Over the last few weeks we’ve had a lot of people reach out looking for information on how we secured our visas, found a job and what we think of life in New Zealand. So we decided to compile a three part post about our experience “Preparing to Leave“, setting up “Upon Arrival” and “Life in New Zealand“. We won’t be able to cover every angle (ex. kids as we don’t have any yet), but we will share everything we know and have experienced in making the move to New Zealand.
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| How we told our friends and family |
Disclaimer: This will be based on our experience and will most likely differ depending on your situation. The hope is that this will provide some context which will help you plan for your own move to New Zealand.
Visas
There is a debate as to what comes first – the visa or the job. Our experience has been most employers ask you on the job application if you have the legal right to work in New Zealand, so our recommendation is to secure a visa first. Keep in mind though as soon as that visa is approved, you have a certain amount of time (6-12 months depending on your visa) to enter New Zealand, when your visa officially starts. Ensure you consider that in your timeline and planning when selecting your visa.
Your selection of visa will depend on a lot of factors – your age, country you live in, experience, industry and intention (moving for a year vs permanently or for study vs work). Immigration New Zealand has heaps of information on their website to help you select the right visa so be sure to check out their website and call their helpline. Overall, if you are under 35 (30 for some countries) there are more visa options to choose from and as long as you’re under 55 there are still options such as the Skilled Migrant Visa. If you need some assistance in understanding what visa is best for you, you can contact Immigration New Zealand or read more on New Zealand Now‘s site about engaging a licensed Immigration Officer.
Since we were under 35 and had skills on the ‘shortage list’, we opted to apply for the ‘special’ Silver Fern Visa. This visa is only offered once a year (usually on April 30th but was not offered this year yet) and is open to 300 applicants worldwide – so once it’s full – that’s it for the year. You can fill in your basic information in advance but must be ready and signed in at 10am (NZ time) on the dot to enter your credit card details and submit your request to apply. It’s so popular though that it essentially ‘sells out’ within ~8 minutes of the online system opening – and because everyone is trying to get these visas, the system usually crashes which is what happened to Jordan. I got in just in time and he missed out by probably a minute of it filling up. You can read all about that experience on our ‘Winning (and losing) the visa Lottery’ blog. Once you’ve been ‘accepted to apply’, there’s a large amount of paperwork required (similar to other work visas) such as medical certificates, police checks, chest xrays, proof of education, including sending your passport (requirements depend on your situation).
Once you’ve provided all your requirements and if it gets approved, you are granted a Silver Fern Job Search Visa (mine took 5-6 weeks to receive acceptance after mailing it in). This provides you entry into New Zealand (must enter within 6 months of being issued your visa) to search for a job for up to 9 months and you are permitted to work for any employer in any capacity. If you secure a job within those 9 months you can then apply for a Silver Fern Practical Work Experience that extends your work visa for an additional 2 years. Paperwork at this stage was very little – I had to provide the proof of my job offer and my employer had to fill out a few pages but overall it was fairly simple and was actually approved within 48hours! One tip I will share is do not leave any section blank even if it doesn’t apply to you. Simply write “N/A” so they know you didn’t just miss a section as they WILL send your application back to you to resubmit.
Since Jordan wasn’t able to secure a Silver Fern Visa, he opted for the Working Holiday Visa. Although we initially thought this would limit his ability to find a good job, it turned out to have pretty much no impact at all. His application was extremely easy and after filling out his details he was emailed a Working Holiday Visa within 48 hrs that was valid for 12 months (he had to enter the country within 12 months). The only stipulation we found for his visa was he wasn’t able to accept a position without an end date prior to the expiry of his visa.
Jordan initially started an application for residency as he thought the Working Holiday Visa would limit his job opportunities or his ability to extend past twelve months, but once we both had jobs, and I had gone through to extend my visa to a Silver Fern Practical Visa, Jordan was able to submit a Partnership-based Visa to get his work visa extended for another 2 years (to the same date as mine). This resulted in him wasting about $830 USD in application fees and paperwork for his residency application that he never ended up using which proved to be quite an expensive learning experience.
