Case Study: Steven and Clare
MEET THE MOVERS
Names:
Steven (45), Clare (41), and Robyn Giltinan (17)
Occupation:
Steven – Self-employed carpenter in the UK; now an employed carpenter in New Zealand, through Tradestaff
Clare – Prosecution Service victim liaison officer in the UK; now an interior designer and sales rep through Tradestaff in New Zealand.
Robyn – Student in media studies in the UK; make-up design student and parttime restaurant staff in New Zealand.
Moved From:
We lived in Kilmarnock, Scotland, in the UK and we now live in North New Brighton, Christchurch, New Zealand.
This is the Giltinan family’s experience of their transition into a new life down under.
“Like many families in the UK, we felt that Britain did not hold a promising future for us; the media and everyday conversations appeared to be about “Broken Britain” and they felt it was time for a new challenge. We wanted to move to a different country and drew up a shortlist of English speaking countries (we both knew we were rubbish at learning new languages). America had too many guns, Canada got too cold in the winter, and Australia was too hot in the summer. So we started to research that “small island off the coast of Australia” (I admit we were extremely ignorant of the other side of the world).
Then we went to New Zealand for a vacation. It was more of a reconnaissance mission, but New Zealand just blew us away! It ticked all the boxes including boxes we didn’t have! We loved the country, the lifestyle, the climate, and the people. More than that, we loved the “can-do” attitude of the Kiwis, the work ethic seemed high and people seemed to be genuinely nice and genuinely interested in you. When we visited on vacation, we decided not to go to Christchurch, because it was obvious they were still reeling from the recent earthquakes. It felt wrong and voyeuristic, so we never actually visited the place we decided to move across the world for.
Later in the year, we attended a Down Under Live Expo, which further cemented New Zealand in our minds. New Zealand Skills in Demand chatted with us about what New Zealand had to offer and put us in touch with Tradestaff, who later interviewed Steve via Skype. Steve was then advised to gain a paper qualification to back up his 30 years of carpentry experience to help with the immigration process. We ended up finding a company that offered a short course 300 miles from home, so we made a weekend out of it and came home with the necessary qualification.
NZ RESIDENCY VISA
Soon after, Tradestaff extended me an offer for full-time employment, which helped greatly when we put together our paperwork for a Residency Visa. Applying for permanent residency process wasn’t as stressful as we thought it might be because we used a migration agency, and made sure that Steve had the offer of full-time work in Christchurch with Tradestaff before making any decisions.
Although the New Zealand Immigration points system was easy to calculate, it was worth the cost to have people in the know on the other end of the phone. All in all, the process took about a year from first application to residency acceptance and then everyone’s arrival in New Zealand. When we look back at the costs involved in the migration process, we often wonder how we managed to save the money it took to complete the move.
MOVING
We were never big savers, but we had little debt when we started the process. We first dropped the 3 or 4 holidays we would usually take during our year. We also cut down on meals out and didn’t buy anything new. Finally, we sold our furniture and vehicles. We knew this would mean we would be starting again, but we knew it would be worth it! Our move cost us about 26,000 New Zealand dollars (about 12,000 pounds). Luckily, these costs were spread out over the year so we didn’t have a huge bill to pay at once, but it was still costly.
The most stressful part of migrating was our family being separated for 2 months. Steven had to grasp his job opportunity from Tradestaff with both hands, so when his New Zealand Work Visa was awarded on 18 March 2013, he left for New Zealand to start working and setting up our new rental home.
Clare and Robyn remained in the UK and awaited the Residency Visa. It also meant that Robyn could finish her college course. Those 2 months were stressful because we had decided to sell all of our furniture on a mixture of Ebay and GumTree. There were people coming in and out of the house buying pieces of furniture while Clare was still working full-time and keeping an eye on what things needed shipping.
FULL RESIDENCY
We were all rewarded with full residence status on 24 June 2013. Clare and Robyn made a special trip to the New Zealand Embassy in London on the 24 June to obtain our full residence status and left the UK that evening to go to New Zealand. After deciding to make New Zealand our new home, we did a lot of research.
We read many books about the history of this young country and also read about other migrants’ experiences when moving to New Zealand. Clare also read a book about first–hand experiences of the Christchurch earthquake to try to get a better understanding of how it affected the community and the area. Steve’s skills as a carpenter made the Christchurch rebuild the natural choice to get a “foot in the door”, but since we’ve arrived here, we’ve found Christchurch is such a beautiful place that we can’t see us leaving the area.
Everyone here has been very welcoming. Whilst Steven has been working, people have come up to him to thank him for coming out to help re-build their city. We now live in the North New Brighton area of Christchurch, which is only a few minutes from the beach. The beach always seems to be full of activity even in the winter…full of joggers, surfers and dog walkers.
There is so much to do here and everybody else seems to have the same idea which definitely rubs off. We go running on the beach, walking in the hills, skiing on local slopes, and that’s just in the first few months! It’s definitely a sellers and landlord’s market at the moment in Christchurch. There appears to be a shortage of houses and lots of people are looking for temporary rental property whilst their own houses are being repaired or re-built due to the earthquake damage. It does mean that there is a definite housing boom and lots of new builds which in turn means lots of jobs. Perfect scenario for us due to Steven being in the building trade!
Eventually we will build our own dream home. The plots of land here are in beautiful locations and building your own home is very common. Other than that, we have no definite plans. We are just going to see how things progress!”
