New Zealand residency via study?

[barking]

Probably a bonkers idea and a very expensive gamble, but has anyone tried getting residency via studying in NZ?

The reason I ask is dh thought he may have been able to secure a job, but this is now looking less of a possibility, he is 47 and time is running out. I've been out of the job market for the last 8 years bringing up dc's. I am 36.
I have read that if you study a shortage skill for 2 years, you may be in with a chance?

I have trawled the immigration website but this isn't clear, do different areas of NZ mean more points, and do different study subjects mean more points? Would I need points if my family and I were going to live there while I study?

I do have a degree in fine art and was previously working as a freelance illustrator in animation. I have 3 young children which, I understand I will have to pay for schooling (again I've heard fees can vary from area to area). I have thought of post grad in education, early years, graphic design or counselling. I will study bee keeping if required. My dh has 2 jobs at the moment, one of which he could take with him to NZ as it's based from home.

We are in the process of selling our house and hopefully will have substantial funds from the sale. We don't mind where in NZ, apart from Auckland as it sounds too expensive. We have friends out in the Bay of Plenty who are willing to sponser us.

Would love to hear if anyone has tried this.
Barking

[Sibble]

I'm not going to be of much help except to say there is certainly a shortage of teachers here. The govt is offering subsidies for people to re-train to teaching. It's also easy when applying to get in if not coming to Auckland at the moment so you may have a better chance if trying for the Bay of Plenty (which is beautiful) - I'm in Auckland. Not sure what dh does but construction, skilled workers, carpenters and good labourers are also in short supply.

Good luck

[barking]

Thanks Sibble
My very good friends have emigrated to the Bay of Plenty, it sounds so lovely, it would be in my top three choices. Their children have been whale watching as part of a conservation project. They spend much more time in the outdoors than they ever did in the uk.

It is such a big jump - and with 3 little ones and feel there is no room for error. Did you go out and visit first?

Sorry I am trying to type and bf a squealing toddler - he doesn't like me moving my arm away!

[Sibble]

Hi, dh is kiwi so it was slightly easier for me. I had been here once before but never to Auckland only Hamilton which is the pigs ear of NZ imo (sorry anybody from Hamilton ). My initial impression was, nice, quiet and not for me!!! Then ds1 came along and priorities changed so I gave it a go for 2 years - 5 years later I am still here and happy. It is very different from home though. I have always lived in and around London and still miss the density of people and buzz but with children the emphasis here on the outdoors, beaches, lifestyle, quality of life etc... means alot more. We certainly are outdoors alot and most family things are free or very cheap. We did the zoo this morning $18 entry about 7 pounds for both of us.

[sunhappy]

We are doing this now in Australia, It is a very expensive way of doing it but for us it was our only option, so we thought we would give it a go rather than regret not doing it in years to come. We have been here 6 months now and love it still as much as they day we arrived, the kids are happy and settled in just fine.
As for PR, well there is no guarantees but you gotta try!

Good Luck

[barking]

Sibble - thanks for that The idea of family time and the great outdoors definately appeals - I have 3 young boys so need lots of space.

We live in a lovely spot, but dh is working round the clock to give us that life. I am hoping (niavely- sp?) that we can free up some capital from the sale by putting it into a high interest account (is it really true there are accounts offering 10% ??), then rent during study.

[barking]

Hi Sunhappy - I would love to hear your story. I am going round in circles.
Please tell me EVERYTHING

[Sibble]

interest rates are higher here but bear in mind that mortgage rates are currently 9-10% so it balances out. cost of living also looks cheaper when you convert pound to dollar but in real terms it's high. basics like bread, milk, cheese etc are expensive. there are 4 of us boys are 8 and 3 and my weekly shopping bill is approx $500. I have to say while it's not full of caviar and is basics imo I also don't scrimp and could get it down but didn't move here to worry about shopping bills. The plus side is renting here is quite normal so there are alot of rentals on the market so you could put you rmoney into a high interest and do quite well while you decide what to do.

I would say to anybody give it a go, as sunhappy said why spend your later years wondering what if.....

