how hard is it to get residency?

[piston383]

My family and I (me, wife and two kids) are wanting to move to nz but dont really know how hard it is to get a residency in nz.

[Auburn]

It depends on your skills and/or qualifications...unless you're pretty well off.

[JandM]

To get Residence, you have to give NZ a reason to want you, basically.

You can apply for Residence directly if you already have certain qualifications in a skill. This page http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migra...nt/default.htm starts to tell you about it. Then, under the heading Find out more, click on Can I apply? for the details of what you need - it's on a points system.

If you don't have enough points, you could aim to get a temporary work visa. http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migra.../requirements/ To do that, you have to first get the offer of a job from a NZ employer, which would almost certainly mean going to NZ to job hunt. You can do this on a visitor's visa http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/stream/visit/, but then you have to get a work visa before you can actually start work. Or if you are within the correct age-group, one of you can go on a Working Holiday Visa http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migra...orkingholiday/, which allows you to start work straight away, and put in for the work visa at a bit more leisure. Once you have the work visa, you can sponsor your partner and children for visas to match yours for length of time.

If you have business experience and some capital, and you would like to work for yourself, you need a different kind of visa. The details are here. http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migra...eneurworkvisa/

If you find anything you need to ask about on any of those pages, just put up a link to the URL of where you are looking, and somebody will probably be able to help. Good luck!

[piston383]

Ok. Great! Thank you for all the info!