People & Places
Going going almost gone
Relocating to the North Island? Anne Warricker tells Patricia Curmi why she’s been listening to the locals and making friends with estate agents.
Ivor and I live in Rugby in the Midlands but we have lived in the south of England and also in South Africa. Our aim is to end up in the midlands of the North Island, in Hamilton, as this was the area which certainly satisfied all the criteria we set for ourselves before leaving the UK to visit New Zealand.
We started the research way back in September 2005 and got together all the paperwork. We did not want to proceed further until we had visited the country and made sure it was where we wanted to be. The actual process of police clearance and all the other paperwork was started as soon as we returned from New Zealand which was mid-January. We cannot actually make the move until Ivor has a job offer. However, if nothing is forthcoming by May of this year, and we have all the other documentation completed, by then, we will go over as visitors and start hammering on doors! We decided on New Zealand for a number of reasons but the main ones are that the country is English speaking, very underpopulated and rural, which appeals to us. And, of course, they drive on the proper side of the road! We had done a lot of research before we went and we were not disappointed in our high expectations.
Currently, we are trying to apply under the Skilled Migrant Category (SMC) and the main problem here is the fact that Ivor has two occupations to choose from; diesel engineer, which appears on the SMC listing and which my husband is not keen on pursuing unless he has to, and polytechnic lecturer, which does not appear on SMC listing but is still a strong possibility. The major problem is that of qualifications. There is very little in the way of direct equivalents so you have no real way of assessing the value of your qualifications with the NZ equivalent. It costs a lot of money to submit to New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA), but this seems to be the only way of finding out if you are going to fit in with the category you have selected.
The whole process could be made simpler with the use of a flow chart on the New Zealand Immigration Services website which could cut out a lot of the double Dutch. Something like "Do you have a job offer? Go to here, if the answer is no, go here to get help in finding agencies" would be really useful. When using the points calculator for self-assessment, we found that it really does not work initially. If you do not have a job offer, how can you answer the question "Are you going to work outside the Auckland region?" Also, I think it would help applicants if the medical requirements were simplified as that is a minefield!
Emotionally this has been a roller coaster. After returning from New Zealand you really want to get on and get going and it is so frustrating when you cannot get very far. Everything takes so long to implement. On the job front, the main issue is that you cannot apply for a working visa or work permit without a job offer and with most potential employers you cannot get a job without a work permit. You really feel as though you are going round in circles. We did find that some companies will do interviews by video conferencing from the UK but there are not many of those. I have since found out that some agencies in this country also do the same. Hays (a New Zealand engineering company), for example, is definitely worth looking at.
In general, potential employers are very helpful if you meet them face to face but quite often reject you out of hand if you are communicating with them by any other means.
Official help was sparse. We visited the Immigration Department in Auckland and there was a lot of paperwork but you had to find your own way round it. My advice to applicants based on my experience so far is to have patience. This is difficult if you are a Taurus like me! Secondly, allow lots and lots of time for the process, and do not be in a hurry to pay out money for stuff you can get off the Internet for free. We paid out £65 for an an introductory pack, only to find out I already had downloaded everything.
Importantly, I would recommend trying to visit the place first. I imagined I would like Auckland as it was a vibrant city but I did not feel happy there at all. As far as the property market is concerned, be prepared to pay quite a lot for a house as they are not cheap and in some areas of high population buildings are constructed directly behind one another, leaving you with a shared drive and no garden. The mortgage rate is twice what it is in UK, currently the lowest is 7.8 per cent but this is based on a fixed term of five years. A handy tip is to make friends with an estate agent! Very good advice indeed. We found a couple of really nice guys who we keep in touch with by email.
Lastly, when you find a house you like, don't listen to agents regarding the area. The ones in the area you have chosen talk it up and the guy in the next town talks it down!
Speak to the people who live and work there. When we found the town we liked best we spoke to the people working in the petrol station and in the local tea room. Very informative! We intend to rent when we first arrive in New Zealand as this is what we did in UK when we arrived back from South Africa. I never believe that you should buy in a hurry.
I hope that all our plans come to fruition and, after a year in New Zealand, that I will be stress free and living in a house with little or no mortgage to worry about. I hope to have more time over weekends to spend with my husband and friends instead of having to work like a dog. I should have more money in my pocket once I'm in New Zealand, given that petrol is half the price it is in Britain.
The weather is very English: unpredictable! So that won't hold too many surprises. The people are wonderful, friendly and the country is relatively crime free. What more could you ask for?
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