can we live on these wages

[nippa&pippa]

You don't have to wait 3 months to get family assistance - Apply for it straight away if you have PR!

We had RV at first three months before section 18A lift and now got PR.

[nippa&pippa]

Funny.. a letter about our family assistance turn up today confirm we will get money they have been paid into bank last week and we didn't notice it! oops!

[dean1968]

I don't want to be a killjoy. But what kiwi's tend to do is going overseas in particular 20-30 years old make the big money (saving) and then come back and buy their dream home, have kids and raise a family. They reckon stats suggest there is a gender imbalance in NZ with the fertility ages of at least 25 years and upwards with more NZ females to NZ males as the males are heading overseas in particular Aussie and England and come back usually with a foreign wife / girlfriend. Someone reckons that is why we have a lot of females running the country and in positions of power. The only thing left is their career.

I was talking to someone who was saying that have been involved with overseas recruiting drives in particular to get Brits to come here and work as policeman and correction officiers that run the prisons. Over half the Brits returned home and the figure was even higher I think 2/3 for corrections, if I remember correctly. The overwhelmingc complaints were the same, wages too low. They couldn't live on the wages. I think the starting salary for a NZ policeman is $45,000 which is a fairly typical wage for NZ . They thought they were coming to a tropical South Pacific Island paradise. The guy mention Brits living in Invercargill and the place was freezing cold. Its true. They feeel the full force of the Southern Antarctic weather / gales down there. It is a cold and dreary place. They were misled in the recruiting drive program thinking every Kiwi family had a swimming pool. This is the information he told me. I might have my facts wrong but Someone got their facts wrong. Some people think NZ is still part of Australia. Originally NZ was part of NEw South Wakles in the 1860's The cold hard realities sunk in that they were not living the dream that had been waved with a magic wand in front of them.

The reason why there is a shortage of policeman nd corrections offficers here in NZ is that our Kiwi policeman and corrections officers that work in NZ are heading to Australia and living the dream that the Brits were told about. Aussie wages are very high, warmer climate and a lot of familiies tend to have a swimming pool which you can swim all year round. I was just talking to my friend in Aussie and he reckon a female waitress working in a restaurant earns $25 Aussie dollars an hour. He was an highly educated engineer here in NZ earning around $60,000 plus overtime and he thinks he is living day to day. Not enough in wages. HE said the waitress earn more money than him and he is a skilled engineer when he worked in NZ. Also Australia is very unionised which is a workers paradise. They get well paid in overtime etc. work standard 7.5 hours a day. In places like Perth (here is a lot of Brits there -a strong community) there is no Saturday and Sunday trading. It is against the law to be open on those days and it is considered a family day.

The reason why I mentioning this trivial stuff. We use to have all this probably 15-20 years ago. That is all gone. We never had Saturday or Sunday trading either. Overtime was 2-3 times the normal wage. Today it would be a day in lieu or 1.5x the normal hourly wage if you are lucky. They now want people to work on Easter and Christmas holidays. There is nothing sacred left. Someone mentioned earlier on this forum about Kiwis not having enough time for families, having to work longer hours.

In Australia every family gets a medical card and 80 percent of Medical costs which inculdes prescriptions and doctors fees is paid by the government plus there taxes are lower than NZ. On top of that they thrown in $15,000 for first home buyers. We can't compete. It is a lot tougher to gain residence in Australia. New migrants used NZ as a backdoor to get into Aussie.

What I am saying to you potential migrants who have no ties or roots in NZ and that are losinghope. There is still hope. Just across the ditch is Australia if you find NZ is not living up to your expectations. Belive me there are a lot of Kiwi's in Australia and the Kiwis have a good reputation. The Aussies think Kiwi's are great workers.

[willsken]

We have only been here 3 months and we have been granted it - yes we have PR but still with section 18 condition on it too - filled the forms in sent them back no problems - they have now offered us a community card too!!! So the forms are currently in my 'processing' file to get all the copies of passports etc to complete that!

Apply straight away - it won't do any harm, they can only say no!

I'm being lazy. Where do I download the forms from?

[JCM]

Dean1968, there are so many factual inaccuracies in what you've written, I feel I have to comment. I hardly know where to begin but I'll be brief:

Starting salaries for the police force in NZ is around $50,000 pa, not $45,000.
Reference: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0612/S00307.htm

In Perth shops do open on Saturdays and Sundays, contrary your "In places like Perth there is no Saturday and Sunday trading."
Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shopping_hours

Australia gives $7,000 to first time buyers, not the $15,000 you claimed. (In most Australian states they take more than that back in stamp duty on both the house and the mortgage - absent in New Zealand.)
Reference:http://www.firsthome.gov.au/

In the working age group, there are in fact more males than females in New Zealand not the other way round, as you suggest:
Reference: https://cia.gov/cia//publications/factbook/geos/nz.html

These are just a very few examples and I could go on, and on, and on, but most of what you've written is, in my opinion, either incorrect or a significant exaggeration.

