Migrating Fish Swim: emigrating from England

Thinking about emigrating to New Zealand?

2011-01-16T12:44:00.000Z

This arrived in my in-box today, thought some of you might be interested:
"To help you on this road the Team @ BritsNZ would like to invite you to a FREE seminar all about emigrating to New Zealand. The seminar will cover:

Visas
Job Hunting & CVs
Your Financial Migration - general finances, UK pensions & tax issues, banking and currency exchange!
Your Physical Migration – what to bring, how to break the news to family, how to leave!
Re-settlement – gaining access to a support network, knowing what to expect, where to find things!
………and a myriad of other important issues and information.

Come and listen to a successful migrant, and born-and-bred Kiwis, talk about ALL aspects of emigrating.

Along with BritsNZ we will have our key working partners present and presenting information to you – they are: Migration Associates; PSS International Removals; Halo Financial Currency Exchange; The National Bank of New Zealand.

The actual venues are still being locked in but we will be at:

Birmingham, Saturday, 12th February
Southampton, Sunday, 13th February
Heathrow Airport, Saturday, 5th March
The seminars all start at 10.30 a.m. and will run until 2.30 p.m.

All seminars are FREE of charge and we will supply a light lunch, other goodies and special offers!

To register your interest please e-mail Alexandra Cole on alex@britsnz.co.nz and tell her which seminar you would like to attend and how many of you will be coming and she will reserve you seats – no problems with bringing the kids, we actively encourage their participation and at probably both Birmingham and Southampton we will also have our 10 year old daughter, Gabriella along so your kids can ask her whatever is on their minds!

THE KEY NOW IS SPEED AS PLACES ARE FILLING QUICKLY"

That's all I know folks, so please direct your questions and bookings to alex@britsnz.co.nz
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Shortlist of potential emigration countries

2011-01-02T13:39:00.001Z

Picture from Creative Commons section at Flickr.

Hurrah! Mr MigratingFishSwim & I have narrowed things down considerably.

Mr MFS decided he didn't want to go further than Europe, so that helped; being an EU citizen he can get a work permit comparatively easy in any other EU country, bonus; we want warmth, so around the Med made sense...

It's now between Cyprus, Malta, Gibraltar, Greece, Spain & Portugal. (We're including the Canaries, Azores, etc, in that.) Alas the south of France isn't warm enough for me and Corsica has no British-style international schools, so France had to be ruled-out, to the general chagrin of friends & family who were hoping for nice holidays in France!

Mr MFS as we speak, is ploughing through a book on teaching abroad and is compiling a criteria list to help him decide which countries he'd like to teach in. He's been recommended to take his first overseas post through a reputable agency, rather than applying directly to schools. Presumably as they only work with schools who comply with best practise.

My job this week was to find some expos to visit, to talk directly with emigration specialists, potential employers, work permit departments, etc, but I've had little luck.

There's the Place in The Sun expo in March, but that's 175 miles away in London. When we were planning on New Zealand, there seemed to be an expo in the North or Midlands every two months! There are various property shows, but that's not what we need at the moment. If any readers know of emigration expos for Cyprus, Malta, Gibraltar, Greece, Spain or Portugal, please let me know.

I've found some emigration online fora, on which to ask others for their expo knowledge. These two sites have an EU and English-speaking country focus, but look like being really useful:
http://britishexpats.com/ and http://www.expatforum.com/

The other down-under

2010-12-16T23:01:00.001Z

As you know, I've decided not to got to New Zealand - but those of you who are still Kiwi-focused, will enjoy this blog, written by an American who's a new Kiwi.

He gives a warm and intelligent portrayal of life in the other down-under.
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Wide source of emigration information

2010-11-29T10:49:00.000Z

If you're thinking of emigrating to Australia, Canada, France, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain or the USA, you'll find the Emigrate website really useful. As well as the site, they run expos, sell publications and more.

Thinking of emigrating to Malaysia?

2010-11-28T10:47:00.000Z

The is the Malaysian immigration department's website. Alas, not a very helpful example among immigration department sites.

Thinking of emigrating to Cyprus?

2010-11-27T10:35:00.001Z

Here's an interesting post on Expat Forum, giving an overview of issues to consider if Cyprus is a destination you're considering for your emigration.

British emigrants outstrip numbers of immigrants

2010-11-26T10:25:00.001Z

An interesting story by the New Statesmen, entitled Exodus: the great British migration.

Famous emigrants

2010-11-25T10:12:00.001Z

A selection of interesting people who've emigrated:
Albert Einstein
Madeline Albright (Sec. of State to the Clinton Administration)
Bob Hope
Jung Chang
Karl Marx
Amy Johnson (1930s pilot)
Michael Marks (found of Marks & Spencer)
TS Eliot
Irving Berlin
Ang Lee (film director)
Levi Straus
Baron von Trapp (yes, the one from the Sound of Music)
Handel
Brunel
Arthur Wharton (England's first black professional footballer, in 1887)
Zaha Hadid (award-winning architect)

At last, a funny immigration quote

2010-11-24T10:10:00.000Z

Immigration is the sincerest form of flattery.
Jack Paar.

I love this one! Wouldn't it be great if the world acknowledged this and arranged policy accordingly.

American immigration - how it's helped

2010-11-23T10:08:00.002Z

America was indebted to immigration for her settlement and prosperity. That part of America which had encouraged them most had advanced most rapidly in population, agriculture and the arts.
James Madison

Interesting point, discuss?

2010-11-22T10:08:00.000Z

In most instances, emigration is a matter of necessity, not of choice.

-Moodie, Susanna Strickland
Roughing It in the Bush; or, A Life in Canada, introduction to the 3rd edition.

Interesting sentiment - what do you think?

Narrowing-down the options

2010-11-21T12:52:00.000Z

I've started a spreadsheet, to help Mr MigratingFishSwim & I gather information, and make a decision about where to emigrate to. I now realise a database might have been more suited to the task!

The first three columns I entered are countries where English is an official language; a primary language; and an important language. To that I added columns listing EU countries, British Overseas Territories and Commonwealth Countries (to ease work visa & permit issues).

My latest columns are: which countries have British-style or International schools (so fiancé's teaching experience will be approved); what working conditions (including rights and holiday allowance) are like; what are the standards of healthcare and whether it's state-provision or privatised; which countries fit in with the British Pet Passport scheme (so our cats could avoid/reduce quarantine if we had to return to the UK). And finally, one that's a bit more fun, but very much fits in with our values and reasons for emigrating: which countries are in the word's top 100 dive sites.

After I'd listed 73 countries worldwide where English is important, Mr MigratingFishSwim realised he wants to stay within Europe. At first I was a bit annoyed, felt my time had been wasted, but I soon realised that seeing my list had helped Mr MFS gain clarity, so all is well. Thought I must admit, I'm hopeful he'll consider some Atlantic Ocean options as well...

Based on what I've learned so far (I've now finished the excellent David Hampshire book Living and Working Abroad, but we still have four other books to get through!), Cyprus and Malta are really appealing. But I realise that this needs tempering according to Mr MFS' research on teaching around the world.

He & I will be doing more research later today, I'm really looking forward to hearing about teaching options around the world - that will be practical information to correlate with our "Ooooh that sounds nice"-type data.

2010-11-10T09:20:00.001Z

The first stage of researching the new emigration destination has begun.

I've created a spreadsheet of:

EU States (rules around work visas and permits are much more relaxed as I'm from an EU State);
British Overseas Territories (I'm hoping that because of a connection to Britain, works visas will be easier, but finding-out is the next stage of research);
Commonwealth countries (for the same reason as 2.);
countries where English is an official language (I'm happy to learn a new language, but it will be years before I'm fluent enough to work in it);
countries where English is a primary language;
countries where English is an important language.

Mr MigratingFishSwim is reading the comprehensive and very useful Teaching Abroad book I mentioned in an earlier post.

We'll each create a long-list of potential countries to emigrate to, based-on my spreadsheet - and fiancé's reading. Then we'll whittle it down into a shortlist. (Can you tell we're both from scientific backgrounds?)

I'm not expecting the shortlist to be very long, so we're hoping to visit one or two potential countries, to help us decide. And as I type this, I realise it would be sensible to see if fiancé can get a job interview or two arranged for the visit. (I'm self-employed, so things are different for me.)

