Multiple questions for pre-planning (US to NZ)

[Laurel]

This is a long story, so bear with me. Since I was a kid, I wanted to go to NZ. It's one of those "this is where I was meant to be" things. For as long as I can remember, I've wanted to go. Life happened, I got married, had kids, got divorced, got remarried. When I turned 40, it dawned on me that if I want to do something, I have to do it now. So I went back to school, and here we are. I'm finishing up an associates in Computer Science and have worked in tech for the financial industry for about 10 years. My husband (33) is currently in school to be a chemical engineer with 3 years left. We are wanting to move in 3-5 years. The plan is for me to finish up school in spring and get a job while he finishes his degree. By the time he's done, I'll have 3 years of work experience under my belt. We're currently saving money as well, and hope to start out with about $15k to move on. We have two teenagers that we'll be bringing with us. Neither of us has any health issues.

I guess my question is, do we stand a chance of making it over? He won't have much job experience by then except for his co-op at the end of school. I'll have a few years though. However, I don't have a BA. I have an AS. We'll need to do the qualification assesment, correct? Would it be more reasonable to come over on a visitor visa and find jobs, then apply for work? Or would we get work visas first? I'm confused on what steps need to happen in what order. NZQA first? Visitor visa first? Do we even have a chance of getting accepted? What can we do now to maximize our odds?

Would an immigration advisor be a better idea than trying to DIY? Or is that too cost prohibitive? We're coming from the US, by the way. Sorry if it's all to vague, I'm suffering from information overload at the moment, and the more I read, the worse it gets.

[Hagabel]

Welcome to the forum. I have no idea about your specific degrees but we moved from the US without an immigration attorney with no issues.

Check out:

http://www.immigration.govt.nz/

Also save, save, save. it cost us $10K NZ just to ship our belongings!

[Laurel]

Thanks Yeah, we're downsizing a LOT. We're hoping to get away with moving it all for as little as possible.

[kiwieagle]

Thanks Yeah, we're downsizing a LOT. We're hoping to get away with moving it all for as little as possible.

I suppose it depends on how much you're downsizing, but it might be more expensive to do so. Have you seen how much basic household items cost here? Before we moved, we intended on downsizing but when we added up the cost to replace all of our furniture, crockery and whatnot, it turned out to be less to ship it all. We don't have expensive items or top quality stuff but we do have a good mattress and the cost to replace it with a similar quality was around $3000. We did our shipping for around $4000.

We still did downsize and now I kick myself all of the time for things we should have brought with us in our container. Why did we give away the awesome ladder that cost us $75 in California and now will cost $300 to replace it? Also, the low range items here never last. There will be things you have to replace like mixer, toaster, coffee maker. You'll think, They have those things cheap as at the warehouse." But those things will break in a few weeks. So, you either buy another or buy the next rung up in price and quality. That eats away at your expendable income pretty quickly. The old adage, the poor man buys twice is completely true in NZ. I regret not buying and bringing sports equipment (kayaks, paddleboards etc...) and camping gear. My husband probably would have filled the container with chainsaws if he'd known how much they are here.

Used things aren't often that great of a deal. You can find some deals at garage sales or through whichever local classified paper is in your area (ours is Sell Buy Swap) but Trade Me and used shops are often painful because the used price is the same (or more) as what the new price would be in the US. The upside is that the various things we've outgrown and sold on Trade Me have earned us what we paid for the item new and sometimes more.

So, depending on what you want for your lifestyle and activities and how long you intend to stay, it might be more cost effective to ship your items. I'm a person who is always keen to purge useless junk. By all means, do that, but think about what you might want in the future and how much it would cost to re-buy.

[Laurel]

Good to know. We don't have fantastic stuff either, but I'll rethink some things. I did mention to Mr. that we would be buying new living room furniture BEFORE we go, after I read how much more expensive decent furniture is. It actually makes things easier, because we can replace big items (mattresses, furniture, etc) bit by bit before the time comes.
I think the act of moving itself won't be too bad. I'm more anxious for us to finish up here so we can start figuring out in earnest if we'll even be allowed in.