A friend moved over last year with her dh and 4 children and is loving it.

In fact last night we went to see Jools Holland in concert, think dh was the only kiwi there, everybody else poms - there are alot of us here and seems to be more and more every day.

[barking]

Thanks Sibble You're definately selling it to me. Love the idea of renting as we need a break from owning - it has given us money we wouldn't have otherwise had, but brought a lot of misery with dh and I doing most of the diy with 3 little ones. We just hope we haven't missed the boat with selling up as the UK is very nervous at the moment and we have lost 2 buyers already.

'there are alot of us here and seems to be more and more every day' - Better get my act together!

[barking]

bump

[barking]

Sunhappy or anyone who's done this, could you tell me how do I find out if the study visa option has any implications on how I open a bank/savings account in NZ, are there issues with health insurance?

How/when/who helped you - did you look at the shortage list and went from there, is there a website that provides more info, or would you recommend a company - I see so many in the Australia/New Zealand Magazine, but wouldn't know where to start
Yikes, so many questions

[barking]

bumping

[buzzybee]

Barking
Sorry, only just seen this.
Yes it is possible but would be quite a long process.
First of all you'd get a study visa which enables you to work for up to 20 hours per week if you are doing a course of more than 2 years duration. This should be relatively straightforward, no points required, just need to be accepted to study by a recognised institition and willing to pay the fees. Your other half would have to apply for a visitor visa though (not entitled to work in theory although you might be able to get around this if he was still working in the UK but based out of NZ).www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/stream/study/canistudyinnewzealand/

At the end of the study period you should then fairly easily be able to get a work visa for 1-2 years. There is a Study to Work scheme as well but this requires you to study for a qualification in one of the skill shortage areas, e.g. teaching as Sibble suggests.

If you could get the Work Visa extended out to 4 years (should be possible in the right job with a supportive employer under the Work to Residence scheme) you could then apply for residency!

Have you tried working out whether you or your DH would have enough points now to apply under the Skilled Migrant programme? Strangely enough because you are younger you might find you "score" more points than your DH despite not having been in the workforce recently. The points system is for this scheme only - work or study permits do not use points.

You get an extra point for saying you will settle outside of Auckland - might be the tipping point!

Click on the "Points Check" link here www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/stream/work/skilledmigrant/ to see whether you'd score enough points to be AUTOMATICALLY eligible (subject to health/crime etc checks). If you're only a few (2-3) points short it would still be worth applying as you'd go into a pool from which they select people throughout the year to make up the Minister's specified quota for the year.

Skill shortages tend to focus on technical skills plus the entire medical profession. have a look www.immigration.govt.nz/nzopportunities/opportunities/

One option worth looking into would be to see which of you scores the most points and then for the other to look at getting a study permit.

I'm not sure but if you are here under a work visa (but not a study visa) I think you should be entitled to free state education for your kids - unless you want to go private (and your decision on that will probably depend on the quality of the local schools where you settle, some are great, and particularly at primary level you should be fine in a state school). This is the government website where you find the equivalent of Ofsted reports for all schools including private schools. www.ero.govt.nz Under a study visa your kids would probably also need to apply for study visas and then you'd need to find a school that takes international school students. This shouldn't be too hard in a bigger city like Wellington or Christchurch.

Having a sponsor won't make any difference to your points unless they are close family (extra points) or willing to sponsor you for an actual job (which they must demostrate they can't fill locally). However they may be helpful in enabling you to get a study permit.

Pretty much anyone can open a bank account. Its much easier than in the UK. They'll even give you a Switch type card straightaway!!

As a UK citizen you have automatic recipricol rights to public health access for emergency (A&E) care regardless of which permit you're on. If you have a work permit you should have the same rights as NZ residents. The tax system is different here, public health costs come out of general taxation, there is no separate levy per se. Having said that probably about 25% of the population have private health insurance to avoid waiting lists for elective surgery and specialist treatment. Indicatively that costs me about $70/month for 1 adult and 2 kids.

I hope this helps! BTW I'm a kiwi living in Wellington, and currently on maternity leave.

