Hi Laura,
Shop around for flights. Some airlines have better deals than others. If you get Permanent Residency, you can enter with one-way tickets, which usually cost about 2/3 the price of return flights. You may need a return ticket if you enter without your long term residence status sorted. I think current prices are around GB£1,000 per person for a return ticket from Heathrow to Auckland.
Most people who ship their belongings manage with a 20' shipping container. Again, it's best to shop around as prices can vary quite a bit. A lot will depend on how far you live from the port of departure in the UK and the port of arrival in NZ. Expect to pay between GB£3,000 and GB£5,000 if you want a full packing and unpacking service.
Shipping transit times also vary considerably, depending on when your container arrives at the port, when your ship leaves and how many stops it makes before it reaches New Zealand. Our campervan made it in 31 days. Our furniture took eight weeks.
The decision to sell your house in the UK is always a tough one. If you it, you can claim an exemption from NZ tax on overseas income for the first four years after you become a tax resident in NZ. It might be worth doing that, but you won't be able to claim any family assistance or family tax credits in NZ if you do. You won't be able to claim any in the first year anyway, so it's worth it in year 1 at least. You can always surrender the entitlement if you sell the house.
We thought about keeping our house in the UK, but decided that we wanted to move anyway. We also decided that we didn't want the hassle of having to sort out problems with the house or tenants when we were half-way round the world.
Job offers usually speed up the application process, but not always..... You'll get more points, so your chances of a successful application will increase. I haven't dealt with NZIS for about two years now, so someone else might be able to answer that part of your post. We've had a few stories (good and bad) about NZIS lately so it will be interesting to hear what people have to say about their current performance.
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