For the Partnership-based Visa application we had to provide details on our relationship to prove we were a legitimate couple who had been living together for over a year. We had to provide a letter describing how we met, photos of us, proof of living together (shared bills), and taking vacations together (plane tickets) in addition to Jordan providing the same kind of paperwork I had to submit (medical certificate, chest xray, police check from Canada, etc). Despite having completed most of this while still in Canada, since those records are only valid for 3 months, he had to re-do the medical, chest x-ray and police check which proved to be more expensive and more complicated. However once all the paperwork was submitted, this was again approved within 48hrs upon receiving the application!
Here’s a breakdown of what we spent on the whole visa process:
Overall I can’t guarantee your turn around time or approval rate will be the same as ours – a lot of it depends on your specific application but it seems if you fulfill the visa requirements, have everything filled in correctly and you provide the documentation they require, it can be a fairly straight forward process. If you have any questions on the visa process, I recommend calling Immigration New Zealand (using Skype credits). We called them countless times to make sure we had all the details right and they were incredibly helpful and super friendly. If you’re stuck in the queue call back at a different time of day as you can usually talk to someone relatively quickly.
Jobs
When we initially started looking into moving to New Zealand it was stipulated on us both securing jobs in advance. So we started applying to jobs, but after seeing that many positions were for immediate hire, we decided – “Ok as long as one of us gets a job in advance we’ll go”. After getting several rejections from recruiters saying “You’re a great candidate, but if you’re looking to work in October, call us when you arrive in September and we’ll find you something”, we decided to say “Screw it! Let’s just go and hope it all works out”. There was no way we were going to be able to sell 2 houses, 2 cars, all our belonging and give our notice at work within a few weeks. Employers also want to know you’re serious about moving and seemed to prefer to meet in person which is why securing a job while overseas can be a major challenge. So we went down the path of uncertainly and hoped for the best!
Our job search continued while we liquidated our assets (houses, cars, belongings) by watching the online job board at www.seek.co.nz. Most of the jobs in New Zealand are posted on there so that’s a great place to start your search. You can even search by salary so you can get an idea what range the jobs you’re searching for fall into. It’s also easy to setup automatic daily notifications of jobs that meet a specific criteria (location, pay range, industry, key words, etc). Another resource to search is Trade Me Jobs which has a lot of the same listings as SEEK but occasionally has some different ones.
If you find a position or company that interests you, reach out to the contact on the application. Buy some Skype phone credits and take the time to make a connection over the phone. It makes a much bigger impact than being one of the thousand email applications I’m sure they’ve received. Most companies we found use recruiting companies so even after learning more about the position, if it turned out to be something I wasn’t really interested in, the recruiter now knew a bit more about what I was looking for and often suggested some other roles or other recruiters to speak to. Always follow up with an email and thank them for their time whether you end up applying or not. Also be sure to schedule a coffee chat when you get to the area to meet in person to find out about any new opportunities available. Some of the agencies we used were Worklife, Find Recruitment, Hays and Powerhouse People. Depending on what field you’re in or what area you are considering, do a search for recruiting companies in that area and see what positions they are hiring for.
In the end, I was lucky and received an offer for the first company I had an interview with (you can read my story here), Jordan took about a month after settling into Wellington to find a job but ended up with 2 offers to choose from! He shares his (slightly stressful) journey here.
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| Source |
Important Note: Hiring pretty much shuts down in December, January and February as everyone takes their vacation over the holidays. Some people take 4-6 weeks off so getting anything done (especially hiring) is really difficult. Jordan got his offer at the end of November just before the holiday shut down – if he didn’t it might have been March before he was able to get traction on a job.
Overall the pay we received for our positions was pretty comparable to Canada but could vary depending on your position, experience and industry. Use the tools within www.seek.co.nz to gain an understanding of pay ranges for positions of interest for you. Annual leave is also standard in New Zealand at a minimum of 4 weeks, plus 11 stat holidays and many employers allow you to ‘buy’ up to 2 weeks more each year without issue. Our experience has been that benefits are usually not included in your salary so you have to pay extra for that – but most companies have subsidized rates. I was a bit surprised by that and had no idea what it would cost to get comparable benefits to what I had in Canada, but to give you an idea, I got the highest level of coverage and it only costs me $67 a paycheck for both me and Jordan to be covered. Couple things to note – Dental Care is not standard and isn’t included in any standard package (you can choose to add it in) but I’ve found it’s best to just pay at the office (cost is ~$100 for a cleaning). Extra benefits like Massage Therapy that I thoroughly enjoyed back in Canada are also not included unfortunately. Lastly, some companies require a minimum of 6 weeks notice of resignation (as opposed to 2 weeks in Canada), so something to keep in mind you plan to change jobs or leave.
