“Why New Zealand?” This is the question most of my friends and family asked first, followed closely with, “Where is that?” and, “Do they speak English?” when I told them I was planning to move to New Zealand. Some of them thought I had lost my mind and others were very supportive and curious. The New Zealanders I have met over the years have been some of the kindest, most interesting, gracious and courteous people I have ever had the pleasure to come into contact with. The landscape here, whether urban or rural, is really quite something to behold no matter what you like to look at. “Why not New Zealand”, is my question.

I remember that a big fear for me, in the beginning, was that my parents, my ever-so-supportive lifeline in Oregon, would think I wasn’t capable of pulling it off successfully and would therefore put a big ole’ horsefly in my ointment, so to speak. To my utter astonishment, they actually brought it up first. They mentioned they had been thinking about retiring in New Zealand and that they had already been researching the cost of living (housing, groceries, etc.) and what they could live on if it were a real possibility. Wow, what a shock, but a huge relief! Now I could start making real plans and use every ounce of my being to make this incredible dream become reality. I was after a new life in New Zealand where I could bring up my daughter in an environment more like the old small town America that my parents talk about growing up in. I desired a fresh start where no one knew us or felt sorry for us. I wanted to feel like I had some sense of order and control over my life again…personal power, if you will. I was already on my way…mentally, anyway.

I was lucky enough to have vacationed in New Zealand with my family in 1989 and still have friends from one holiday farm stay experience, which I will never forget, who helped me get started. The first step was to start looking into the immigration information online to see what avenues would be available to me and to determine how much it was likely to cost me to get my daughter and myself safely and permanently across to the other side of the world. The next hurdle was going to be financial. I was a single parent raising a young daughter and I had just one solid asset – my house. I was scared to death to sell my house, fly across the world, and fall flat on my face only to be sent home penniless and worse off than when I began – no house, no car, no money, no job, and a child to feed. I would need to move back in with my parents as a failure (in my mind).

However, what if I did make it? What if I took those risks and it all turned out the way I had hoped? I would be living in one of the most astoundingly beautiful places in the entire world with close access to Australia, a place I had wanted to see throughout my whole life, in addition to the other nearby islands in the Oceania region like Fiji, New Caledonia, Rarotonga, and Tasmania. I was determined I would succeed, but I needed a plan.

In the initial days of online research in 2003 after putting my 2-year old daughter to bed, I found a wonderful website, www.nukiwi.com, and bought a report that helped clarify some of the immigration requirements for me. This was to be like a Bible to me for the next 19 months. I then found and subscribed to Escape Artist’s publication, Escape From America, to get a little more perspective. After all, I knew that New Zealand couldn’t be perfect, so what was I missing? Where were the pitfalls I so wanted to avoid? The NuKiwi report and EFA helped me pick up on those types of things more easily. A great tip from my old Kiwi mate (my old and dear friend from New Zealand) was to start reading the local news to see what was happening on a daily basis. This was a terrific way to get a better idea of what I could expect after I arrived because in this way I could see what the local concerns were, what to avoid, and I could even see comments that other readers had made about the articles in the news (www.stuff.co.nz). It may not seem like a very important detail, but it did help me to determine what city I was going to settle in, so to me it was extremely important.

Okay, so now I was sure, I had decided…now what? After getting permission from the local court to take my daughter with me out of the country, I bought passports and studied up on what visas/permits I would need. What’s the difference between a visa and a permit, you might ask. Well, my basic understanding is that the visa is what gives you permission to enter another country, and the permit allows you to stay for a specified amount of time once you arrive with your passport and visa in hand. Now, you may already well know that Americans are allowed up to a 3-month visit without special documentation, which is called a visa waiver; but I already knew I wanted to stay permanently, and I wanted to do everything the right way to increase my chances of success. Honesty is the best policy, especially when it comes to Immigration, so I eventually applied for my extended visitor visa and noted that I wanted to live there permanently.

In the immigration documentation, it is outlined that one can apply for permanent residency under different ‘schemes’, such as being a Skilled Migrant or applying under a Partnership or Family Quota, among others. Each category uses a questionnaire style application and awards points based on your answers. This is where I lost and found hope several times. I have educational certification in the medical field and felt confident that I could get credit, or points, for my certification; so initially I had calculated just over what the required points would be for a Skilled Migrant application. I then sent my credentials in to the NZQA (New Zealand Qualifications Authority) for translation into “Kiwi” to see what I would be classed under for jobs and such, only to be told I had a “Level 4 certification”, whatever that meant. Not the best sixty bucks or so that I’d ever spent, but necessary nevertheless.