If you're currently researching emigrating and my spreadsheet would be helpful, I'd be happy to share it with you. Email me: accurate at easy dot com. By the way, I've removed many of the cold countries, so if you want the full lists, just go to Wikipedia, which is where I got my information from, I started with Countries with English as an Official Language and you'll find other relevant links at the bottom of the page.
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Massive change of heart

2010-10-28T08:31:00.015Z

You aren't going to believe this one... after 2.5 years of saving and planning to emigrate to NZ, the fiancé and I have pretty much decided... that while we still want to emigrate, we don't want to go as far from our loved ones as NZ!

So we are back to the drawing-board as to where we will emigrate to. Current thinking is somewhere around The Mediterranean Sea (it's warm, plus moving within the EU would drastically reduce our paperwork load and other considerations)... or to somewhere within East/South-East Asia (we love the food and the cultural output).

I've ordered a couple of books to help with the research: Living and Working Abroad plus Getting a Job Abroad. They both have country profiles for a whole range of possible destinations, as well as talking about the general processes and concerns that occur no matter where you emigrate.

They're available on British Amazon:

(the image doesn't show, but the link works)

and

(the image doesn't show, but the link works)

They're also available from US Amazon:
Getting a Job Abroad: The International Jobseekers' Directory
and

My fiancé, is now considering remaining a teacher, if the workload abroad is less than in the UK. (Here in the UK, he usually works a 60-hour week.) So I've reserved a book called Teaching Abroad from my local library (it's from 1998, so we want to see how relevant it still is before buying it).

UK Amazon has it:

(the image doesn't show, but the link works)

as does US Amazon

So, on the one hand we are frustrated that a long-held plan and dream has crumbled, but on the other hand, it's good that we acknowledged a growing awareness that things needed to change.

I'll continue to write this blog, sharing destination research, our destination decision and then information about that new country.

How have your emigration plans changed over time?

Decorating, job-hunting & engagement

2010-10-05T11:19:00.001Z

I've haven't been posting much as I've been very focused on two major tasks: decorating the house and getting my business up'n'running.

Once the house is sold, and the fiancé has got a job in NZ, we will be off! Yes, Mr MigratingFishSwim has asked me to marry him. I'm very happy about it.

The house and garden are now nearly ready to go on the market. I will be selling the house myself in order to keep what would have been the Estate Agent's fee within our NZ Emigration Savings Account. This is likely to be about £2,800, so it's well worth saving.

I'm using a useful, no-nonsense little book to find out what I need to do (in terms of marketing the house, legal stuff, creating a Des Res, how to price a house, how to conduct a viewing, etc):

UK Amazon sells it:
(the image doesn't show, but the link works)

And Amazon.com also sells it:

Long-term Business visa for New Zealand

2010-08-09T08:50:00.001Z

Could this be Plan G?

I am now promoting and expanding my Personal Coaching and Small Business service as it finally dawned on me that it's a business I could move with me to New Zealand, rather than having to start all over again. In fact, I could even start promoting it in NZ now and start to get Kiwi clients before I even move. (I realise I would need to get tax advice on this.)

So with that in mind, I checked-out the very helpful NZ Immigration Services website, to see what business emigration visas there were. They've changed since I last looked, but that's good news - there now seems to be a category that I'd fit into, even with having changed over the years what my business does and even with having gone into employment and sometimes let the business go dormant.

The one that applies to me is the Long-Term Business Visa. I'd have to take money equivalent to three years' worth of livings costs with me, which NZIS say is about NZ$50-100 per year; and I'd need to be able to demonstrate I've run a business/been a senior manager in someone else's business.

I emailed them with some questions and it turns out that getting this visa would enable my boyfriend either to work in my business too, or to get a job with an NZ employer.

On reflection, I now have more questions: would I still need to take three years' worth of living costs if my boyfriend secures a full-time job and his own visa? Can the proceeds from the forthcoming sale of the house count, or do the funds need to be acutally in our bank account when I apply for the visa? Questions, questions!

What experiences do you have with NZ business/self-employement visas? I'd love to hear about them and I'm sure other readers would too.
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I think I'd better think it out again, again.

2010-07-02T01:21:00.000+01:00

Photo © SCMTMGirl

Last time, I was l ooking at the cost of shipping my chattels halfway around the globe and considering selling them & buying afresh in NZ.

I thought I'd check-in with people who've been emigrated to NZ already, at Move2NZ, and boy am I ever glad I did! The resounding advice was that furniture is very expensive over there and I may not be able to find anything I like.

The upside of this, is the thriving market in secondhand furniture, so when I'm ready to sell my belongings in years to come, over there I will find that easy, and will probably get a close-to-new price for it to boot. Which all sounds a lot better than selling it here in the UK. So, although there's a rumoured IKEA for Auckland, I bet my IKEA imports will arrive first.
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Shipping & job-hunting updates

2010-06-26T09:00:00.001+01:00

The third shipping estimate came through. This one was solely for moving personal items and It came to £980 for about 200 cubit feet of stuff. (To give you an idea, that's clothes, books, Wii & games, four tea chests full of model kits, synthesiser, photo albums, various keepsakes, lever arch files of paperwork, sewing machine, two portfolios, framed pictures, a vintage bedside cabinet, a computer tower and a beloved fish-picture shower curtain).

So, the next job is to list all furniture, kitchenware, etc, then go to various NZ websites for pricing replacements. I'll be using trademe, NZ eBay, but also NZ furniture shops like Briscoes and Harvey Norman. (I'm choosing those as I've heard of them, and IKEA hasn't made it to NZ yet, so if anyone wants to recommend budget, quality stores, I'm all ears. Do any charity/thrift shops have websites?)

Boyfriend has started researching companies in Napier, with a view to finding work. He's finding them with NZ Yellow Pages.
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Emotions around emigrating

2010-06-20T13:29:00.000+01:00

You may have heard me mention move2NZ.com, a very helpful forum for everyone who's thinking about/in the middle of/completed emigration to NZ. It's a friendly, resourceful, helpful site.

Recently Mike, who co-runs the forum plus the organisation Move2NZ, started a thread about the emotions of emigrating. (You may need to sign-up before reading it or posting, but it's free and well worth it.) I think this thread is great, as for me it used to be way too easy to gloss over what I was feeling, in favour of doing something. "Well there's a lot of stuff to do when emigrating", I hear some of you say. Indeed there is, and don't remind me, I should be doing it right now! But it's really amazing to me how much emotions control what I do, leading to my conclusion that if I don't know how I'm feeling, how do I know my actions and decisions are sound? And how can I know when hidden emotions are getting in the way of what I truly want to do?

EMOTIONS FROM A-Z
I experience a whole range of emotions at the thought of emigrating: certainty; excitement; anticipation; uncertainty; puzzlement; fear; sadness; guilt; terror.

I now allow myself to feel them (even tho it can feel uncomfortable); to unpick them; and to do what i can to assuage/augment them (depending on whether they feel unpleasant or pleasant).

LEAVING PEOPLE BEHIND
Both of mine, and my boyfriend's families, and also our friends, have expressed sadness that we're going. Some people were able to bravely express sadness, whereas others responded in anger, some do both.

I have some guilt over what they're feeling, but I keep remembering that this is my one and only life and I have a right to live it; if I stay here out of guilt I'll be resentful; and most importantly, that while I am responsible to others, I'm not responsible for them.

THE WHAT-IF SYNDROME
I have 2am rushes of anxiety at the thought of emigrating: what if it all goes wrong; what if I hate it; what if NZ hates me; what if person X gets sick; what if NZIS revoke our visas; what if, what if, what if; arrrggh!

Years ago I learnt from a very wise book called Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway, that fear isn't a signal not to do something - it's a signal that I'm stepping outside of my comfort zone.

So...if i really want to emigrate to NZ - and I really, really do - I have to live with the feelings of fear, and just carry on with my plans.

MOVING FORWARD
On the plus side, I love all the mental pictures I'm creating of my future: me, my boyfriend and our cats; sat together on a swing-seat; on the porch of the NZ house we're going to live in. My home-based business is doing well; my boyfriend loves his new job; the cats are all healthy; the sun is shining; we're really happy we made the move. The fear feelings are in my head - and stomach - so I'm replacing them with happy & excited feelings, which also live in my head and stomach.