Saving up Money
If you’re going to pack up and move to the other side of the world with no guarantee of a job – you HAVE to save ahead. Since we had 2 properties and 2 cars to sell, we were able to use some of that equity for a ‘nest egg’ to support our time off without work, however, we still planned and saved up.
In addition to the minimum $4,200 NZD (plus enough to cover a ticket home) that you need to show as proof to Immigration when you arrive, I would recommend saving enough money to sustain yourself for 2-3 months. We planned to tour the North and South Island for the first 6 weeks before starting work so we had to plan for even more (I would HIGHLY recommend you take SOME time off before working as it’s sooooo much harder to take the time once you’re employed.)
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| Some of the activities we did our first 6 weeks |
Before we left Canada we also setup bank accounts in New Zealand and transferred money so we could access it as soon as we arrived. BNZ has a very easy ‘migrant banking’ processes that you can setup online where you can transfer funds before you leave through your local bank. Find out more about setting up a bank account with BNZ here (other banks here are ANZ, ASB and WestPac)
Personally, we initially transferred $10,000 CAD each to help get us setup with a car, paying a bond for our rental, travelling initially and getting settled. The amount you need may depend whether you choose to travel when you first arrive, if you’re planning to purchase and furnish a house right way (or rent), what kind of car you want, etc.
Bringing Documentation
When moving to a new country, you’re essentially starting from scratch with no history with local insurance companies, banks or service providers, therefore we made sure we brought as much documentation with us as possible. We requested letters from our insurance companies showing we had good driving and insurance records so we could show insurance companies here to help lower our rates (we ended up not needing to as insurance was SO CHEAP but always good to have).
We also requested letters from our banks indicating we had good credit records and always paid our mortgage on time. If you’re planning to rent, you may need to provide references from previous landlords. Since we had owned our properties for several years we provided the bank’s letter to demonstrate we would be responsible tenants.
Finally, make sure you purchase travel health insurance for a minimum of 6 months. You want to ensure you’ve covered should an emergency occur and if you don’t have any benefits yet to draw on. Bring several copies of your coverage and ensure you’ve got the right level for what you want and need in case of emergency. New Zealand does have it’s ACC program which will provide some basic emergency needs if you are injured while in New Zealand but it doesn’t replace the need for Travel Insurance. You can read more about what is covered for visitors to New Zealand here.
Picking where to Live
Depending on whether you want to live in a city or a smaller town, there are lots of great options for living in New Zealand. If you want a small town feel, places like Wanaka, Queenstown, Gisborne and New Plymouth are good options. When we were deciding where to live in New Zealand we actually spent little time researching. We googled the largest cities in New Zealand (as we wanted good job opportunities) and Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington were at the top.
Personally for us, Auckland was just too big. It’s a beautiful city, but overall we felt like you could be in any city in the world living there. It does have lots of job opportunities though so I wouldn’t count Auckland out – we have a lot of friends who love it there!
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| Auckland |
Christchurch would have been a great option a few years ago, but it has had its challenges with the devastating earthquakes and recent floods. It was a really nice city to visit, but it is still going through a major re-building phase and housing is quite expensive as many people are living out of motels and hostels still not able to move back into their homes from the earthquake. We’ve heard lots of great things about Christchurch though too, and if you have any experience in construction or civil engineering though there are HEAPS of opportunities there. The government is doing a major campaign to entice people to go to Christchurch offering $3,000 to move there for work so check out what opportunities are becoming available there.
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| Christchurch |
We chose Wellington for a number of reasons. It was a large enough city that it had a lot of job opportunities (it’s the capital of New Zealand so lots of government jobs too) and it had a lot of character that made you FEEL like you were living in New Zealand. Houses are scatters all over the hill tops surrounding the beautiful harbour and the little towns surrounding downtown give you a less ‘city’ feel.
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| Wellington |
We chose to live in Lyall Bay as it was a popular surf beach and we were lucky enough to find a cute little apartment right on the beach so we can literally run across the street in our wetsuits to catch a wave. Best of all, it’s only a 15min scooter (or 30min bus ride) to downtown! Groceries stores, department stores, restaurants all within a 10 min walk are just some of the reasons why we Love living in Lyall Bay.
