My query is this....all advice will be gratefully received!! My husband and I (and 2 teenage sons) are very keen to emigrate to NZ. Obviously, the ideal would be to have a job to go to initially. He is a senior project manager within the telecoms industry and has sent his CV for numerous roles advertised on the various NZ websites recently. There has been a great deal of interest in his skills and experience, but no company seems to be prepared to offer a job as he is still based here in UK (although from what I gather it would only take a short while to obtain a work permit and to get out there). All the agencies say that if he was out there already he would stand a very good chance of getting the work but it is the old chicken and egg situation...
We are now considering just selling up here and moving out to NZ around the July/Aug time on an initial visitors visa and looking for work when we get there.
Obviously, selling up a lovely house here and giving up 2 well paid jobs to go to a 'possibility of work' in NZ is a pretty daunting prospect for me (it goes against everything I have ever done in life) but we are just so keen for a better future for our 2 sons and ourselves that I am beginning to think this is the only option.
Has anyone had any similar experiences? If so, what was the outcome? Would we be mad to take the risk or should we just throw caution to the wind and hope for the best?
Sorry for the long, rambling question, but my mind is spinning with trying to work out the best thing to do.
Thanks for your advice!! Confused

susanlin · Posted: Mon Mar 15, 2004 1:23 am Post subject:

Hi Chrissie

Welcome to the site! I understand absolutely how you feel, cos I have done just the same as you are thinking of and am off to Christchurch in 2 weeks !! My situation is similiar - I have a teenage son and 1 'tweenager' girl and I too wanted to get out of the uk for a better quality of life for my children. Myself and husband have given up very well paid jobs in UK, sold up and are going for it! However, we do know what we are going to as we visited NZ last summer for 3 weeks (husband there 4 months working) and let me assure you - NZ is fantastic. We fell in love the country and I knew within a day or so that this is where I want to live and give my children the quality of life and opportunities they will never get in the UK. My husband and myself have also got jobs to go to.
It is a daunting prospect - moving to the other side of the world, leaving the security of good jobs, etc but we are prepared to take the chance. We will come back if it doesn't work out, though we are determined to make it the life we have dreamed of for so long. We are naturally a little apprehensive but also excited! Do your research thoroughly, read up as much as you can about NZ and talk to your sons about what they want. What jobs do you and your husband do? Look at employment sites about NZ and get a feel for what the job situation is for yourselves. Visit the NZ emigration fairs/seminars held in the UK - they are brilliant and give you a huge amount of information - and also the motivation and inspiration to go for it!

Good luck!

susanlin · Posted: Mon Mar 15, 2004 1:26 am Post subject:

Hi Chrissie

Welcome to the site! I understand absolutely how you feel, cos I have done just the same as you are thinking of and am off to Christchurch in 2 weeks !! My situation is similiar - I have a teenage son and 1 'tweenager' girl and I too wanted to get out of the uk for a better quality of life for my children. Myself and husband have given up very well paid jobs in UK, sold up and are going for it! However, we do know what we are going to as we visited NZ last summer for 3 weeks (husband there 4 months working) and let me assure you - NZ is fantastic. We fell in love the country and I knew within a day or so that this is where I want to live and give my children the quality of life and opportunities they will never get in the UK. My husband and myself have also got jobs to go to.
It is a daunting prospect - moving to the other side of the world, leaving the security of good jobs, etc but we are prepared to take the chance. We will come back if it doesn't work out, though we are determined to make it the life we have dreamed of for so long. We are naturally a little apprehensive but also excited! Do your research thoroughly, read up as much as you can about NZ and talk to your sons about what they want. What jobs do you and your husband do? Look at employment sites about NZ and get a feel for what the job situation is for yourselves. Visit the NZ emigration fairs/seminars held in the UK - they are brilliant and give you a huge amount of information - and also the motivation and inspiration to go for it!

Good luck!

chrissie · Posted: Mon Mar 15, 2004 5:09 am Post subject:

Thanks for the words of encouragement!! I know if we had jobs to go to we would be off like a rocket...it's just the insecurity of not having anything to go to that feels very scary. Unfortunately, neither of us have degrees although I am a qualified private executive secretary and my husband is a very experienced project manager, so it may be harder to obtain the necessary visas. He did fly over briefly last year 'feel the water' and was also highly impressed with what he saw, so I think we will just have to take the plunge and 'go for it'. We will probably aim for Wellington as that is where the telecoms industry seems to be centred. Like you say, we owe it to our kids to give them a better start in life. Good luck to you and the family...I am EXTREMELY envious (but very pleased for you) and hope we can follow your progress once you are there. Nice One

Graham Barnes · Posted: Mon Mar 15, 2004 9:19 am Post subject:

Hi Chrissie,

Just an idea...lack of qualifications means you don't get the 50/60 points allocated for these for a permanent residency application. With the current pass mark at 185 or so, you would therefore not make the fortnightly draft. But it is forecast to drop to 140/150 in the coming months, but I suspect you would still find it very difficult.
If your husband works in the IT industry, he might be on the POL. You could then get a Work-to-Residence visa, which leads towards residency (without the need for points).
Worth looking into??