Two books which are really helping me with this are Gulp! (helped me uncover hidden feelings which were sabotaging me when I tried to act) and The Secret (good for reminding me that focus + thinking of the good side + taking action = the happy results that I want).

What do you feel - do you have a range of emotions about emigrating?

Migrating Fish Swim design update

2010-06-20T10:00:00.000+01:00

Hello folks, just a quick post to say I've got a fresh new design - thanks to lovely Blogspot designers - and MigratingFishSwim has now properly entered 2010!

Emigrating/working/studying abroad competition time!

2010-06-14T14:54:00.001+01:00

I'm guessing you have an interest in living/working/studying abroad... so I think you'll like this competition. I'm giving away One Life: travel - Your Guide to living, working and studying abroad.

It's 153 pages long; covers about 20 countries including New Zealand; tells you how to look for work, volunteering or study opportunities; and is useful whether you want to do a gap year or make a permanent move. It's very well-designed with tons of pictures, so a nice book to read.

All you have to do is look at my eBay shop and then email me the title of one item of clothing I'm selling and one book. That's it! Email address is accurate at easy dot com

Moving belongings from England to New Zealand - part 2!

2010-06-07T23:15:00.000+01:00

The third international shipping company visited today, giving me an estimated volume of 200 cubic feet for taking only personal belongings. (Books, clothes, photos, DVDs, game console & games, boyfriend's 100s of model kits, personal mementoes - that sort of thing.)

Based on an average of the two quotes I've received already, this is looking like £980. (This seems expensive, possibly late night maths isn't a good idea!)

Whether we decide to take everything, or just the personal stuff, we also need to factor-in these costs:

insurance;
customs inspection fee (boyfriend's golf clubs & bag, hiking boots and anything else that could have soil on it);
potential cost of customs cleaning things (we've been told to clean things very thoroughly with Jeyes fluid);
paying tax on shipped goods if we enter the country with visas which run for less than 12 months.

After we've got the quote, we will list all our furniture, cost replacing it in NZ - and see what works out cheaper, shipping all our stuff, or replacing it in NZ.
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Shipping belongings from England to New Zealand

2010-06-03T12:21:00.000+01:00

I've now got two estimates for moving our belongings from the UK to New Zealand. The boyfriend and I chose companies with good personal recommendations and with industry accreditation - BAR Overseas and FIDI.

To give you an idea of how much stuff we have, we live in a new-build house with two studies/small bedrooms, one so-called master bedroom, one living room, one bathroom and one kitchen. We are leaving behind all wardrobes, plus most of our furniture is flat-pack.

It's about £1,500 to take the essentials (360 cubic ft) or £2,000 to take everything we'd like to take (400 cubic ft) and about £1,200 for air-freighting two bicycles and some things we'll need straightaway (44 cubit feet).

To me, this is a ton of money (I'm not complaining, the companies certainly appear thorough and careful), so I've been thinking...

A third company is visiting us next week to give an estimate. We've decided to get a quote for just shipping our personal belongings, ie leaving all furniture (except for about three vintage pieces which have emotional attachments, including my desk which has cat paw prints on it, from when one of our cats stepped in a paint pot). And maybe a small air shipment, ie no bikes, just a few clothes and kitchen essentials.

We're going to price replacing all furniture in New Zealand and see how that compares to shipping it all. I love old things, so am more than happy to buy from thrift/charity/goodwill and secondhand shops. I think we'll also want certain items new, a mattress for one, due to all our allergies!

If we go that route, we'll sell all our existing furniture through my eBay sales, local classified ads and a yard sale - and put the cash towards replacing it in NZ.
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2010-05-30T15:40:00.005+01:00

So my boyfriend gave his notice at work recently.

He'd been dreading it, as the person in charge sometimes reacts badly to such news and gives people a hard time while they work out their notice. But actually, my boyfriend was told his job would be kept open for a while!

Other colleagues said they'd be sad to see him go, but that emigration was a great adventure and he should go for it.

So, sometimes these conversations go better than expected. Good luck with any you need to have.
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Move mountains

2010-05-25T15:39:00.000+01:00

I made some appointments with international shippers, to get estimates for moving our goods and chattels to New Zealand.

We had three lists of goods: Essentials; It-would-be-nice-to-take and Air Freight. Shipping takes three months plus, so it can be worth air freighting a few things (which takes two weeks).

The first company has visited and posted their quote. Their estimate was that if we took essentials and it-would-be-nice-to-takes, we'd need just under half a shipping container. The estimate for that is about £2,000, not including insurance. The air freight estimate came to about £1,000.

We're waiting for two more companies to visit and quote, but in the meantime, we're pricing-up replacing all the air freight stuff over in NZ - if it's cheaper to buy things (two cycles, a few kitchen bits, a few books, and not much more) there, we'll scrap the air freight idea.
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Hello

2010-04-03T18:15:00.002Z

I'm tempted to say Hello Buglers!, which I'll explain in a second, but I guess what I mean is Hello Blog-Readers!

So, back to Hello Buglers - it's the opening from British comedian John Oliver, who's probably best-known for his work on The Daily Show. (That being, er, a daily programme of satire and news comment from New York. Last time I had tv reception, More4 did a pretty good job of showing it here in the UK.) But John Oliver also does a satirical podcast with Andy Zaltzman, called...yes I'm finally coming to the point...The Bugle.

Photo copyright - The Times Online

The Bugle does an excellent job of making me laugh, and of helping retain my sanity during those 2AMs when I'm worrying about migration or some such issue. Get it automatically downloaded to you each week from iTunes.
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Not F-Plan, but Plan F

2010-03-10T11:59:00.003Z

If you've been wondering why there's been little posting recently: my PhD funding disappeared altogether and this was followed by the death of my beloved cat of 15.5 years. Two large blows, especially the latter, so I've not been capable of much.

I'm not yet back at full strength, but the green shoots of recovery are there, and I've been thinking about NZ again...

So boyfriend and I hope to start Plan F in April: job-hunting in Napier. Ideally, we'll find jobs from here in the UK and then go in July/Aug, but if no luck, we think we're just going to go, and job-hunt on the spot.

It's recommended to have about six months' worth of living costs saved-up for doing this... I think we have five!

If you're looking for an NZ job, here are some sites recommended by Immigration New Zealand. It's worth knowing that many jobs are never advertised in NZ, so I'll be contacting employers directly:

Staggering under a huge blow

2010-02-10T03:12:00.001Z

Please see my other blog

Step forward Plan E

2009-11-01T08:34:00.000Z

Had long, long conversation with the Prof in NZ. Turns out part of "my" PhD has recently been covered by a researcher in Oz, which explains why all the funding went south... actually, NZ is about as far south as it gets, so maybe the funding went north.

My PhD will be re-jigged and re-submitted to the various uni committees - and if that all goes OK, the funding should be back on, hurrah! So Plan E is: wait for uni committees to happen now-December; get medical checks then submit visa application in late December; boyfriend will job-hunt December-March; and hopefully, we'll be Aotearoa-bound in April.

However, I'm feeling a sense of déja vu... so Plan F may also take place beside the scenes: boyfriend and I job-hunt for Napier while waiting for all the above to happen, just in case it doesn't. I don't want to be still here in April saying "Oh dear, that didn't work out"...

Just what the doctor ordered

2009-10-31T18:42:00.003Z

The fourth meeting of the Leftfield UK-NZ Emigré Club was held yesterday. (We're a diverse bunch and haven't found too much in common with people at regular NZ emigration meet-ups, interesting and useful though those are.)

Once again, it was a real pleasure to talk over real issues with people who understand - and whose first concern regarding NZ isn't the real estate. (And who unlike people who don't understand emigration, don't say things like "Haven't you gone yet, why is it taking you so long?" or "You must really dislike me to want to go so far".)

The food was good, the company was better and it was great to do so much laughing, not to mention getting a shot in the arm re motivation! A big thanks to G, J, M & R.

Getting back on the NZ emigration horse

2009-10-17T11:09:00.008Z

Buoyed-up by encouragement from blog readers, friends, my mentor and my long-suffering boyfriend, I now feel ready to get back on the NZ emigration horse.