Case Study: Lyndsey Brooks,
Fed up with the UK, the Brooks family decided their future lie away from the UK. Here Lyndsey Brooks tells us in her own words why New Zealand has proved to be the perfect destination for her family.
“We are a family of four who found ourselves looking for somewhere to live that had more to offer us than the UK. It was the desire for a better lifestyle that really prompted us to look into emigrating. We wanted to escape the unpredictable UK climate, leave behind the ‘Rat Race’ and the work to live mentality that has become part of the British way of life in recent years and, most importantly, live in a country that would fulfil our dreams of combining a spectacular lifestyle with an environment that our children would love and be able to thrive in.
In New Zealand we believe we have found it. While the land of the long white cloud was always a top contender for us when we were deciding where we should move to, my heart was initially drawn to South Africa – the country in which I grew up.
After a lot of thought, however, we realised that South Africa couldn’t offer us exactly what we were after, whereas NZ most certainly could. Simply put, New Zealand seemed to have everything that I wanted for us as a family – safety away from terrorist action, an outdoor sporty lifestyle, and a slower pace of life. I took a whirlwind ten-day trip to New Zealand at the beginning of February 2010.
During this trip I looked at potential areas to live in along with the cost of houses and food prices. I found the whole trip informative and all the Kiwis I met were very friendly and couldn’t do enough to help me. Although some people might say that ten days is hardly enough time to make a life changing decision, for me any lingering doubts that I may have had about moving to New Zealand disappeared. I loved it here straight away. What’s more, it was also on this trip that I met my future employer.
JOB OPPORTUNITIES
Obtaining a job offer in what is deemed a very small county can seem scary. But the opportunities are there – it’s up to you what you make of them. We wanted the move so badly that I immediately started contacting veterinary clinics around New Zealand, but was drawing blanks to begin with. It wasn’t until I looked on a recruitment website that I found my perfect job advertised. I applied and the rest, as they say, is history.
After my visit in February 2010, my then future employer was willing to wait until my residence visa was finalised. Making a good impression can go a long way so don’t be afraid to ask them to wait for you – I did and it paid off! As long as you are flexible, willing and able, work opportunities should show themselves. Within four months of returning from my fact finding trip we had emigrated, and after a shaky start in Christchurch, we eventually moved to Auckland, where we are now living our dream – and, I’m delighted to say, loving every second of it. And although we are living in Auckland, which is easily the largest and most populated city in New Zealand, it is by no means ‘busy’ by UK standards.
LIFE IN NEW ZEALAND NOW
So has life here lived up to expectations? You bet it has. We are loving our new life. It is simply the best country in which to bring up children. The boys are always outside getting up to mischief, they are happier than we have ever seen them and healthier looking. They are getting into fishing and simply thriving in the outdoor lifestyle. We have a beach just three minutes drive away, where we can swim safely and also go kayaking in the bays. None of these activities would have been available to us in the UK.
It scares me to say it, but the boys would probably have become computer addicts had we stayed in Britain, rarely playing out in the fresh air. For Mathew and I, we love our new jobs and we are working with some really great people. As a family we feel settled and content and our plans for the future include extending our home, involving the children with some sports clubs and to continue enjoying living in this beautiful country.
Of course, moving away from friends and family is never easy, but having Skype has made it easier to keep in touch with our loved ones and hopefully we will soon start to get a steady flow of visitors coming to see us.
If you have the desire and opportunity to emigrate, definitely do it, it will be the best decision you’ll ever make – as long as you don’t expect it to be like wherever it is you’ve come from. You need to embrace life in a new country for what it is and don’t keep looking back on your old life. Get on with your new life. Follow your heart and live your dreams. You have nothing to lose. New Zealand is a piece of paradise. The decision to emigrate is one that we have not regretted making. Ever.”
USING MIGRATION ASSOCIATES
“In order to get to New Zealand it seemed like we had to climb a mountain”, writes Lyndsey. “We wanted to use a licensed advisor to assist us through the daunting process. In November 2009, we met with such an advisor and immediately felt that he was the person to help us achieve our dream. If it wasn’t for his advice we would probably be facing delays and getting frustrated with the process rather than already living the dream. “
“We were advised to apply through the Skilled Migrant Category, but first I needed to get my veterinary nursing qualification assessed and to obtain an offer of employment. We overcame these two hurdles and in January 2010 our adviser submitted our online Expression of Interest. A week later we were selected from the ‘Pool’ and by the end of January 2010 our invitation to apply had arrived.“
“We were advised as to the documentation required to lodge our application, which included collecting evidence of our relationship, providing proof of joint financial obligations and gathering a full and comprehensive history of my working career. We also needed to undergo medicals for the whole family and a police report for Mathew and myself.“
“All the required documents were gathered and on 16 March 2010 our application was submitted. All that was left now was to wait for a decision to be made by Immigration New Zealand. Luckily for us we only had to wait ten days before our adviser informed us that our application had been approved in principal. By 12 April 2010 we had been granted our permanent residency.”
“Getting our passports back with the endorsed visas was an amazing feeling. We had done it – we were on our way!“
The Brooks family used Borey Chum from Migration Associates as their licensed adviser: www.migrationassociates.com. They encourage others to obtain assistance from a licensed immigration adviser to assist them with their visa application.