# Key Post: Emigrating to New Zealand



## honr (19 Aug 2004)

Kia ora

I've lived in New Zealand (Christchurch) for a year and just became a resident today. I lived the commuter rat race in Ireland for over 15 years and had enough. Life here is good, safe, and pleasant - it's not perfect and there's things I miss but my quality of life is way better.

If you're thinking of trying a move to NZ i'd say go for it.


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## Marie (20 Aug 2004)

*Try New Zealand*

I wondered if restrictions on immigration are similar to Australia (e.g. preferred under-35, I.T. specialist/doctor/vet/engineer, wealthy etc.)  and if health-care is reasonable (I'm 56 and have just 3 years to retirement so am plotting my escape.......either to the edge of The Burren or a similar site somewhere like N.Z!)   What are property-prices and quality like?


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## zag (20 Aug 2004)

*Re: Try New Zealand*

Marie - last time I checked NZ had an age discrimination policy.  You get something like 10 points for being 20-25, 8 for being 26-30 and so on until over 50 you get no points.  I can't remember the points levels, so these are just indications, but basically getting in to NZ over a certain age is literally down to a lottery - if they hold the lottery in any particular year.

Check out the NZ immigration site - www.immigration.govt.nz for details of the schemes.

Check out www.stuff.co.nz for indications of the issues making the papers in NZ.

z


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## elderdog (20 Aug 2004)

*....NZ.....Oceania....*

Funny,

That was the way my mind was running too, Marie.

Then I became a bit of a cybertourist around Oceania... Norfolk Island, New Caledonia & all around there. Didnt take me long to understand why the lads mutinied  on The Bounty to stay with their new found local lady friends rather than go back to Blighty and life alone...

Is there a difference between being a 'resident' ( congrats honr ) and being an immigrant in NZ ? Do NZ rules allow you to live there if you can show that you wont be a fiscal burden on the state ?


eDog


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## zag (20 Aug 2004)

*Re: ....NZ.....Oceania....*

Have a look at the link above and click on the links on the right hand side.

If you select "I want to . . . live in New Zealand" you will see the option (the migration paths, essentially) which are open.

Unfortunately the paths are actually quite restricted.  You can be sponsored in by a family member, you can get a job there (but getting the job in advance as a non-resident is a significant problem), you can be an entrepreneur or however you spell it and invest something like €500K while presenting a sound business plan or you can apply for the lottery.

There are other ways, but unless you are a Pacific Islander or a refugee then you probably won't fit the requirements.

z

p.s. on the Bounty front - go to news.google.com and do a search on "Pitcairn Island trial" and see what comes up - life is not all easy on the islands.


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## Elderdog (20 Aug 2004)

*"life is not all easy on the islands. "*

So true Zag

( not to mention second murder on NI in two years ... )

There would seem to be endless local bickering in most of these islands. 

In fact its just like here where very few of us acknowledge how fortunate we are to live in the present era & where we do


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## Marie (21 Aug 2004)

*"life is not all easy on the islands. "*

Looks as if myself and eDog would have to resort to a leaky old boat in which to paddle to NZ to seek asylum if we can't find our respective "retirement lairs" on the edge of The Burren!  Talk about battling to stand still!  I've given my all as a worker, tax-payer etc., since age 16 (loving every minute of it, mind you!) and thinking of "retirement" - if I survived that long - as a haven when I would write my books, meditate, get disgracefully drunk and disorderly with my friends whenever I chose and make sculptures in my Dream Garden surrounded by outstanding natural beauty and wildness.  But it sounds as if "they've paved Paradise" whilst I was busy and its a full time job to get into N.Z!  Anyway, thank you for the URLS which I'll have a look at.


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## rainyday (21 Aug 2004)

*Re: "life is not all easy on the islands. "*

You will find that any assets/income in Ireland/UK will stretch a long way in NZ due to the favourable exchange rate. I have come across a couple of people who found it very hard to get decent work (something better than bar work or labouring) in recent years in NZ.


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## Marie (21 Aug 2004)

*"life is not all easy on the islands. "*

I've just browsed the above links and despite the (very!) small number of job opportunities and all the palaver on skilled-emigrant restrictions it is still a wonderful place to live or to retire to.  Land is cheap, houses are cheap, the environment is magical!  I could live in a 4-bedroom house with 2 bathrooms on 6 hectares just outside Wellington for the same outlay as a 1-bed gloomy flat in centre of Dublin! Hmmmm


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## fatherdougalmaguire (21 Aug 2004)

*Re:  "life is not all easy on the islands. "*

It's heart-breaking isn't it Marie? We recently considered a move to Perth (Australia). Similar reasons. Don't fancy spending the rest of my working life having to pay off a mortgage. Then there's the barby's on the beach and all of that. We've put the idea on the back-burner for a few years. In the mean time, we were down in Kerry for hols this year and spotted . So worst comes to the worst there's always the southwest. I believe the scenery is much the same and if you want more you could always watch all three episodes of Lord of the Rings back to back   However, I hear that Kerry are introducing one of those 'locals only' rules like some other county councils have but I think it's ok if you're employed full-time.