© http://www.graphicshunt.com/clipart/

So, Plan E: delay leaving the UK for a couple of months and spend the next few months finding, and applying for, smaller scholarships, to put a pot of money together that will keep the wolf from NZ door for several months/a year. And then trust t0 that once I'm on the spot, more funding will become available. (Which is what happened when I did my MSc.)

Emotionally speaking, on the one hand I wish it had all come right first time round and why should I have to keep searching and re-applying; and on the other hand, gosh I'm a whiny so-and-so, don't I realise how lucky I am to even have a shot at this?

What has also helped boost my mood, is having a Skilled Migrant visa assessment from an emigration consultant at The Emigration Group (which has offices in the UK, NZ and Oz). TEG is currently offering a visa assessment and in-person consultation for £45, rather than the usual £195. The assessment found that even without a job offer, the boyfriend has 105 points and I have 110. Thanks to NZ Immigration Service reducing the points threshold to 110, my points are now enough to make an application for a Skilled Migrant visa to NZ Immigration Service, so if the student thing refuses to work out, then Skilled Migrant (which means permanent residency) looks achievable.

We will go have our consultation appointment with the consultant and discuss whether boyfriend's CVs are NZ-ified enough, would employers be put off by him having a Work visa as opposed to Skilled Migrant, how best to approach NZ employers, etc.

So to brook yet another cliché, onwards and wobbily-upwards.

At the risk of sounding schmaltzy

2009-10-14T22:12:00.005Z

I've been feeling very down and confused since receiving the two sets of bad news on the PhD funding front. So reading those supportive comments to my last post, I feel really grateful that people who don't know me from Adam, would take time out of their busy lives, to leave helpful suggestions and moral support.

Thanks so much, you have no idea what it means to me.

Gosh, how annoying

2009-10-11T11:21:00.001Z

© Tricia Scott

Well, I didn't get the scholarship and the uni doesn't have the funding for me anymore. Readers, if you have any suggestions at all, now's the time to speak-up.

Hallelujah!

2009-09-27T10:12:00.000Z

On Friday morning I received an email: I have my official PhD offer letter, hooray!

I'm very pleased about that naturally. Tonight I have to call the scholarship people and see if they'll give me any news on whether or not I've been successful. No scholarship would mean not being able to take-up the PhD place.

Also, my boyfriend has decided to go for it and give his notice at work. He has an incredibly long notice period, so if he doesn't give it by end of October, we'd be stuck here 'til April. (Well, he'd be stuck, I think I'm going either way, I can't face being in the UK a second longer than I have to, never mind four months longer! ) He's decided to bite the bullet and give his notice early, I think the 70-hour working weeks are beginning to get to him (rolling eyes).

Progress? Sort of, but the long delay from the university meant we've still not been able to apply for visas, so it's hard to tell if there's progress or not.

OK, the queen of doom'n'gloom is signing-off for now.

An upside to the bad news?

2009-09-16T06:09:00.000Z

One thing that occurred to me about not getting PhD funding - I won't be tied to a university town and can therefore go live in Napier, art deco paradise.

© www.tripadvisor.com

It looks like they celebrate their 1930s-style heritage - perfect for me, I love vintage cars, clothes, music and can even do the dancing.

Not only is it full of art deco, but it's also on the coast, which is where I long to live.

Trying to read directions upside down and in the dark.

2009-09-15T07:41:00.000Z

Chasing the university sadly seemed to reveal that my application, sent in April, had been lying around for most of the time, rather than progressing through all the many hoops a PhD application has to jump through. I'm very fed-up with all concerned, I feel like responsibilities have been ignored.

On top of that, my boyfriend found out he has a long, and very precise notice period, meaning he either gives notice in October - when we literally won't know what we'll be doing in NZ or when we're going - or he has to wait 'til February 2010 to give notice.

He's getting increasingly fed-up with the long hours and the politics at work, so he seems to be considering giving notice in October whatever happens. While that's brilliant in many ways and I hope he goes for it, there's the looming question: so how will he earn money if it turns out we're stuck here for longer?

The university also told me that the funding they thought they had for me, isn't actually there. So basically, if the one scholarship scheme I was eligible for doesn't come through, I can't do the PhD. I should hear from the scholarship people in about two weeks' time, please send positive vibes/prayers/bribery money.

Let me think back a minute though this wonderful how-to-emigrate journey:

Plan A - both boyfriend and I to work in NZ, but that didn't work out. (Probably because by this time, I was finishing my MSc and realising I wanted to do a PhD.)
Plan B - boyfriend to be Principal Applicant on a Skilled Migrant Visa application, through working in a particular occupation on the Skills Shortage list, and I do my PhD. But it turned out boyfriend didn't have the exact qualification wanted, so that didn't work out.
Plan C - I do my PhD, get a Student Visa. As my PhD's in a Skills Shortage area, my partner will get a work visa under the Family Stream, but that's now not working-out.
Plan D - we engage the help of a migration agent, both submit CVs to them and see who's best placed to be the Principal Applicant on a Skilled Migrant visa application. I find out if I can re-apply for the NZIDRS having been a Skilled Migrant, or not.
If not, then I guess it'll be onto Plan E.

Today I'm really annoyed that the uni hasn't kept me informed of the financial changes, as I could have started working on Plan D three months ago, which would have allowed time to get things moving. As it is, we hit the boyfriend's notice date in six weeks time and I doubt we'll have heard back from anyone by then.

If ever you have bad news for someone, please don't ever sit on it. The sooner they know, the sooner they can get on with things.

Move2NZ

2009-08-31T04:53:00.000Z

For 19 months now, I've been a member of Move2NZ. It's an excellent forum where you can chat about emigrating or get serious questions answered, meet-up with other would-be émigrés, discover useful contacts, receive updates and much, much more.

It's very friendly and forum members - many of whom are already in NZ - know a ton about the whole process, from what the schools are like, or where to buy a cheap sofa, to who the good pet shippers are.

Still haven't found, what I'm waiting for

2009-08-15T09:41:00.000+01:00

Pictogram from www.fotosearch.com

Guess what? I'm still waiting to hear back from The University. Going to chase them myself now, although Study Options have done a good job of it so far, it can't hurt to have two people chasing. I doubt it'll make any difference, but I'll feel better for it!

Open mind, open life

2009-08-14T11:00:00.000+01:00

One interesting side-effect of planning to emigrate is that it seems to free the mind to all sorts of other new possibilities.

My boyfriend's UK teaching qualification is only accepted in NZ with a whole slew of extra paperwork, so he's decided to pursue other career options. From being a local government employee, he's now opening his mind to thoughts of a a portfolio career/composite career. (If you want to know more that, the Times Higher Educational Supplement and Life Coaching Zone both have good pages on the topic.)

He's always had a hidden creative streak (or six), so he's now looking into the possibility of getting flexible work in NZ based on his current work, perhaps tutoring. I will be doing a science PhD and I think NZ may be short of them, because as my partner, he'll be given a three-year work visa. A flexible job should allow him the time to build-up experience, knowledge, contacts and a portfolio in photography and writing, and works towards earning money from them.

I'm Waiting for the Man

2009-07-04T18:40:00.000+01:00

Ok, really I'm waiting for the university, but there isn't a cool Lou Reed song with university in the title. (That I know of, please tell me if I'm wrong!)

I sent my paperwork off to the university about four months ago and...I'm still waiting. It's very frustrating - without the offer letter I can't apply for the visas, without a visa the boyfriend can't apply for jobs, blah blah blah.

On the plus side, it's a great excuse to put off decorating the darn house, but on the downside, I have no idea when I'm going to get to Aotearoa.

Talking of which, I watched The Lord of the Rings last night, and the night before, it's very long. The scenery was breath-taking and of course, you'll be aware it was filmed in NZ. I can see why tourism to NZ shot-up after it was released. But IHMO, the scenery was the best bit. That and Orlando Bloom not doing much talking.

Being stalled

2009-06-01T09:45:00.000+01:00

Not sure if it's the currently lovely weather (I'm typing this in the garden) , or whether it's all the new friends I've been making, or sheer exhaustion (job-hunting while working and planning this emigration), but I'm finding myself pretty stalled.

