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Updated: 22 December 2004
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Getting Started

Are you thinking of emigrating to New Zealand ? This is my guide to get you started.
My family and I are hoping to emigrate to New Zealand. This guide is just information and my views gathered from the process we've been through, and from watching and reading about other peoples experiences. I'm no expert, but I hope it helps you.

Hi,

Like us you've probably watched a programme on emigration, and thought “Hey, that sounds good.”
Then, you've looked at the possible countries in the world, and New Zealand is your favourite.
Or, maybe you want to know whether you can emigrate to New Zealand.

Well, I can tell you from my experience so far, and from talking to others who are trying, or who have emigrated, that it's not an easy thing to do. It takes a lot of hard work to learn about the things you need to do. It can be very stressful, and it can take a lot longer to do than you might at first think.

I'll try and explain from my point of view what's involved. I emphasis that some of these things are my opinions. It's fine if you don't agree with them. I'm only one of many going through the process.

So, where do you start ? I guess the first question is:

Is emigration right for you ?

Lets be honest. Emigration is stressful. There are a lot of negative things about it. Don't think it will be easy or a bed of roses.
I've heard that roughly half of those that emigrate, end up returning. I think you should only emigrate if you think you stand a good chance of emigrating successfully, and end up happy. I'm not trying to put you off, but it's a huge thing to do, and it would be crazy to do it without thinking carefully, and without too much emotion clouding your judgement.

So, the first question is “Is your personal situation OK ?”
If you have a partner and children, there are several things that can make emigrating more difficult.
Here are what I think are things to consider:

I've created an Emigration Suitability Calculator. It's like the quizzes you get in magazines. Fill it in and see what your score is. It'll give you an idea of how easy emigrating will be for you.
I've also created a Cost of Living Calculator & Cost of Shopping Calculator. That will give you a good idea of what it costs to live in New Zealand, and how much you will need to earn to sustain that lifestyle.
Have I put you off yet ? If you're still interested, then I guess you've passed my first test !
I suppose the next question is:

Can I emigrate to New Zealand ?

The New Zealand government wants immigrants that will contribute to their country. That means healthy people who will not be an undue expense on their health system. It means people who are of good character. They don't want criminals or people who associate with criminal or illegal groups.

They want skilled people to help with the lack of skilled people that they are suffering from. They also want to maximise the chance of you emigrating successfully. That means that they would prefer it if you had a job or offer of a job before you are offered residency.

This is where your work begins. I've written a summary of the New Zealand Immigration Service (NZIS) immigration policy. It is not complete, and you should not rely wholly upon it. The definitive rules are on the NZIS website. I've written it just to help you to understand the structure of the policies, and to summarise the conditions. What you can do is print them. Then visit the NZIS site and use my guides to try and understand the structure of the website. Tick off the conditions in my summary as you find them. Add others that relate to you. You will end up with the conditions and requirement that relate to your particular situation.

One point which often people do not understand. A visa is a stamp in your passport which entitles you to enter New Zealand for certain purposes. At immigration this visa will be studied, and a permit will be stamped into your passport, allowing your to stay in New Zealand for a specified time for specified purposes.

So this is my suggestion. Look over my guide to the NZIS policy structure, you'll see that the policies are broken into 4 main categories:

So, now you can see how the policies are structured. But what are the details of each one ?
This is my next suggestion. Look over my summary of NZIS policies. You'll see the same policy structure as on the last page, but this time some of the rules and conditions are included. These are included at a level that covers as many policies as possible. So, for example, the conditions on health and good character cover all the policies. So they are at the beginning. The conditions for people just visiting New Zealand on holiday, namely that a UK resident can visit for 6 months etc, are only in the policy for visiting without a visa. They do not apply if you have a visitors visa.
As you can see, some policies have more conditions than others. I suggest you look for a policy that you think might apply to you, and go to the NZIS Website and check out the conditions that apply to you. I've included links to pages or documents that are of particular relevance to each policy.

Well, that was an experience wasn't it !
I expect like most people you found the NZIS website overwhelming. It's complicated. The same statements are repeated in several different places. The overall structure is far from clear. That's why I wrote the policy structure summary. To help me understand what was on their website. And, I found that I could never get a clear idea of what the requirements are for a particular immigration route. That's why I wrote the summary of policy.

What do I do now ?

If you're still reading, I guess you think you have a chance of emigrating to New Zealand.
I bet you have lots of questions. So, what do you do now ? Well, there a quite a few forums about emigrating to New Zealand. There are members who are just starting out like you. There are members who are some way through the process. There are even members who have emigrated, who share their experiences.
Now, when I first visited these forums I found it quite overwhelming. You'll find hundreds of threads. Each on a different topic. Many of similar topics. There is no real structure to all this chat. You'll find that certain members chat to certain other members more than anyone else. Probably because they have similar interests. You'll find a wide range of different types of people. Some will be very friendly and helpful. Some will not be so friendly. Typical humans really.
For this reason I suggest you be wary of giving away too much personal information. For example, giving your address and then saying you're going on holiday, is a great invitation to thieves !