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| Lyall Bay beach in front of our home |
Wellington has all kinds of little beach coves like Island Bay, Breaker Bay and Scorcher Bay and a number of great hiking trails that make you feel like you’re no where near a city. Mount Victoria in the heart of the city has some great mountain biking trails and Zealandia is a 225ha wildlife sanctuary in the middle of the city. Wellington also has a great culture and a vibrant night life along the famous Courtney Place. If you love coffee and great food there are a ton of great cafes and restaurants to choose from.
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| Zealandia in the middle of the city |
If you want to learn more about each area, I suggest reading more on New Zealand Now’s site on the various regions depending on what occupation you have and what kind of experience (both professional and personal) that you’re looking to have. TradeMe can provide some insight into the housing and rental costs for each area as well.
Packing
We went the ‘cleansing’ route and pretty much sold all our belongings. We kept some personal items and keepsakes in Jordan’s parents’ attic, but overall we purged nearly everything. Although there are ways to ship your stuff over, we just knew it wasn’t worth it for us so we started off fresh in New Zealand.
However, packing your life into a suitcase can be quite the challenge! We basically packed lots of clothes and as much sporting equipment as we could as we heard the shopping here wasn’t great and slightly expensive. You may choose to bring more with you, but we ended up with 2 suitcases, 2 hockey bags, 2 carry-ons and 2 backpacks – and that was it!
Have an Escape Clause
When we decided to make the move to New Zealand without the security of jobs, we agreed to an ‘escape clause’ should things not work out as we hoped. We were arriving in early September, and planned to travel for the first 6 weeks, so we gave ourselves until Christmas to find jobs and get settled. If either one of us wanted to move back – we agreed we would go back together without question. And if we didn’t find jobs by Christmas, we would enjoy some more travelling before moving back to Canada and start over again there. We made sure we left our employers on good terms as we wanted to leave all doors open. Things don’t always work out like they did for us as we have definitely heard some horror stories, but nothing in life is guaranteed – which is scary – but that’s what makes life interesting!
If you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed by the process and wonder whether it will be worth it, watch the Tourism New Zealand video below. Whenever we doubted our decision, we watched this video and it got us even more inspired to make the move!
Welcome to the youngest country on Earth!!
This video inspired us to document our own New Zealand experience in a web series called ‘Living a Kiwi Life’. Watch it here!
Thank you for sharing great information. Nice post. I enjoyed reading this. The whole blog is very nice found some good stuff and good information here Thanks.
Kia ora! It’s great to see people taking up the challenges 🙂 I’m also preparing to move to NZ and also under the Silver Fern Job Search Visa, hence a question – how long did you have to wait before anything changed on your online profile? Did you receive any additional communication from Immigration? Thanks and all the best!
Congrats on getting a Silver Vern Visa! They haven’t run that one since I got mine, so looks like they started it up again which is good! I submitted my paperwork and it was 5-6 weeks before my status changed. But as soon as it did it went from received, in process to approved immediately. I don’t think they’re very good and properly updating the true status of applications 🙂 Good luck!
Hi, I got the SFV approved this week. You have to call them and for your visa application status.
hi Fernando. Thanks for the news. When did you send all the documents? I sent mine only on February 1st, so I think it can still take some time to process it.
This is so interesting to read!
Me and my partner did the exact same process as you. We came in August 2014. Went through the whole “lets find a job first. One of us has to and then we move there” but came to the same conclusions as you and ended yo saving enough to support ourselves for a few months, made promises to move back if nothing came up and just bought a plane ticket. We came on visitor visas (i am portuguese and it was hard to get a working holiday visa). I got a job within 2 days of arriving. We were so worried about not getting jobs and having to go back, thaqt we didnt consider getting jobs really fast and “ruining” our travel plans (we were supposed to travel Nz for 2 months before settling).
It was such a good job that I accepted it and we now live in Hamilton.
My partner is finding it slightly harder to get a full time job, but is doing several casual positions, which he seems to enjoy because he gets to know a lot of people, and thats part of the charm of living somehwere new.
I wish you all the luck with your adventure!
If you’re ever in Hamilton, let us know!
Would be great to meet some people that went through the same.
Hi Sara!
