where's best to live in nz,and what do we need to know?

[AngryBeaver]

My dh has been on at me for a year to move from the uk.He wanted Quebec,which looked gorgeous and romantic,but i wasn't sold on the winters and coudn't leave my mum.
He recentley said he wanted to move to NZ and i thought ,yeah if it's warm and a better life than here,let's do it.
So we've got fuck all money and 3 kids under 4.5 ...but we want to do it.
I don't know what's changed in me for me to agree ,but I hear th schools and hospitals are fab,and just want the best life for my lovely children.
I'm worrying though because I've read the houses are crap and cold.
We want sun,space and not too expensive (don't we all!)
We thought Tauranga,but that seems quite busy and we've read about boy racers.
We don't want Wellington as we've heard it's windy and weather not great.
Does anyone know about Nelson?Heard it's nice weather,but what's the reality?
We are going to put the house on the market this week,I am shitting myself,but I feel it's now or never.
Any help or advice,gratefully recieved

We came over on work permits, then applied for residence when we got here- had only planned to stay a year and still here 2 and a half years later with a wee kiwi of our own. We had over 140 points due to OH's job being on the Long term skills shortage list and him have a job offer.

But lots of people get selected with less than 140. Why not post on emigratenz and ask if anyone has been selected with your level and how long it took? There are fewer people migrating at the moment due to costs and the exchange rate which may bring the level down too.

Apparantly noone was selected with what we have last year.But there are fewer in the pool this year than there has been for years.
Dh was wondering about putting me down as the main applicant instead,which would bring us over the required ammount...however,I'm not happy with this as it would mean stretching the truth

I think it is reasonable to apply with either of you as the main applicant. Do you plan to work - even if just aprt time?

But if stretching the truth is related to qualifications, work experince etc it's probably not worth the risk as they do check and you just get chucked back in the pool.

Lots of people do get job offers from overseas after telephone and skype interviews. The kiwi's are used to accommodating overseas applicants.

No I don't plan to work out there.The stretching the truth part is tricky,it's not related to quals or experience they're kosher ,but I found that the descriptions were not specific enough to cover what I actually did.So we'd have to put it under a section that's not entirely correct,and I wouldn't want anyone to be dishonest.
Are you able to apply immediately for a Residents permit then (when you're out there on a Work permi)?I thought you had to be there on a work permit for 2 years before you applied for a residency visa.

How did you find the maternity services in nz when you were carrying your kiwi?!
We're planning on dc4 in a year or two so it will likely be a kiwi too
Thinking about that,does a child born in nz automatically become an nz citizen?
ie if we were on a work permit but had a kiwi baby,could they deport us when the visa expired?
Only ask as we really wanted to secure residents visa before we went as we'd read a few testimonials in which people stated that once their 2 years were up,they wern't allowed to stay and were told to leave.
Some people were saying they'd bought homes there,which they couldn't sell,so didn't have the money to go home. Can you imagine?

I was wondering then,if we did have a nz born child if they could still do that do you think?
(obvoiusly,pplease understand, we would not have a baby to get a visa!but,since we are planning one anyway,I wonder where we'd stand...)

A baby born in NZ does not have automatic NZ citizenship. At least one of its parents must have citizenship or permanent residency.

I found maternity service here excellent, though I have nothing to compare it to, having never had a baby in another country.

Thanks, good to know about maternity services. I also had excellent care but I'm aware it can be hit and miss depending on where you are in the country. I'd be nervous giving birth in a foreign country (actually,I'm nervous giving birth anywhere!)but I've heard good things about nz care.
I saw my aunty today who lived and gave birth in nz 30 tears ago,she said they were great,and she still has her plunket book!

I would be very wary about having a baby on a work permit because there are cases of people having new visa's refused as they are not of an acceptable standard of health to work. There are a few cases of people having renewal refused if the job market tightens and there are kiwi's who can do the job. So PR is a much safer route. You can apply for a work permit and PR at the same time but you pay twice. It does add up!

We applied while I was pregnant though and there were no issues. If it hadn't come through in time the birth we would have been covered under the reciprocal agreement with the UK. But we would have been liable for pre and post natal costs and any health costs the baby incurred after birth. So if she had been prem and in NICU for a month this would have been a lot.

I found maternity services here great. But we paid a top up of $4000 to have a private obs. This allows you to have private prenatal care but you give birth in the normal hospital and have normal care. It was the best $4000 I've spent in a long time. And got me a private room with the most amazing view of Auckland harbour. I'll never forget those 5am starts with DD watching the boats all the way to the Coramandel. The midwives were great, hospital clean and I stayed 5 days with no pressure to leave after my elective C for breech. I also saw a lactation consultant for free the week after which was an enormous help. I defiantly had a better time here than I would have in the UK.

Oops, I should have said unless it is a 2 year work permit, or you have 2 years worth of permits. Then you get healthcare just like a kiwi. We were on a 1 year permit.

I don't think having the private medical care got you the private room btw. I had the same sort of room and I was on the public health system. I think everyone at Auckland gets a private en-suite room after a c-section. I agree the care at Auckland was excellent.

I think some of it depends on how busy they are. I know I was put in a twin originally, then shifted and wondered if that was down to my Dr? He works part time for Auckland, then part time privately. So I could have gone through the public service and had the same Dr very easily. I think what really helped for me was having regular scans. This got me used to the idea that DD was breech so I had time to get used to the prospect of a CS.