The best thing to do first is try to read some of the threads. Many of your questions will have been asked and answered many times before. Since the threads just pop-up to the top of the list and then gradually slide down again as others pop-up to the top, there is no real sense in reading the threads at the top.
I would go to the search, and type in something you're interested in. You will have to learn how the search system on each forum works. On most try something like this: “NZIS AND phone AND numbers”. You'll get a list of threads that contain all those words. If you omit the ANDs you'll get every thread with any of the words. Pretty useless !
When you've grown accustomed to the forum, feel free to ask your 'silly questions'. I did, Others have. Why not you ?
Try to be specific. Questions like, “What's involved in emigrating ?”, won't get much of a response.
A question like “How long are police certificates valid for ?”, will probably get an immediate answer.

So, where do you find these forums ? Well, I've been collecting links to every website I can find that I think will help me in our emigration experience. These are found by hours of using Google, surfing through lots of rubbish. I've also found links suggested on forums. I hope you'll find that they are all useful websites.
To find all the forums that I know about, go to my New Zealand Links page and click on 'Forums' in the contents list.
When you visit a forum, don't forget to visit the sites main page. There may well be loads of information that can help you.

I've listed all the links on one page. I've found that websites that split links onto different pages, make looking around very slow because each page change takes time. Although my page will take slightly longer to load, once there you can scroll very quickly, or click on the items in the contents list. To get back to the contents list, just click on 'back' in your browser. Or you can click control-Home to go to the top of the page or control-end to go to the bottom.
The other advantage of all the links being on one page is that you can search for text on the page.
For example, suppose you want to find a website whose address contains 'herald', but you don't know which topic I've put it in. Go to the top of the page (with control-home). Press control-f (for search). Enter 'herald', and click 'Find'.
You can then repeat the find until you find the website you're looking for.

Now you've visited my links page you can see how many links I've collected ! You can also see how many subjects there are to do with emigration. That's why it's hard work and a long process.

I bet you'd like to know what the most common question is from 'newbies'. Well, I'll have a go at that:

How does everyone emigrate ?

A lot of people go on holiday to New Zealand in order to try and get a job offer. A job offer makes the emigration process a lot easier.

Many also do the unthinkable. They sell up, and move out to New Zealand on a long 'holiday'. They then hope that they can get a job offer before they have to leave the country. Once they get a job offer (subject to conditions), they can get a work permit, which allows them to work. They also apply for residency.

Some manage to get a job offer without being in New Zealand. This is easier in some professions than others.
It's worth mentioning here that agencies & companies will not be very interested in you if you are not in New Zealand.
If you are there they can see you face-to-face. It also shows commitment. Many long distance interviews & job offers lead nowhere. A waste of time for the agency or employer.

If you have enough points, you may be able to get a work permit without a job offer. Check out the EOI points calculator on the NZIS site. Also, check out my page on the latest EOI pool selection point, and the history of pool selections. The two will give you an idea of whether this route is possible for you. It will also give you an idea of the number of applications with/without job offers, and the number from New Zealand, and from outside New Zealand.

I've tried to summarise the possibilities in Ways of Getting to New Zealand

If you check out the forums you'll get an idea of what everyone is doing.
I suppose another question a lot of people ask themselves is:

Is New Zealand Right for Me ?

Only you can answer that question. Here are some places you can look at to get an idea of what New Zealand is like. As usual all these websites are listed on my New Zealand Links page.

I think from now on you're on your own !

Feel free to look at the other pages on my website.
I've got a Things to do list. That's a list combining every task I can find that anyone has had to do. It's very daunting. But, I hope it'll save me from forgetting something important. I hope it will save you from disaster too !

My website evolves as I find out new stuff. A lot of the information is gathered from others. Thanks to them.
For that reason, I won't mention the other pages on my site. I suggest you visit to look for new stuff. Each page has the date it was last updated so unlike the NZIS site, you can easily see if it's changed, and how old it is.

If you've found my website useful, if you think it's saved you some time, please be considerate. If you've found a mistake on my site, if you've found a good website that I've not got a link to, or if you can fill in one of my questions, then please tell me. The better my website is, the more help it will be to me and to others.

I make no money from this website. It's just my personal website, hosted on one of the free hosts. That's why there are adverts at the top and bottom. Please, if you can , help me to help others by giving me feedback.

Having learnt all that you're still going to have questions. So where do you go ? Well, there's my NeuralNetWriter forum . Everything for people who want to emigrate to New Zealand, or who are now living in New Zealand. Information, friendship & support. I'm "Steve Netwriter".

If you want to contact me, my email address is at the bottom as a graphic (to avoid me getting too much spam).
Or, you can post as a guest on my forum, or register, and post anywhere else.

I hope this short guide was useful. I hope you get something positive from my website.
I wish you all the best with your emigration plans.

Cheers

Steve

PS If you want to get a good idea of what New Zealand is like, look at this Virtual Tour of Rangiora
That is one of many sites I've listed with pictures and maps of New Zealand.
To see the rest, go to my New Zealand Links page and click on “Pictures and Maps”.



 

 

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