[wiki]

as the males are heading overseas in particular Aussie and England and come back usually with a foreign wife / girlfriend.

And a lot of us females who headed off to England and Aussie have come back with foreign partners too - I can think of at least 12 good friends who didn't marry Kiwi boys and my circle of friends isn't that big.

Don't you worry - there are PLENTY left in the pot

The guy mention Brits living in Invercargill and the place was freezing cold. Its true. They feeel the full force of the Southern Antarctic weather / gales down there. It is a cold and dreary place.

That's a matter of opinion. (and a myth we perpetuate to keep the place special and discretionery )

Yes Invercargill does get Antarctic blasts - but not every darn day. And if ANYONE was coming to NZ on a job and hadn't done the basic research to look at the annual temperatures across the country then they deserve all they get. I know a lot of people who find Invercargill not remotely dreary!

And to be honest, if future-NZ cops were going to go in without any groundwork of their own then they're not the sort of people I want to have policing me!

Some people think NZ is still part of Australia. Originally NZ was part of NEw South Wakles in the 1860's

No it wasn't - NZ was never part of New South Wales.
It has been a colony with seperate administration since 1941 and was administered in part from Australia for about eight months after the treaty was signed at Waitangi purely for practical reasons. NZ was never included in the Australian land charter, nor were its people considered Australian colonial subjects.

Belive me there are a lot of Kiwi's in Australia and the Kiwis have a good reputation. The Aussies think Kiwi's are great workers.

And that's just too funny to respond to!

[veronica]

It may sound strange but having lived over there for 2.5 years and visiting the UK I find I have got used to the NZ way of doing things, here I find there is a lot of waste for want of a better term. I don't bother buying prepared meals anymore, I find the heating in the house is slightly hotter thanI have got used to and people are more inclined to just up the thermostat rather than put a jumper on, drive to the corner shop and bits like that.

On the other hand food is cheap in the supermarkets although do have to watch that its actually cheap and not just the numbers used in the price seem low. So I do agree NZ has got to look to itself and sort a lot of stuff out, starting with higher wages.

Then of course we can look at property. now here in the south east that is really scary. When a young couple with uni loans to pay off and a combined income of over £50k can't save for a deposit or buy a house, when 3 way mortgages are becoming commonplace cos a couple can't buy on their own, when rent for one in a room in a shared house is £100 a week plus utilities that offsets a lot of other things. when you have to queue to get out of the supermarket car park for about 10-15 minutes, when everybody seems to be in such a rush. these are the sort of things that I am noticing while at home here for a couple of weeks.
each of us spends money dfferently and while I haven't ever been a particularly lavish consumer I have changed the way I shop in NZ. As to the library charges, I remember that they were quite steep here in the UK when we lived here. Its very important to weigh up what you want., standard of living or quality of life, and I do realise that for some people its hard to have quality of life while worrying about money. having lived in both places, at the moment I am reasonably content to carry on calling NZ home.

[Singel]

I'm being lazy. Where do I download the forms from?

I think this is what you are looking for ............ http://www.ird.govt.nz/resources/fil...3/fs1-2007.pdf

Family assistance entitlement : http://www.ird.govt.nz/resources/fil...95/fam2007.pdf

Info about family assistance : http://www.ird.govt.nz/familyassistance/intro/whatis/

[willsken]

Dean1968, there are so many factual inaccuracies in what you've written, I feel I have to comment. I hardly know where to begin but I'll be brief:

Starting salaries for the police force in NZ is around $50,000 pa, not $45,000.
Reference: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0612/S00307.htm

In Perth shops do open on Saturdays and Sundays, contrary your "In places like Perth there is no Saturday and Sunday trading."
Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shopping_hours

Australia gives $7,000 to first time buyers, not the $15,000 you claimed. (In most Australian states they take more than that back in stamp duty on both the house and the mortgage - absent in New Zealand.)
Reference:http://www.firsthome.gov.au/

In the working age group, there are in fact more males than females in New Zealand not the other way round, as you suggest:
Reference: https://cia.gov/cia//publications/factbook/geos/nz.html

These are just a very few examples and I could go on, and on, and on, but most of what you've written is, in my opinion, either incorrect or a significant exaggeration.

When I was reading the post a lot of what was said didn't ring true. I was going to respond but it was so forcefully written and I didn't have the facts on hand to back up my feelings. Glad someone did.

[willsken]

I think this is what you are looking for ............ http://www.ird.govt.nz/resources/fil...3/fs1-2007.pdf

Family assistance entitlement : http://www.ird.govt.nz/resources/fil...95/fam2007.pdf

Info about family assistance : http://www.ird.govt.nz/familyassistance/intro/whatis/

Thank you so much!