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## Elderdog (22 Aug 2004)

*Leaky old boat*

Could do worse I suppose    ( but I will need a minder as I can get very seasick )

Sorry to be a mutt but I still cant figure out the answer to my question above 

( "Is there a difference between being a 'resident'  and being an immigrant in NZ " )

As in : can you buy a house in NZ if you are a non national ? & if so how long can you live there each year ?

Wouldnt rule out a slight change of direction to New Caledonia


eDog


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## Marie (22 Aug 2004)

*Dougal's "Little Beauty"*

Now Dougal THAT is the bees'-knees and the spiders'-ankles! What a wonderful place.  I take Rainyday's point about the financial gain of Euro/Stg to NZ$ but NZ is a long long way away and one would have to factor-in trips back to Europe.  Like ElderDog I wonder if hnor can tell us if you have to be resident before you could purchase land in NZ.  It's an intelligent country (I had a lot of NZ


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## Marie (22 Aug 2004)

*continued......*

I had a good number of Kiwi friends at one stage in London and can't imagine such bright people would be up for selling off tracts of their country to Europeans! There must be restrictions surely honr?


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## honr (22 Aug 2004)

*Re: continued......*

Hi 

Not sure why my posting was forwarded to this thread -doesn't seem apropriate???

Anyway. I'm 39, came here on a holiday visa last year, finally got a job (this wasn't easy), got a work permit then applied and got residency. Yes there's paperwork but getting residency is far from very difficult. It's not a lottery, you have to meet criteria but the points you need to apply are decreasing on a monthly basis. You do need a minimum of a degree for residency and if you have a job then that gives you significant points. I would recommend coming here, get a job, see if you like it then apply for residency. If you can take a year out of your job in Ireland to try and get a job here all the better.

I don't find property or the cost of living here cheap. I recently bought a property for 225,000 euro, now thats not cheap when you consider salaries here are less. But its so much easier here to have a good quality of life. I have a demanding job but when I recently returned to Ireland after a 35 hour flight people said I looked 10 years younger and I know I feel more chilled out. No queues at the supermarket or bank, no standing on the buses.

What I'm saying is that if you can put yourself in a "safe" position to try it here then do - I gave up everything on a hoiday visa to come here and try it and thankfully it worked out.


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## honr (22 Aug 2004)

*Re: continued......*

Sorry, I just saw the question about property in the previous post. I had 45,000 euro to invest in a property. Without having a job I was given morgage approval. They will fund non-residents here to 80% of the total cost of the property. Once you have residency they will fund to 95%. I found buying a property here, like with most things here, quick, easy and straightforward. I bought a property once I got a job.


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## sueellen (22 Aug 2004)

*Re: Try New Zealand*

Hi honr,

"Not sure why my posting was forwarded to this thread -doesn't seem appropriate???"

As far as I can see none of the moderators have forwarded your posting to this thread.  From what I can gather your post has somehow or another started a new thread which can sometimes happen in error.  If you like I can move these posts to the one you originally intended and then close off this one and redirect. If you would like me to do this which thread were you referring to?

Sueellen.


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## Grizzly (23 Aug 2004)

*Bay of Islands.*

For those of you thinking of escaping have a look at
www.escapeartist.com.


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## Elderdog (23 Aug 2004)

*Hmmm*

Thanks Honr nice post & does not make me give up hope.

"got a work permit then applied and got residency"

<scratching head mode >

Am I correct to think that means you can live there but you are not a NZ citizen ( and cannot have a NZ passport )

</scratching head mode >

Is it true that the easiest way to get an NZ passport is to put on your application that you work part time for Mossad ?  

I dont like the way there is so much about the price of property over there. This topic is an unhealthy Irish preoccupation. Lets not export it to the other side of the world.

eDog


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## zag (23 Aug 2004)

*Re: Hmmm*

edog - yes you can get a work permit without getting residency.  Same as you can get a work permit for the US, but getting residency or citizenship is a different thing.

The problem with getting a work permit is that it is damn hard to achieve.