Our much-loved dog died on 30th April, so we took a couple of weekends off the emigration-planning lark, just to remember her, allow ourselves to feel sad and not flog ourselves onwards. But since there, there's been very little done. It's just been so much more fun to go out to a local free music festival, have BBQs, mess about online and sit in the garden.

In fact, once or twice we've even said we're not sure we want to go - why after years of living in this town are exciting things suddenly happening for us?

Assuming I can get my ass back in gear - which is hard after a 12-hour day of working plus job-hunting - I'm sure that come the winter I'll be glad we stuck with it. Well, pretty sure!

But that leaves me with the question of how I get back to it. In terms of paperwork, it's all waiting for the university to come back to me. So, that leaves getting the house ready for sale. Most of the house needs decorating, how can I motivate myself to get on with it? All suggestions gratefully received.

Selling rather than renting-out

2009-05-31T09:03:00.000Z

Boyfriend originally planned to let his house, so we'd have somewhere to live if we decided to come back to the UK.

Having done some research though, he's pretty much changed his mind.

Rightly, landlords have quite a few responsibilities, from ensuring furniture is flame-retardant, to ensuring CO2 detectors are in-place, getting an energy efficiency rating on the property and much, much more. If you want more on this, the Career Breaks site is an excellent source as is Direct.Gov.UK.

Then there's the trickiness of managing a property from the other side of the world. Letting agents take a percentage of the rent, but what they actually do for the fee is limited. And don't even get me started on needing to arrange repairs with a 12-hour time difference.

Finally there's the thorny issue of covering the mortgage if the house was to be without tenants for a while, on top of paying for our own accommodation in NZ.

So, all-in-all, it looks like boyfriend prefers to sell the house. There could be two ways to go with this, sell to an individual buyer or sell to a Sell-and-Rent-Back scheme. These have had lots of bad press, so much so, that the Financial Services Authority is going to license the schemes from July 1st '09, which hopefully will rule-out the cowboys. The FSA advised me to wait for that date, speak to my local Citizens Advice Bureau to find a local provider who's well-regarded, then check they're registered/getting registered.

Police certificates arrived

2009-05-30T16:00:00.000Z

Our police checks have now been completed. They made me laugh, rather than saying we had no criminal records, they employ a very cautious phrase "No trace". Almost as though they just couldn't find any traces of nefarious activity by us!

If you're ready to apply for yours and in the UK, you need to go to the Assoc. Chief Police officers site to download the application form.

No word from the university yet, so we're rescheduling our medical checks, should now be in late July.

How I hate waiting

2009-05-12T09:30:00.000Z

My university application response letter is now three weeks' late.

Luckily, as I'm going through Study Options, I don't have to be the one to follow-up with the uni, as there's a fine balance between being motivated and assertive, and being a pain in the behind!

Without wanting to sound over-confident, as I'm applying for a PhD and have already discussed things with my would-be PhD Supervisor, I'm reasonably sure it's just a paperwork process.

What's making me antsy is that I can't apply for a student visa until I have the official uni acceptance letter in my hot little paw. And with my medical check booked for 28th May, I'd been hoping to post off the visa application on 29th May.

OK, I admit I'm also antsy over waiting to hear if I've been accepted :-)

Scholarship application, police check & health check

2009-05-11T09:21:00.001Z

My application for a major PhD scholarship (the NZIDRS) has been sent, please will everyone wish it luck!

..................

It's an NZ visa requirement to provide a police certificate confirming one has no convictions. That application has just been posted, which included getting a professional person to confirm my photos was actually me. This costs £40 each, which is bearable. Next stop is a health check and x-rays in two weeks' time. About £300 each, yikes!

Phew!

2009-05-09T09:14:00.000Z

Things are becoming a lot easier regarding emigrating and the boyfriend's parents. At least one of them is now looking forward to seeing NZ, which is a massive step forward for us. Both of them want to have regular updates on our progress, another giant leap. They also said they understand we need to live our lives and that they want us to be happy.

As the shock to them both when the boyfriend first raised it was huge and it was a tricky conversation, I got the feeling that NZ wasn't to be mentioned. It just goes to show that to assume is to make an ass of u and me. (I know, terrible phrase, but its point is very useful.)

I'm thinking this means that with the passage of time, boyfriend's parents are coming to accept the emigration, even if they're not thrilled about it. I was totally blown-away to hear all the above and shed a shedload of guilt.

Another step closer to emigrating

2009-04-15T18:58:00.000Z

My formal application for a PhD place at Waikato University was sent to Study Options a couple of weeks ago. Study Options have offices round the world and act as a liaison between students and Kiwi (and Oz) universities.

They can certify all those pesky documents, check your application's complete and do it all over again for your student visa application! There's no charge to students for using them, they're paid from the universities' outreach/marketing budgets.

*Handy Hint*: send your university official application ASAP, as you can't apply for a student visa without an official university offer letter - I'd been merrily assuming that a print-out of an email from my supervisor-to-be would do. Nope.

One place where an email from my supervisor-to-be will do however, is the application for the NZ International Doctoral Research Scholarship. Thankfully as they obviously deal with PhD applicants, they realise the application process is different to taught postgrad & undergrad courses.

Today I finished the shortened research proposal (shortened to one page from the six-page version the university needed) and wrote a personal statement (well, it's a heavily amended version of the university application form personal statement - I love copy'n'paste).

I'm hoping to get a careers adviser from my old university to check-over my personal statement, as obviously, the scholarship application is very important to me. And maybe get that sent early next week.

*Handy Hint 2*: timing those references. I don't seem to have mastered this one yet: my uni application was held-up while waiting for my references to come through, whereas for my scholarship application, one of my references is already on its way, even though my application isn't! Ah well, it's all just too complex, even using MS Project (brill project management software) I've not yet cracked this one!

Proving a partnership when you're not married

2009-03-30T08:41:00.000Z

As a PhD student, my boyfriend/partner should get a 3-year work visa under what NZ Immigration Service (NZIS) call the Family Stream.

However as we're not married, we have to provide NZIS with a fair amount of proof of our relationship.

He owns his house and I live with him, I'm not on the mortgage or deeds. He pays most of the utilities and I transfer money to him each month for my share, so we've no joint utilities bills.

We do however have Council Tax bills going to 2005, with both our names on. We also have a joint NZ savings account (since 2008), plus both our bank accounts show regular transfers of money to each other (since 2005, but hoping they don't need that far back!).

We have some photos of us on holiday in Florida (2007), we're trying to dig-out photos showing us together at each other's graduations (2005 & 2008) and we have wedding invites addressed to us both (2007 & 2009). We've accumulated many slushy birthday & anniversary cards, plus a few - surprisingly few actually - emails to each other. We think we're going to have to swallow our pride and submit the slushy cards!

The NZIS website has a long list of suggestions for proving partnership or marriage, much of it helpful and straightforward. But I must admit, this final one has me stumped: "Evidence of you being committed to each other emotionally and exclusively, such as evidence of joint decision making, an exclusive s*xual relationship, and the sharing of household duties, parental responsibility, and spare time". I mean, how can I provide evidence that I cook, while boyfriend washes-up? Or that we have long conversations about budgets and household expenditure? And don't me started on the more intimate stuff!

Things I wish I'd known sooner

2009-03-29T14:38:00.000Z

No. 1 in what will probably become a long, long series....

I wish I'd known that I can't submit a student visa application until I've got an official offer letter from my new university. I assumed that as I'll be a PhD student, a letter from my PhD supervisor would suffice.

So I've had to rush like mad to write my PhD initial research proposal, my personal statement and complete the uni application form to get that off ASAP.

I'm also waiting on people to write my references.... so my advice to you, is start filling that lot in as soon as you can!

The best laid plaNZ of mice and men

2009-03-13T16:12:00.000Z

Just when you think you've got it all sorted... your employer tells you that your job is being made redundant!

This was a blow as you can imagine, however two weeks on, I am feeling a lot better and now see the news as a deviation in the plan, not an insurmountable obstacle.

I am thinking of getting an interim job for two-five months to pay the bills while all the emigration paperwork is processed, and of going to New Zealand earlier.

The revised sums indicate that - as long as boyfriend's car sells - by summer we should have saved just enough dosh to get to NZ and see us through the first month.

