[deenpac]

I came to this site via a web search. My husband and I live in Michigan, USA and chose New Zealand as our honeymoon destination back in 1999. We fell in love with the counrty and it's people then but didn't think of moving there until the 2000 presidential elections here. I am sure that you are all aware that George Bush did not win that election but instead was selected by the Supreme Court. From that point forward we have become more and more disillusioned with this country and what is stands for around the world. I could go on and on about what has been for us an intolerable situation but I will reserve that discussion for anyone who wants to actually hear it.

In the meantime we agonized over where exactly we wanted to spend the rest of our lives and after concluding that staying here in the US was no longer an option we immediately thought of our favorite place on earth, New Zealand. Granted we still have much to learn about life as kiwis. For example, we are not as familiar as we would like to be about parliamentary government and what it would mean to us as immigrants. If anyone has a source of info on this subject , I would be grateful.

We also have another non-negotiable goal for ourselves, we want to be self-suffiicient. Meaning that we want to live in a rural area with a good (and long)growing climate, that has plenty of good water available. As well as a sufficient wind or solar source so that we can be off-the-grid. We are permaculture enthusiasists and practice only organic methods here in our small (and not quite self-sustaining just yet) garden. With the limited resources that I have studied so far, it seems that the northern part of the South Island seems to be a good area. Any info on this would be appreciated.

The last important consideration is that my husband is a physician and I am a physician assistant (PA). For those who are not familiar with what a PA is, I have a medical license am able to practice medicine just as a doctor does. The only difference is that a PA practices medicine in parternership with a physician. We do not 'solo' practice. This is similar to what Nurse Practitioners (NPs) do but they have a nursing education and PAs have a medical education. The problem is that I did not find the PA catagory on the NZ immgration site. I do not know if my skills, education and license would be recognized there. I did find Sonographer, which is what I did before furthering my education to become a PA, but going back to sonography would be a 'step-backwards' for me as far as my career and income. Of course, I could probably be accepted as the wife of a physician but you women out there can understand the philosophical problem that I would have with that! Anyone have any insights into NZ's stance on Physician Assistants?

One more thing, any idea what hoops my husband would have to jump through in order to be able to 'transfer' his medical license to NZ?

Well, that is a good start. I am so grateful to have this site and it's information available to me. Thank you to whoever had the good foresight to put this together. It is a big weight off of our minds to know that we now have a group of people that we can turn to for support in this major life undertaking.