Meanwhile, I had been reading up in my “NuKiwi Bible” and found that social networking might be a helpful tool (I had no idea then, what was to happen as a result). I signed up and started corresponding with many helpful Kiwis, and some not so helpful, along the way. I had determined that, yes, broadband internet would be available (extremely important since my livelihood might depend on it), and that Wellington and/or some of its suburbs looked like a great place to settle. I received links to clubs for immigrants, lovely photos of the areas I was still considering, and several offers for beers once I’d arrived. Too bad I don’t drink beer.

The big surprise though, was this one gentleman who seemed to know all of Wellington like the back of his hand. He even offered to go in to immigration to ask questions to a live person for me when I was getting conflicting answers by long-distance telephone (this is before I discovered the miracle that is VoIP calling)…more about him later.

I eventually realized that I might not qualify as a Skilled Migrant but that I might be able to secure an offer of employment that would give me more than enough points to apply for residency. Trouble was, that without a job offer, I couldn’t get a work visa and without a work visa, most companies weren’t going to offer a contract. Yes, the old “catch 22” and it was a real hairball. Each day was a new challenge for me. With every phone call, I grew more anxious about my decision and had to wonder myself if I weren’t just a little bit crazy to try to do this. Was this dream just a little too big for me to attempt? NO!

Back to this very helpful gentleman in Wellington: we began emailing and talking on the phone on a regular basis. I considered it exceptionally safe, because I never actually had to meet him if I didn’t want to; and he couldn’t just show up or stalk me in America, right? One day, about six months after we began corresponding, he told me he had an upcoming business trip to Canada, and would I like him to spend a week in Washington with me first. Yikes, this wasn’t supposed to happen! What am I going to do now? Well, the first thing I did was join Jenny Craig, after all I was still human and wanted to make the best impression I could, even if I didn’t end up liking him ‘that’ way after meeting him in person. Well, my new Kiwi friend visited whilst my daughter visited her grandparents; and I spent a week with him, walking along the Oregon coast, hiking in the Silver Creek Falls woodlands, checking out local attractions like Fort Vancouver, the Pittock Mansion, and we even managed to walk away with a tidy sum in our pockets after visiting the local casinos. It was one of the nicest and most relaxing weeks of my life. I was hooked – but it was certainly the casual Kiwi accent and ‘down under’ slang that sealed the deal for me.

Back to reality: I was working a full day and then some; coming home and feeding, bathing, and cuddling my daughter; then back on the computer to do more research and start filling out forms and applications. It was getting very complicated and there were half a dozen times when I thought I’d just give up for sure, but my long-time Kiwi friend, now in London, was a great help, offering advice and encouragement whenever I waivered. My “new” Kiwi friend, in Wellington, also offered his encouragement and assistance at every moment of despair as well. Did I mention that he and I just celebrated our second wedding anniversary? Well, that is another article altogether.

As it turned out, I needed more help than originally anticipated. You see, the Skilled Migrant route wasn’t looking too promising without the job offer first, and I had only a few connections in New Zealand, only one of which was in an area that I actually wanted to live in. I was lucky enough to have my future husband’s support in the form of sponsorship and I was sponsored for an extended visitor visa, so I accepted that assistance and sold my car, my house, and gave most of my furniture and possessions to the Salvation Army. Then I prayed…a lot! I figured I couldn’t start over if I brought all of my old life with me, so I kept the things that meant the most to me and most of my daughter’s things so she would have home comforts. My very generous and supportive caring parents took my daughter and me in while our own home was sold and our things were loaded onto a cargo ship on their way to meet us on the other side of the globe for a new life abroad.