I am so very, very glad that I've been budgeting and saving like crazy over the past year, even if I hadn't been planning to emigrate, it's been a wise thing to do in this economic climate.

.

Further interesting news for those who want to study in NZ

2009-02-22T12:00:00.000Z

The latest bulletin from the folks at Emigrate says that the "Falling Kiwi dollar draws international students" and quotes the chair of the Association for Migration and Investment as saying that they will be pushing for a 'study to residence visa'. What a dashed good idea!

Why Waikato?

2009-02-21T18:47:00.001Z

What with the research that's going on there, plus its location, Waikato Uni is shaping-up to be my first choice for a PhD place.

I was also really interested to receive an email from the uni's international office, saying that spouses of PhD students get 3-year work visas. Me and him indoors find this very interesting....

Sadly the visa specialist wasn't at work the day after I got that email, but I'll be phoning her tomorrow and trying to get more info, so watch this space

One step closer to emigrating

2009-02-16T17:52:00.001Z

I have been talking to two Professors in New Zealand universities and both have given me informal offers of places!

The two places come with some funding, but one has the possibility of full funding should my efforts to raise funds should prove unsuccessful.

Make it easy on yourself

2009-01-14T16:39:00.000Z

Have you noticed the box at the top right of the screen? Enter your email address there and you'll automatically get all Posts emailed to you.

I won't spam you and I won't pass your details on to anyone.
.

Expression of Interest

2008-12-19T03:46:00.000Z

This is finished, other than dropping-in once piece of information about boyfriend's qualification.

However, we've decided to hang fire on this for a couple of months. We have 110 points without a job application, meaning we may or may not get selected to go to the next visa stage within the six-month limit. And we'd hate to waste money paying for this to happen twice.

So we'll probably wait to get the New Zealand Teachers Council verdict first...

Paperwork back from New Zealand Qualifications Assessment

2008-12-18T03:44:00.000Z

My boyfriend's paperwork came back yesterday, I think it took four months for them to look at it and return it.

I haven't actually asked him what was said, but I think it's all ok.

Next step is to add some extras and then fire it back to New Zealand, this time to the New Zealand Teachers Council. This is the step we've been waiting for with baited breath, as my boyfriend doesn't fit their specifications exactly.

So, we shall remain hopeful and see what they say.

PhD progress

2008-12-16T03:39:00.000Z

Over the past three months, I've been emailing several potential PhD supervisors with a view to starting a PhD - and I actually had a phone conversation with one recently.

I was a bit nervous beforehand as it suddenly dawned on me that it was in fact, an interview. However, he was very informal and the conversation was really interesting.

It ended with an informal offer of a place, which was very exciting. I'm doing a little more research for now, but it was extremely good news!

NZ Immigration Service answers Expression of Interest questions

2008-11-23T17:00:00.000Z

So I had another three-hour bash at the online Expression of Interest form.

I got very fed-up with the NZ Immigration Service (NZIS) email service, when they took three days to send me an email saying they'd already answered my question...needless to say they hadn't. My phone package includes free calls to NZ (TalkTalk's Talk International 3 I think it's called), so I decided to phone an NZIS NZ office.

There weren't too many buttons to press to get through to the right department and I wasn't kept on-hold long, so if you can swing free/cheap calls to NZ, I recommend calling rather than emailing. There is an office in the UK - and in many other countries too - but it costs about £1/minute!

As I mentioned in my last post, I'd needed to untangle the niceties of being a secondary applicant for a Skilled Migrant visa.The nice lady at NZIS asked if my qualifications were on the NZIS recognised qualifications list (they're a BSc and MSc from recognised universities so they are), therefore the good news is they don't need to be assessed, saving money and time, hurrah.

The less-than-good-but-what-I-expected-although-it-never-hurts-to-ask news, was that doing a funded PhD will not count as a skilled offer of employment and therefore will not give us any further points. Que sera sera.

All we need now is the reference number from the NZQA for assessing my boyfriend's qualifications. As fans of Miss Jocelyn would say "This will take a loooooooong time".

.

Second instalment of emigration paperwork

2008-11-09T17:22:00.000Z

Today I spent two hours chugging-away at the online form...seriously beginning to wonder if doing the paper version would have been easier and faster! It costs more, I think I know why.

On the bright side, the NZ immigration people answered my question via email, so I was able to enter my qualifications.

Sadly I then had to fire off two more questions to the NZ immigration people:

do my qualifications need to be assessed even though I'm the secondary applicant? (Boyfriend is primary applicant as he'll have an official job, I'll be merely a lowly PhD slave.)
does a paid PhD count as a job?

Currently we have 110 points, which is not bad considering we don't have a job offer yet - with a job offer, I think it'll go up to 150 points, but as we're over the 100 mark, we hope to get picked for the initial round.

This would allow some government paperwork to happen first, rather than having all the stress of waiting for the paperwork to happen once a job offer's been made - and who knows if the offer would be held open long enough.

I think I will add Senior Project Manager and Emigration Advisor to my CV, once all this work pays off.

Emigration application underway

2008-10-28T17:32:00.000Z

Today I spent about three happy hours on the first stage of our official visa application.

It's called the Expression of Interest and it boils down to saying "Hi New Zealand Emigration Service. I'd like to apply for Residency as a Skilled Migrant, here's a little bit of information about me and my partner, our work history and our qualifications. We don't have any communicable diseases and we're not involved in crime."

With both of us combining our relevant work history and qualifications into one application, we hope to have enough points to be invited to apply for Residency. You can get an idea of how many points you'll get by using the short and easy NZ Immigration Service's points indicator.

Well, that's the theory! Sadly I haven't yet found where to add my qualifications, so our points total is a little low. I've emailed the NZIS to ask them about that, as well as posting my question on the helpful and friendly fora at Move2NZ.com

In the meantime, most of the questions could be answered easily, but some, like the boyfriend's birth certificate number, need looking-up. The online application can be saved and further details added when you're ready. Only when it's all complete does a lovely, shiny Submit button appear.

You can do an online Expression of Interest - it's slightly cheaper than the paper version, but then again you can see where all the questions are on the paper one. The first step is to create an online account, not only can you make a visa application, but you can also have a collection of useful bookmarks from the NZIS website.

How to pummel your parents (as lightly as possible)

2008-10-01T07:35:00.000Z

Last weekend I had my first proper conversation with my Mum about emigrating and this weekend just gone, boyfriend told his parents for the first time. Neither conversation was pleasant, but it is a huge weight off my mind to have things out in the open.

We both tackled it different ways: I'd been speaking to my Mum for a while about vague ideas of emigrating, so we didn't have that bombshell conversation, it probably grew more organically. Therefore my conversation with her was, belatedly, acknowledging the impact on her and giving her an opportunity to tell me how she feels about it.

Boyfriend had prepared lots to say to his parents, including how much he was going to miss them and that he'd be putting money aside to come back for visits. In the end though, he mainly let them talk, I understand it was too much of a shock for them to take-in much.

Boyfriend looked for tips online and in books, but didn't have too much luck. What we mainly found was people saying it was difficult. This can be looked at in at least three ways - it could put the fear of G-d into us, and/or we can let it remind us that while it may not go pleasantly on the day, there's usually a way for everyone to get through it and to continue to relate to each other.

Based on our experiences, here are my suggestions:

The sooner you speak-up the better, both for you and for your parents/family.
Prepare what to say - hopefully this list will help. Some of us find role-play helpful, especially if we have a tendency to be defensive.
If in a couple, decide whether to tell the parents/family on your own or as a couple.
Tell people on their own territory if possible.
No time is ideal, but do your best to pick a time when: they aren't dealing with another crisis; things are as happy and calm between you as possible; you won't be interrupted; neither of you have to be somewhere/do anything afterwards.
Take some Rescue Remedy before you go in to meet them, or you speak to them and take some s-l-o-w, deep breaths.
Start by saying you know this is going to have a big effect on them and you're not doing it lightly.
Get to the point as quickly as you can.
Be very ready to Actively Listen to what they want to say in response - do your utmost not to be defensive or to interrupt - really focus on listening. This is hard, but possible. (10 tips for Active Listening http://thelife.com/students/people/listen/)
Remind them how important they are to you and that you will still need them.
Judge the situation as to whether or not they are ready for further details such as visits, phone calls and emails, timeframe, your reasons, etc.
Try very hard to make a budget for your new life that pays for/contributes towards visits and if you've been able to do so, and they're able to hear it at that moment, let them know.
Take more Rescue Remedy and offer to share it.
Remember that you won't have reached your decision lightly and there are important reasons for wanting to emigrate. You don't have to explain them, but keep them in mind, you have a right to live your life.
Be prepared to talk to them again once the dust has settled a bit - this may be two hours/two weeks/two months/etc later. Either them telling you more about how they feel, or you speaking more about your plans, or both.
Further point down the line, consider asking whether you have their understanding, even if they're not happy about your decision. Bear in mind that some will never understand your decision. This is genuinely sad, but you still have a right to live your life.
Again, further down the line, see if they would like to become involved. How that might happen will be up to you and them. (For instance my Mum is really good at seeing the big picture and at helping the decision-making process.)