[barking]

Oh wow Buzzybee a very very big thank you
That is really kind taking all that time to answer.
I have only just seen this as it wasn't on my threads anymore.

Eeek, I've just clicked on the link about the points and we got 100 (I think). Dh is working in a future growth area, but the creative sector is rather ambiguous. He teaches and works as an illustrator and a technician.

Depending on how much we sell our house for I'm tempted to go for the study visa option and pay for the children's schooling for a couple of years just to get out there. I did read somewhere its about $3000 each per child per year. I imagine this must vary from area to area? I didn't know that not all schools take international students. Thank you for alerting me to this.

I think dh has a confidence issue, he's been in the same job for the last 17 years and is quietly terrified of starting again and all these points to score and hoops to jump through.

My dh's old boss works in Wellington and are waiting to hear if anything should come up at Massey Uni. Looks expensive, but better job prospects? I'm frustrated waiting and finding it all very abstract looking at NZ from a computer. If we go for this I want to get it right. Love the idea of Nelson, Christchurch, Bay of Plenty but jobwise doesn't look as promising. It's very hard thinking straight when I have 3 little people bouncing around until late

So with study and plus work to residency, it could take a total of 6 - 8 years this way? We wouldn't be able to afford the school fees for that long.......but the study to work scheme, is this just for NZ residents? I have thought of teaching. Do you know if any of the Uni's sponsor international students?
Sorry for ramble, I'm feeding d3 and typing one handed.

Barking x

[buzzybee]

Hi Barking
Regarding places to live the areas with best climate and arguably the best lifestyle are Nelson, Bay of Plenty (Tauranga) and Hawkes Bay (Napier/Hastings).
The downsides to all of these places is that they tend to have a more "provincial" outlook, can in fact be just as expensive as Auckland or Wellington (the sun factor) and most importantly tend to have quite limited job opportunities.
Having said that you shouldn't necessarily rule them out - have a look on this website under the Jobs section to see what you can find in these locations www.trademe.co.nz or on this one www.seek.co.nz

I'm very biased but I love Wellington - but not for its climate!! (although we've had a fantastic summer) Not too big to be unfriendly but big enough to have all the city mod cons and cultural stuff.

The Study to Work scheme is aimed at immigrants. Your best bet if you're willing is to pick a qualification at somewhere like Massey or Victoria University which is recognised as an area of absolute skill shortage. An early childhood education (nursery school) teaching diploma would be an example. That would mean a 3 year teaching qualification course. So yes under that route 6-7 years to residency is probably about right.

However if you scored around 100 points I'd be very tempted to submit an Expression of Interest under the Skilled Migrant scheme and see where that gets you first as then you get residency immediately. You don't need to jump through any hoops until you are invited to apply.

All the universities take international students I believe - great source of revenue for them!! You could do a dual track thing - submit an EOI as a skilled migrant and at the same time apply to your selected university to study and start progressing that route.

If you did decide on Wellington I'd be happy to answer further questions on schools, suburbs etc.

[sunhappy]

Hi,

Sorry I have not been online for a while!
Things maybe different as we are in oz, but heres how it goes for us....
my dh started college in feb this yr, he is in college 2 full days and 2 half days per week, and he is only allowed to work 20 hrs a week in school time, this makes it hard for him to gain the full 20 hrs, in school hols he can work unlimited hours. I can only work 20 a week all the time, I work in 2 restaurants and get goog money from this plus tips.
Once dh finishes his course (and passes), he also needs to have gained 900 hrs work experience in his field of study, as we have a relative here to sponser us we need less pionts to apply for pr, but many people need to apply for an 18 month graduste visa, and need to get 12 months work experience in this time to make the extra points up.

The course fees are approx $24000 for the 2 years.
My 4 yr old sons school is $5000 per year, and when my dd starts kindy that will be an extra $2500 per year. Also you need private health insurance for the 2 years.
On the whole it costs a bloody fortune! but if it all works out it will be worth it, as there are no guarantees on a student visa, they can take you study occupation off the jobs in demand list at any time!