My extended visitor visa gave me 8 months in New Zealand from the day I arrived and I hoped that in that amount of time, I could achieve everything else I was hoping for. I closed my eyes, took a very deep and cleansing breath, then I jumped in with both feet and never looked back. I walked into my boss’s office with a contract in hand, technical notes on my legal pad, hope in my heart, and confidence I don’t think I had ever known before…and I dropped a bomb on him! I said that I was moving to New Zealand and I wanted to give him as much notice as possible. I also said that I had just sold my house and I could continue working there for 10-12 more weeks or…I could continue doing my job if he would let me take my equipment with me and agree to contract me to do so from overseas. After the initial shock and a very dynamic conversation, he said he would think it over. Two weeks later I got the green light, he agreed to give it a go and I was shipping off my office equipment and saying goodbye to people I had worked with for over 5 years. I paid off every debt I still owed (including a loan from Mom & Dad) and I purchased one-way tickets on United Airlines via Air New Zealand to Wellington. It was New Zealand or bust!

Within the first week in New Zealand, I went into New Zealand’s tax department, Inland Revenue Department (IRD) office to get a tax identification number. This would help me to set up my bank accounts and to get the information I needed on how to pay New Zealand taxes properly. The IRS in the States has a dual tax agreement with New Zealand and therefore I don’t get double taxed. The next step was to go to the Immigration office for a work permit to allow me to set up my business and start working here. After explaining my situation and outlining my business and personal plans to an immigration officer (after waiting several hours for them to call my number) I obtained a 1-year work permit, automatically extending my permitted time to be here, which paved the way for me to set up my own New Zealand-based business. Setting up my company was amazingly easy, as it only costs an estimated $400 to $800 to register a business here; and I pay an accountant approximately $50 per year to register my tax returns for the IRD.

With my relationship blossoming over the next several months, I now also had another new opportunity for permanent residency under the Partnership scheme. My fiancée offered to sponsor my residency application (which automatically included my daughter as well) based on our partnership, which is only an option once you have lived together as a couple for 12 months or longer. We had already come through so much; this was going to be a breeze. Well, sort of…

When a residency application is lodged, all of the supporting evidence needs to be included. This will mean birth certificates, medical certificates, x-ray certificates, FBI verification on fingerprints, passports and spare passport photos – any and all supporting documentation you can possibly find. Photographs, letters from friends and family, and correspondence regarding our relationship were scrutinized by NZIS (New Zealand Immigration Service), along with all of our family history including names of step children (past or present) and medical histories of family members not included in the application. Talk about thorough, whew! Each item can have an expiration date as well, so be aware that there is a certain order in which to obtain your certificates and such. For example, get your visas first so you know how long they are permitting you to stay initially. When you receive the visas, you have 1 year from the date issued to arrive in New Zealand. Pay close attention to whether or not you are required to have an outward-bound ticket in hand as well, or you may end up purchasing one at a premium price at the airport.

Be absolutely 100% honest in your reasons for wanting to stay. Yes, you can arrive on a 3-month waiver, but that is not the most honest way to achieve permanent residency and can jeopardize your chances of staying permanently. Send fingerprints to the FBI next because they can take a significant amount time to process. You may also want to include a “need by” letter specifying a due date with pre-paid self-addressed envelope to help expedite the process. I suggest getting a spare set of fingerprints to bring with you, as in my case I was a visitor for a nearly a year then had to send in another verification to the FBI for inclusion with my residency application. Once you receive the FBI verification back, they are good for 6 months. When you have those in hand, you have 2 options for the medical side of the house. The medical certificate is only good for 3 months, so don’t get it done too early. Because I arrived on a visitor visa, I was able to wait until we had been here several months, and I obtained the medical certificate and x-ray certificate from a doctor here for a bargain. If you plan on submitting your application for residency before arrival, you will need to do the physical and x-ray in the States, which might be quite expensive, so make sure you have everything else ready to go within that 3-month window. Subsequently, the NZIS says to give up to 12 months for processing time although depending on their workload and your organizational skills, it can be processed in as little as a month or two if you submit everything in an orderly and easy-to-reference fashion. Mine was in a binder with divider tabs and labelled zip pockets, and it was processed in just a few weeks. Organization makes an enormous difference in this sort of thing.

That’s my story, more or less, and hopefully it gives any future Kiwi wannabes some useful tips and information on migration from America. There are so many things that Americans need to know before shifting their lives halfway across the world that I couldn’t possibly cover them all in one go, so I hope you will look out for more articles from this new Kiwi transplant from the Pacific Northwest.

As they say here in Godzone, “kia ora” (“be well/be healthy” in Maori).
Cheers.

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