Good luck with this. I know it's hard, but the sooner the better.

If you have any tips/comments on my suggestions, please let me know. I know I can learn from them and so can others.

Politician praises migrants!

2008-09-24T15:53:00.001Z

From http://www.emigrate2.co.uk/Emigrate_Now_15.htm

"In a recent speech, New Zealand Immigration Minister ... emphasised the importance of migrants to New Zealand's economy. He revealed that the migrant population provided a net ...contribution of NZ$3.3 billion in ... 2006 – up by approximately 80 per cent from 2003.

"It is widely know that migrants make a major contribution to our economy, but not so widely recognised is quite how large that contribution is," he said. "Migrants drive innovation, give our businesses international connections, and provide a range of skills to transform our economic landscape. Temporary workers enable our employers to fill their job vacancies when there are no New Zealanders available to take up the positions."

Over the past 60 years, migrants have accounted for 60% of the growth in the national workforce, with much of that growth occurring in skills shortage areas."

The full story appears in the October 2008 edition of Emigrate New Zealand"

I'm glad to see that New Zealand can appreciate its migrants.

Yikes, it might actually happen!

2008-09-23T16:30:00.000Z

Over the past couple of weeks, I've emailed about nine potential PhD supervisors in NZ. Five have responded, pretty positively. So I've been New Zealand-ising my CV and turning my MSc thesis into a pdf.

And I'm trying to find out what Wellington, Palmerston North or Hamilton are like to live in. Anyone with experience, please let me know!

Separating the sheep from the goats

2008-09-05T15:59:00.000Z

Last night I watched the New Zealand comedy-horror flick Black Sheep.
(Directed by Kiwi Johnathan King, released in the UK in 2007, don't confuse it with the US film, same name, 1996)

I never watch horror - and even with this 15-certificate, comedy film, I had to occasionally look away during the odd gory bit - but I loved it!

It poked fun at eco-types like myself; vegetarians, again like me; farmer stereotypes; mad scientists; GM; sibling rivalry; bestiality; gun ownership; meat-eating; the overwhelming number of sheep in NZ; agribusiness; therapy and more. And it contained wonderful references to Jurassic Park, Altered States, American Werewolf in London, Evil Dead, endless zombie films and more. Finally, there was non-stop glorious scenery in the form of the Wellington region landscape.

Without any spoilers, the plotline is: sheep-farmer's son returns to his family home - he can't live there 'cos of his sheep phobia - and shortly gets caught-up in all manner of strange sheep-related events...

I'd advise not eating while watching this and get your (sheep's) tongue firmly in your cheek.
.

Costs I forgot to mention

2008-08-29T22:29:00.000+01:00

The cost of boyfriend applying to New Zealand Qualification Assessment and the New Zealand Teachers Council: about £150 (that's GBP)...

...and also my university applications: about £100.

And don't get me started on the cost of recorded air mail to NZ, probably about £20 a pop.

Cost of emigrating to New Zealand

2008-08-24T10:30:00.000+01:00

There's no doubt that it costs A LOT, most of my costs are currently projected rather than actual, as boyfriend and I have just started filling-in the forms*.

My projected costs, boyfriend's costs will be similar. All in GBP/£:
Airfare from UK to NZ (I'll be carbon off-setting that for years!) 800
Shipping & blood testing my two cats (thankfully no quarantine) 1100
My half of the Skilled Migrant Visa - both stages 470
My Migrant Levy fee 130
Shipping possessions (about three tea chests) 500
Police check 10
Health checks - tests & chest x-ray 300
My half of a deposit & 1st month's rent for a house 531
TOTAL 3841

There are 16 months between date of posting this and when we want to go, therefore I'm saving like crazy. It has recently dawned on us that if things don't work out in NZ, it'd take a while to save like crazy to leave again! This is a sobering thought, though obviously, we're doing lots of research and from that, intending that things will mainly go well. And in any case, it must be very dispiriting to be a Ping-Pong Pom.

As I'll be doing a PhD in NZ, I could go for a student visa, but there are restrictions: no state healthcare; limited ability to get part-time work; the stay in NZ is time-limited; etc. So I've decided that for security when I get there, paying about £500 extra upfront is worth it. (Maybe I'm wrong tho - do let me know!)

When I emigrated, I had wanted to be 100% clear of debt (incurred while studying my BSc and MSc), but this would mean emigrating with a tiny amount of money. This is impractical so I'm compromising, saving more but paying-off less. The rest will have to be paid-off more slowly, once I'm in NZ, but at least I'll be able to eat while waiting for my funding to appear in my bank account!

(*If you want actual costs, look at the experiences of someone who's further along then I am, in the blog I've called "funny and interesting". You'll find it in the list of blogs, further down and to the right).

Another great thing about New Zealand

2008-08-19T10:50:00.000+01:00

It is free of both nuclear weapons and nuclear power!

Move to New Zealand - a group on www.43things.com

2008-08-18T09:08:00.001+01:00

As there are 180 of us (at time of writing), it might make it easier to communicate/ask questions/post answers/give moral support if we had an online group.

does anyone agree?

See more progress on: Move to New Zealand

NZ on DVD

2008-08-11T14:00:00.000+01:00

In order to find out more about NZ - as we've never even visited - and to maintain money-saving and renovating the house motivation, we watch DVDs about New Zealand.

These two have pretty good variety of places and decent filming, but hilariously bad music and commentary:
* New Zealand Coast to Coast
* Natural Wonders of New Zealand.

Snow news is good news

2008-08-03T20:45:00.000+01:00

So I heard (from move2NZ.com) that New Zealand, at time of writing in mid-winter, has had snow from about halfway down the North Island, southwards, yikes. I'm now thinking of striking Palmerston North off the list and holding-out for either Tauranga or Hamilton. I can't emigrate somewhere that has snow!

All of which is intended as distraction from the fact that my New Zealand work at the moment consists of saving money, doing-up the house so it can be rented-out and trying not to nag the boyfriend in hurrying the hell up with his supposed application to the New Zealand Teachers Council. Not terribly interesting blog topics...

Cheers!

Any progress on the New Zealand front?

2008-06-23T09:46:00.000+01:00

Hmmm, not exactly!

So in the meantime, here's some suggestions of interesting Kiwi films:
* Eagle vs Shark - independent-style comedy about two unusual people and how they relate to each other, their families and the wider world.

* The Quiet Earth - real sci-fi (ie not a space opera with silly aliens) about a survivor after unusual solar observations appear to have wiped-out all living beings.

Wikipedia has a comprehensive page on New Zealand cinema, from 1896 to films currently awaiting release. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinema_of_New_Zealand#Recently_Released_New_Zealand_Movies

My first NZ emigraters' meet-up

2008-06-09T16:39:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I went to my first meet-up for people who are interested in emigrating to NZ.

I found it through the website http://www.emigratenz.org/ Yesterday was for people from England's North West region, but I'm sure there are meet-ups for other regions on the fora.

It was great to meet other people who are also embarked on this epic journey, plus to hear about still other people who used to be in the group, but who are now in NZ - very inspiring!

I got to hear about one of the towns I'm interested in, as well as some general info, from people who've actually been to NZ. Plus a recommendation to do a vineyard tour - or two :-)

So, don't be shy, go to a meet-up near you!