Always so nice to meet someone who has been through this too! Glad to hear things have worked out for you guys as well 🙂 If you’re ever in Wellington let us know, and we’ll do the same in Hamilton – would be great to meet up!
Jenna
Moving to New Zealand is so exciting! Have a great time! Greets, London Movers Ltd.
Hi!
I have recently submitted Silver Fern application and submitted required documents ( including my passport ) to the INZ embassy. Wondering how long does it take to get an update from a Case officer? And what should I be expecting now?
Thanks
Sai
Hi Sai – I’m sorry you would be best to talk to NZ Immigration. I didn’t get an update for 5-6 weeks and it all came through in the status online – received, in review and approved all at once – but that was just me
Thank you for taking the time to share all of this information – we are in the process of seriously considering a move to NZ and in the job application phase.
Quick question – i saw that you packed hockey bags. Both my husband and i play and were wondering what the costs/hockey culture was like in NZ.
Have you guys played?
Do you find that you have enough disposable income to return to Canada to visit family?
Thanks!
~Chez
Hi! Thank you for your post. This has been helpful now that I myself has gotten a Silver Fern Job Search Visa. Bookmarking these as I plan my travel as well. ^_^
Hi Jenna,
Thanks for the detailed description. I am also looking for the Silver fern visa.
Could you please mention the application process?
That is
* What are the details need to be submitted for the application?
* Do all the information are on the same page or on different pages?
* How much time on an average takes to complete the whole application?
Hi Jithesh
The Silver Fern Visa process has changed quite a bit since I applied 3+ years ago so I suggest you talk to Immigration NZ to learn more about the current process. Good luck with your visa!
Jenna
Hi, excellent post, thank you for sharing this. I am facing a similar situation regarding the working holiday visa and jobs available, most of the positions I find online (skilled IT positions, not casual or temporary jobs) say “permanent” or “full time”, did you or Jordan send resumes to positions like that or have any experience with them? I wonder if they would think that someone with a working holiday visa is only a temporary or short-term contract worker.
Thank you.
Hi Lindsey
We both pursued permanent full time positions as we moved to NZ not only for the beauty but to continue to progress our career and gain quality international work experience. We’re both engineers with our MBA so we definitely applied to those types of positions. Jordan had a working holiday visa and it didn’t seem to hold him back at all in applying to those positions at all. Wish you the best of luck in your search!
Jenna
I am very enjoyed for this site. It’s very informative topic on. I think it may be assist all of you. Thanks a lot for this beauty Enjoying article with me. I am appreciating it very much!
My fiance and I are moving to Wellington in September from the U.S. on Working Holiday Visas and are so excited! We found this list to be super helpful and can’t wait to move on to Parts 2 and 3! Thanks for sharing your experience!!
Wish you all the best on your move! Glad you found the blog helpful 🙂
Jenna
I have moved cross country a few times and within the state or city a few times as well. Each move I make I always go through my stuff and purge anything that I haven’t used in awhile, as there is no reason to take it with me if it is no use to me anymore. I generally either sell or donate those items.
It’s a pleasure to see this blog!
I’m a Chinese (from the mainland) just arrived auckland less than a week. I’m also a WHV holder as what Jordan was! Currently seeking for a job and a bit worry about it (Major in IT but no actual experience). I heard people said about their job hunting were taking months even half of a year. Your step has encouraged me a lot.
Anyway, thanks for sharing and nice to be here!
Hi Jenna and Jordan,
My name is Cecilia and I’m from Argentina. I’m planning to do a work experience in New Zealand or Australia (I haven’t made up my mind yet). I was wondering If you know whether it’s necessary to sit for IELTS exam before applying online for the Silver Fern Search Visa or If I’m allowed to do so after the application process, during the gap time for submitting the documentation. I’m aware that you didn’t need to sit for any exam since you’re Canadian, but still maybe you can answer this.
Kind regards,
Cecilia
Great post, excellent tips and guides guys. Really helpful to improvise the removal work, keep posting. Waiting for more of yours and I have enjoyed reading your article about moving service.
Thank You so much
I definitely need to read part 2 and 3, very detailed and what is more important up to date info. I am moving to another continent and have many issues with visa, more than people may think. Thank you. Wish you all the best
Hi Sara!
I am mark,
I and my wife want to move to New Zealand, I see and read your This post, You gives much info and motived me and my wife. now we will apply for the visa. many many thanks, Sara!