Generally, I get the impression that maternity services are prioritised in NZ compared to the UK. I was told that 1 on 1 care from midwives was the norm, only if they were very busy would it be 1 midwife between 2.

Well that all sounds reassuring.If you have to be woken up regularly,being able to look out onto an amazing view surely sweetens the pill?!
We would definitely go for PR.Im getting a bit disheartened now. DH has been at me for a year to move,I finally agree and wanted to be there by Jan so dd can start the new term there...and we've stalled at the first hurdle..frigging typical

Yeah some of it prob does depend on how busy the hospital is. I had dd1 at Auckland in 2007 and the population of Auckland is growing quite fast so they are probably busier now than they were then. Actually, the only person I know who ended up in a twin room at Auckland was a friend who has a private dr and was moved from a single to a twin about 2 days after her c section.

So Angry what's your next move? Are you going to go for a work visa or think about it all a bit more?

Well,dh is applying for jobs and has also arranged a trip over (for just himself)to maybe go and do some interviews/have a scout around.There is also the possibilty of moving with his current job,this is slim,but never say never.
I just feel a bit..stagnant. If we're going to go,I just want to go...now!I knonw it's not that easy but I don't think I appreciated how long winded the process could be.I just feel because of all the stuff with my mum,it's dragging out the torture.If we could go,say in 3 months,it would give her time to accept it,then we'd be gone,and she could start to get over it.
She thinks that because we weren't selected 1st time n the pool,that we can't go or that it's unlikely.
I tried to say we were going to keep trying and she made it clear she didn't want to discuss nz anymore!

It is a long process. We decided to move overseas in Jan and arrived in NZ in July. And that was pretty much as quickly as it could be done IMHO. But some people take years getting everything in order. It's worth checking out the health requirements for the medicals before you spend any money as some people do come unstuck at that stage.

But having a job and income straight away is a huge benefit. We had a month 'off' during which we visited family, flew, had a short holiday and organised some stuff like bank accounts before OH started work. It was scary having money just going out and nothing coming in. And if we hadn't known OH had a job it would have been pretty stressful.

Have you found seek.co.nz? Most NZ jobs are advertised there. And wotif.com is good for accommodation.

cheers for the info littlestkiwi (didn't there used to be a children's tv series set in nz called that??!)will check out those sites.
You're lucky being able to move so quickly.in an ideal world,I'd love to just up and go.only really because of my eldest who is nearly 5.I don't want to unsettle her any later than I have to..if she can have no memory of being the new kid,so much the better

dh has had a few bites re jobs.One company emailed this am to ask when he would be arriving in nz.He emailed basically saying,if he got a job offer,then we'd get a visa and be over asap.We'll see what they say to that.
Met my mum for coffee and she said that it's very hurtful that I say we want more and that we have nice detached house,2 cars etc..like it's wrong to strive to achieve more money,bigger house/garden,nicer car etc

Hey
Interesting thread! We have just moved back to NZ after living in London for 12 years, on and off.

Not much to add as you have had so many responses already. We moved from SW London so the difference in lifestyle is enormous with regard to ease of getting around and access to beach, outdoors etc. We're in Wellington and the weather has been FAB lately (although I have lived here before, so am under no illusions ).

I grew up in Nelson. My parents told me (i.e. not sure if it is true or not) that Nelson has the highest proportion of English people per population than any other city outside England.

Tauranga is beautiful and has great weather, my sister lives there but we haven't spent a lot of time there. Its great its an easy drive to Auckland as well when you need access to a big city - lots of places in NZ are very isolated in this way.

re pronunciation - Maori words look daunting but can always be broken up into one, two or three letter syllables which end in a vowel. So Tauranga becomes Tau-ra-nga (although not quite that simple as the vowels can be pronounced differently than you might think, but at least it gives you a start).

So we are overseas at the moment and love where we are but will not be able to stay here forever(US).

I just wondered is there an age limit on moving to NZ in terms of getting points? We have not even looked into it but there is a possibility we may be out of here within the year due to redundancies in dh's company.

We cannot face going back to the UK- there is no where that inspires us after living in a place with better weather/cheaper houses/ better quality of life.

It would just feel regressive so we are tentatively exploring option of just returning for 6-12 months and applying for NZ and OZ.

I am guessing that you can pick up a half decent modest home for 500NZ$ in most places in NZ?

In the UK what you get for that is pretty uninspiring in the south east of UK.

I have a high school teaching qualification and hubby is marketing.

Any insights welcome?

I think the cut off point for general residency applications is in the mid-50s? Check out the NZ immigration website here. I know there are points for age and they decrease as you get older but can't remember when the exact cut off point is.

Thanks- will check it out. We love where we are but if we have to leave we think NZ or Oz would give us the most similar quality of life. We just cannot face the UK for some reason and think now we are away we might as well just keep going with the being overseas choice.

God, just seen the news...is everyone in Christchurch okay?xx

Unbelieveable, and still recovering from the sept quake.

There is another quake thread,apparantly it was felt in Wellington

I'm in Chch just waking up after a very rocky night lots of aftershocks more than 4.
All my friends and family are ok though thank god