New Zealand Teachers Council

2008-06-02T05:35:00.000+01:00

Hmmmmm, boyfriend had exploratory chat with NZ Teachers Council. Actually I should say he tried to have an exploratory chat with them! They weren't very forthcoming, wouldn't listen, just kept saying "Complete the form and send it in" to everything.

So I'm hoping this was someone having a bad day, not a sample of utterly ridiculous bureaucracy to come.

Now boyfriend is waiting to see if he's passed his Postgrad Certificate with the Open University. If he has, the form will be submitted. If he hasn't...

Emigration emotions run riot

2008-05-12T08:28:00.000Z

We do two hours of concentrated New Zealand emigration planning and thinking every Sunday. This Sunday things took a more personal turn. Rather than read about visas, skills shortages, etc, we discussed giving up the car and telling our families.

Most of my family live abroad, but my mum is still here in the UK. Boyfriend's family are all here and they are very close, so it's probably going to be traumatic telling them that we want to go to New Zealand. They're going to be worried about things going wrong for us, plus they will be concerned about not seeing boyfriend very often.

It's hard-impossible to predict how families will react when you say something this momentous. We had a go, thinking of what they might say and how we might be able to ease their worry and show that we've thought of them in our planning. For instance we will look at adding into boyfriend's budget the cost of him flying home for the winter holiday. I'm going to New Zealand to do a PhD, so am unlikely to be able to afford it for three years.

My mum already knows I want to go to NZ and has been amazing about it, looking at things from my perspective rather hers. However, she's not in the best of health and I am concerned about being so far away. That said, I have not been of all that much help to her in the past year when she had to move for health reasons. Emigrating forces you to think about this kind of stuff!

Maintaining a car costs a ton of money. Not only the rising cost of petrol - to be expected as the world has now passed peak oil production - but repairs, tax, MOT, etc. There's a stark choice ahead of us, either boyfriend gets rid of car, or he has to find a second income, or he won't be able to save any money for emigration. However if you're used to the flexibility a car offers you - when you don't live in a city - it's hard to think of being without that.

Boyfriend is great at IT so we were wondering about home-based part-time IT work, maybe on an IT helpline - but he already works long hours... so then we thought of swapping the car for a scooter... and then of using cheap car hire. He doesn't need the car on a day-to-day basis, but it's really handy if we want to go on a day-trip or visit people out of town.

As all of this is quite soul-searching stuff, so we finished off the bout of New Zealand emigration planning with something fun - generating a Mind Map to remind ourselves of why we're emigrating:
* lots of sunshine;
* being around positive people (the kiwis);
* better prospects by working in a country that's short of graduates;
* amazing scenery;
* living in a country that did not support the Iraq war;
* access to an outdoor lifestyle;
* interesting wildlife;
* miles of coastline;
* and more!

Crikey - a hurdle! Didn't see that coming

2008-05-06T14:49:00.000Z

Oh dear, I'm trying not to feel despondent. At the NZ Emigration Expo, boyfriend and I found out that his teaching qualification (Graduate Teaching Programme, or GTP) is now only accepted with five years' experience. By the time we want to go, he will only have three and a half years' experience...

Now I am not a person who listens when someone tells me "no", so I instantly started ideas-showering (same as brain-storming, but without using a potentially offensive term) to come up with ways we can get round it and persuade the NZ Teachers Council that he does have the necessary skills and knowledge.

Some of the ideas:

Apply to the NZ Teachers Council very early and get a list of all "gaps" they spot in his skills, then use the next 18 months to fill those gaps or provide better evidence which shows that gap/s don't exist.
See if the NZ Teachers Council do paid consultancy and get advice directly from them.
Get a PostGraduate Certificate. Not the PostGraduate Cert of Education which is the teaching qualification the NZ Teachers Council prefers (it's not possible to do that if you've done the GTP already), but a Post Graduate Certificate in an educational area.
Talk to the teaching unions and see if they have any suggestions, contacts, etc.
Find out if there's a conversion course.
List all the Continuing Professional Development activities he's engaged in (ie InSeT days, leadership programme, speaking at conferences, forging partnerships with external organisations, etc).
Highlight that already he's a subject co-ordinator and a deputy subject co-ordinator.
Make it very clear he had three years experience as a classroom assistant before he even started training.
Start to make direct contact with schools in NZ and get them interested in employing him.
I'm starting to think boyfriend should employ me as his publicity agent and chief negotiator.

Plus some recent learning, is that NZ homes are usually unfurnished, therefore we'll either need to pay to ship some of our furniture over there, or buy things when we arrive :-(

And another thing - we didn't know about certain fees on top of visa fees (Migrant Levy, health and police checks), so the amount of money we project we'll arrive in NZ with, has drastically shrunk, yipes!

To finish on a couple of high notes:

We found out from the incredibly helpful people at NZ Immigration, that rather than making two visa applications (boyfriend for a Skilled Migrant and me for a Student), we will be better off doing one. We can add our points together and go further up the Skilled Migrant Expression of Interest pool.
We met-up in-person with some really lovely fellow migrant-wannabes that we'd been chatting to on NZ emigration fora - and ended-up having lots of laughs.

OK, I'm off to eat a slice of cake to cheer myself up, I suggest you do the same.

What's so great about New Zealand?

2008-04-26T10:58:00.000Z

Good question, especially for me, as I've never been.

At the latest New Zealand Emigration Expo, in mid-April, I learned that New Zealand (NZ) has the lowest unemployment and inflation rates in the OECD.

From my own research, I've found that of NZ's eight universities, seven carry-out fish & aquatic ecology research.

The Kiwis I've met have been positive and open to change and yes, I know they are only a selection, but I liked it!

NZ cities punch way above their weight in surveys of global quality of life and of course NZ is famous for its outdoor pursuits and wildlife.

I've never been to NZ, so how on earth can I decide where to settle? Where I'll ultimately move to will be determined by where I can get a PhD place and funding (hopefully through NZ International Doctoral Research Scholarships) plus where my boyfriend can get a job.

But in the meantime, I've had fun using an online graphic equaliser-style Flash gadget - on the NZ Educated website - to help me decide. Using my preferences for sun, sea, scenery, small towns, smidge of cultural stuff and scenic walks, it recommends the Bay of Plenty area, in the north-east corner of NZ's north island.

What happened next

2008-04-22T15:40:00.001Z

Florida has tons of coastline and freshwater - pretty essential for a fish ecologist, that's what I am, or in training to be - so at first I thought FLA was the place. Then I found out that PhDs take five years; I read about the tough time us Brits have getting a work visa; but the final kibosh was Michael Moore's moving film Sicko putting the fear of G-d into me re what might happen if I or boyfriend became ill.

Then boyfriend and I started remembering all the great things we'd heard about New Zealand at the expo in 2006. We put aside all thoughts of IHOP and Chipotle Grill - see links on the right - and lovely straight, wide roads and turned our minds southwards...

We researched fish PhDs (looking potentially very plentiful) and skills NZ is short of (teaching and environmental science - yay, that describes us) and in February 2008, decided to go hell for leather for New Zealand.

How I came to consider emigrating

2008-04-22T15:26:00.002Z

Have set myself a challenge with that title, as I'm not quite sure how it all began. Maybe growing-up in Papua New Guinea, gave me wanderlust, maybe it's due to 3/4 of my immediate family now living abroad, or maybe it's down to never being in-tune with mass opinion in the UK?

I know I'm miserable when I return to the UK after being abroad... and I get v bad winter blues... plus the English attitude, "we've always done it this way so we'll carry on doing it this way" drives me mad!

I started to think about it in 2000, after doing a bit of travelling. I fell in love with Malaysia and Malaysians (thank you Karen and lovely friends for making me feel TOTALLY at home lah), but my puny efforts at emigration didn't amount to anything.

Then the desire to emigrate came back again in 2002, when I went to South Africa as one my sisters married a South African. What a beautiful country, with lovely people. Maybe bad timing on my part but that didn't work out either!

I started to get a bit more serious in 2006, when I visited the New Zealand Emigration expo. Finally, a country in need of graduates and people with skills - offering information on how to get a working visa, how to find jobs and making it obvious what skills were needed.

The major turning point came with finishing my MSc at the end of 2007 and going on holiday to Florida's lovely west coast (no Disney, just wildlife and more lovely people). This time I came back determined....