I tried this about 2 years ago, went over on a 6 month holiday visa, put in about 5 months of job hunt, 1 month on the road and came home without any success.  Won't go into the details, but basically at the time the supply of IT people was kind of made up of a lot of kiwis who had been laid off from their jobs in Europe, the US and elsewhere and had come home.  A non-national like me had little chance in the interview stakes when faced with a glut of candidates.

The same situation would probably happen here - imagine you are hiring someone and you have an Irish person with no question regarding being allowed work here and someone from down-under who may or may not have all their paperwork complete and who may or may not actually be telling the truth when they say they are going to stay in Ireland for the next 10 years . . . 9 times out of 10 I think people would go for the national with no paperwork issues.

I met up with 2 (presumably)ex-AAMers while out there and they almost had to come home too - the holiday permit of one was about to expire when she managed to get a job, but it was looking hairy for a while.

I had a great time there and the mini-zags did too, I don't regret giving it a shot, but it is not something to be done lightly unless you have someone over there who will essentially sponsor you in with a job offer - if you have that then it is well worth the effort.

Alternatively you could marry a kiwi chick and get residency that way, but Mrs edog may have a view on that.

In terms of buying property as a non-resident - I am pretty sure you can do this, but then you will only be able to use it on a visitors visa.  As far as I remember (check the website above for details) you can only get a visitors visa for a max of 9 months (and that takes some convincing from reports) and then you must be out of the country for the same period before entering.  If you get a 6 month visa you must be out of the country for 6 months and so on.  Also, actually getting into the country can be a bit hit and miss - what you get on your passport is a permit, and you get the visa at the booth in the airport.  This means that the officer could turn you down on the spot if he forms a view that you don't intend leaving.  All subject to appeal of course . . . What I am getting at is that buying a property there while non-resident probably isn't a good idea.

z

p.s. check out soc.culture.new-zealand on the newsgroups for ongoing discussion of getting there/being there/leaving there - [broken link removed] 

You need to filter out a lot of the crossposting and rubbish, but there are a number of very helpful people on the newsgroup


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## zag (9 Sep 2004)

*I don't believe it !*

I was just browsing the NZ immigration website tonight (for some strange reason, I can't remember why) and it turns out they have pretty much dropped the criteria for residency way down.

They seem to have introduced a new system earlier this year and the upshot of it all is that they have about 45,000 residency permits available *per year* - 60% of these are for skill migrants.  The points at the start of the year were 190 and now they have dropped right down to 100.  I'm not sure of the breakdown, but with no job offer, 10 years experience, a degree and IT skills I got 105 points - enough to get my application considered.

It looks like they then go through your application and 'invite' you to apply for residency if they like the sound of you.  From looking at the report it seems that well over 50% of the applications are approved.

Too late for me - been there, didn't get the job, came home, not going there again or giving a kiwi a job - ever.  I'm not bitter . . .

If you are over 56, then forget about it - one of the first questions in the flow chart is "Over 56 ?" Yes - proceed, No - denied.

z


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## IsleOfMan (9 Sep 2004)

*Six months.*

Still if property is cheap to rent, it might be a nice place to visit for 6 months. I am in my early 50's and not actually looking for a job. I reckon it would be possible to rent my home in Ireland and then rent a similar home in New Zealand for less money or even consider a house swap. Can any of us know for certain that it would be easy to just pack our belongings and move to a new country and immediately settle in? Just looking at the plethora of TV programmes Get a new Life, A place in the Sun, No going Back etc. Most of the characters seem to have terrible difficulty settling in. One way would be to try somewhere for 6 months.


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## zag (9 Sep 2004)

*Re: Six months.*

IsleOfMan - renting out your Irish property and heading out to NZ for a period is perfectly feasible - that's what we did.  If you don't have a mortgage to pay (or only a small one) you can easily find yourself with enough money to rent somewhere in NZ, and pay for a good deal of your day to day expenditure with the rental income.

If you have a significant mortgage, then presumably your rental income would mostly go on this.

z


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## IsleOfMan (10 Sep 2004)

*Bay of Islands.*

Thanks Zag. I effectively have a nil mortgage, just keeping it there in case I need a top up loan, saves on having to go through 100% remortaging. Another thought that I had, two couples could purchase a house in NZ and each alternate 6 months there. There is an interesting article in this months www.escapeartist.com on NZ and the archives have a few more. I see from a recent business report that global house prices continue to rise. Hong Kong is no1.
South Africa no 2. and New Zealand no 3.


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## monquest (15 Sep 2004)

*rent a house?*

Why rent a house in NZ? buy a camper van and you can get to see the place far better (if a bit more squashed!)


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