Graham

chrissie · Posted: Mon Mar 15, 2004 10:32 am Post subject:

Hi Graham
His area of expertise is telecoms rather than IT so I don't think it makes the POL, but will investigate further. I think we've pretty much investigated everything we can as thoroughly as possible, and it looks like our only option is to just throw caution to the wind and get ourselves out there, then find those jobs!! I suppose if you want something badly enough, sometimes you've just got to make it work!! Thanks for the advice, greatly appreciated.

Moorf · Posted: Tue Mar 16, 2004 10:43 am Post subject:

Hi All,

Crikey, you guys are so brave Clapping

its daunting (yet exciting) for us starting to make the move and we don't have KIDS! Good luck to you all and, after a cancer scare last year all I can say is GO FOR IT , you may never get another chance. (And I'm only 35!)

Like you we figure that if it doesn't work out at least we can say we tried it, you can always come back!! Yes

We sold our house 2 weeks ago and will be back in a property we own in Sussex in the next 6 weeks - then it's all systems go - we have been advised by a friend who has already made the move to get a Work Visa and then go for interviews - after that seems straightforward and has he's in I.T we stand a good job of getting in.

Think positive - and as far as kids go - I would not like to have to bring them up in the UK at this point in time.

Warm wishes
Moorf
Scotland, UK

Alan · Posted: Fri Mar 19, 2004 10:51 am Post subject:

Chrissie,

I am in exactly the same situation i.e I work in telecoms but have no formal qualifications that are worth anything. As such, I/we (wife and 2 little boys) have a few options:

- Get a job whilst outside the country and open ended enough to get the points for the EOI (This is incredibly unlikely, I stand more chance of parting the seas)

- Go to NZ after giving up everything here and hope to find work as is mentioned elsewhere on the forums. (I believe that especially with having kids people forget a few things i.e. that you can be made to pay for schooling, you may have to pay and not have the same entitlements to other things. With kids this is not so great either and continues as long as you are on a permit which could be a considerable period of time)

- Do a course that is relevant and will help you gain the extra points in the hope that the mark comes down enough to get you in the country. (This is the one I am doing and just praying!)

Not sure that any of this is any help, but is my view as I see it. All responses welcome.

Alan

markkellaway · Posted: Fri Mar 19, 2004 9:51 pm Post subject:

Alan · Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2004 9:55 am Post subject:

Indeed you are right that a work visa is the formal and official route to going to NZ in order to find work.

However throughout this forum you will see many and varied posts from people who have been advised to go on a "holiday" to find a job and then gain a work permit whilst there, which in some cases has only taken hours!

This appears to be how many people do it and it is the unwritten way of doing it, however as I outlined there are many risks especially if you have children.

Does this help clarify?

Moorf · Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2004 12:53 pm Post subject:

Thanks for that:

Some queries: (Situation - ready to leave UK at a moments notice - want to work in ChChurch / Dunedin area / Hubby in IT hence POL / no kids / married / going to NZ for a month in May to "scout").

1. If we go to NZ on a visitor/holiday permit where do we go to get a work permit.

2. What reason would we give for wanting a work visa? Won't they think suspicious if do this soon after arrival?

3. Would a work permit legally allow us to look for job (hubby on POL) and would this mean employers would be more open to offering him a job?

4. Can an NZ company offer someone on a work permit a permanent job?

5. Anyone here go via recruitment agencies? - who may help to find companies they know are sympathetic to those trying to immigrate?

Questions, questions - most of which answers I can't find anywhere in plain english!! Confused

Moorf

Grey · I Like It Here Joined: 05 Jan 2004 Posts: 74

I think all this talk of a work visa being the official way to look for a job might be confusing people.. No matter what list you're on you cannot do this.
You must have a job offer first to get a work visa/permit.

Going as a visitor is currently the only way you could get in & look for work. Some say this is not allowed, but it doesn't say anywhere that you can't look for work as a visitor...you just can't physically work. NZIS will usually suggest people go out this way, especially from visa waiver countries. All they are worried about is potential over-stayers, so don't worry about applying for a work permit once there...and of course when you have that job offer!

Moorf · Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2004 1:55 pm Post subject:

And the possibility of being offered a job, when in NZ on a visitors visa, is what? This is what I can't reconcile - I hear everywhere that unless you have a work permit/visa (which one??) they won't even give you an interview!

Grey · I Like It Here Joined: 05 Jan 2004 Posts: 74

Moorf · Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2004 2:53 pm Post subject: