Not quite a Kiwi open for questions

[cyberjimmy]

Hi.

I'm from the UK originally, been here for 3 years and a permanent NZ resident now.

I've been through the whole immigration saga on this side. Open for questions, quashing myths and telling you how it is!

Good luck everyone.

Jimbo.

[Zemanova]

Hi Cyberjimmy.

Saw your posting and wondered whether you can offer any advice on shipping my household furniture and chantels to NZ when we move early next year. What was your experience; who did you use etc.

Many Thanks


Dave

[animaltkd]

make sure u label every box and also have a full list of everything inside each packing case/box.
MAFF and customs can and mostly do come to check your container when it is unloaded.
They will look through ya list and ask for certain boxes/cases to be opened for a check.

Now this is where u dont do what i did, i just filled the boxes and then made up a list later on.

Now you pay customs by the hour!!!! so when they were asking for box 119 to be opened because of camping gear and they found wifes clothes!!!! he wasnt impressed and i had to open every box for him (over 200) and cost me a small fortune.

Also make sure you pay for door to door service. You dont want to be empting boxes in the middle of a container yard


I used a local firm to newport, what shocked me was the number of different companies involved, try getting contact details of all parties so when you are trying to find out when the container arrives it will make life a lot easlier



AT

[cyberjimmy]

[quote:29950a1bb5="Zemanova"]Hi Cyberjimmy.

Saw your posting and wondered whether you can offer any advice on shipping my household furniture and chantels to NZ when we move early next year. What was your experience; who did you use etc.

[/quote:29950a1bb5]

Hi Zemanova,

I only had a few boxes to go, so I organised them to go as a part shipment. This is really good if you've only got several boxes because it's quite cheap but you wait until the container is full before it leaves the UK. I basically opened the yellow pages and shopped around for quotes - most are only interested in house moves, little guys like me didn't really get a call back. That's what I'd do and then play them off each other to get the cheapest price. Some of the charges are really ridiculous and some insist you pay for people to break your stuff and pack it! He he.

I went with http://www.robinsons-intl.com/ and they were pretty good. Local firms will use local firms this end, whereas the bigger boys like Pickfords and Crown have their own people in UK and NZ, but they're pricier. If you do a part ship you pay per cubic metre, otherwise you're paying for your own container and I believe it pretty much what you can get in it. Everything will subject to MAF http://www.maf.govt.nz/mafnet/ inspection at either the port or at your new house. It's worth getting door to door and then they'll park your container outside your new house for a couple off days giving you time to shift your own stuff. MAF are really funny about garden stuff like furniture and wellies, they'll make you pay for getting that cleaned again and probably confiscate the wellies! Itemise absolutely everything and have an exhaustive list of what's in the boxes, as they prefer to pick on certain boxes and rumage through those. Word of warning: the people they employ to do this are rough oafs. Make sure you're around because they seem to think that damaging other people's property is a sport. Might be worthwhile getting anything expensive or sentimental valued for insurance purposes - especially if it's old because they have a hard time valuing antiques correctly here. Antique here means 1950s!

Oh, as a parting shot, when they tell you you've paid for everything in the UK and the NZ end is covered, this is not true. You will always pay for something or other, some fee or additional unforseen cost. I got bitten for port clearance fee or something. I haven't met anyone yet who hasn't paid for something or other, so be prepared.

Hope this helps!

Jim.

[Zemanova]

Many thanks for the advice guys, it is really helpful. I will be moving a houseful so a container seems the obvious solution. I will start ringing around now and see what prices and services they come up with. Great advice on MAF as we are intending to take gardening tools etc. I will certainly make sure I compile a full list and number my bowes against the list.

Cheers

Dave

Hi we are a family of four and are hoping to get to New Zealand next year. I am a registered nurse in the ER and my husband currently has his own taxi business. We are hoping to get in purely on my merit as a nurse and any advice would be so gratefully recieved i have registered with two agencies who promise to sort it all out but i feel as if i am just waiting and wondered if i should be doing anything in the meantime. I have applied to the new zealand nursing council to register but apart from that have been advised by the agency (Geneva Health) that it is too early to start looking for work as we dont intend to go until July 05. I have been to the immigration website OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!! what is that all about. The other thing i am concerned about is the house renting/buying thing what do we do????????. Pleaseplease can anyone help i am getting so stressed. By the way i have a months holiday booked for Novemeber so we can suss things out further. we have hired a camper van and are starting in christchurch and ending in Auckland.
regards
Lozza[/b]

Hi Lozza!

Well, being RN your half way there, so well done! Nursing is on the priority occupations list, and has been ever since I got here. What happens is that as soon as nurses get registered here they up sticks and bugger off to Aussie or Blighty, in fact anywhere they think they can see the world and earn more money. So, there you go, there's a permanent shortage in the health sector, and NZ's loss is your opportunity I guess! You definitely need to be registered here, so it's good you're getting that sorted because it costs and I gather it takes a quite a while too. Looking for a job right now might be a bit early, but I don't suppose it won't hurt to submit your CV for possible employers perusal. On the other hand, some of my nursing colleagues find it takes months to hear back after applying for a job. I think if you're with an agency, and with your experience, you're probably getting ahead of the queue! As for renting / buying, it's really up to you. Depends how long you're expecting to live here. If you have a property to sell in the UK, the cash will go a long way in buying you a nice house here. What you will probably want to do is rent first until you feel settled and then have a look around to see what the market is like. I know a couple who did just that, except they couldn't find the right house and instead worked out it was cheaper to buy land and pay someone to build their house for them - just an indication to show you how far pounds will go!

I'm not a nurse but I know quite a few so can probably get the answers to any specific burning questions that you have if you would like to send me a private message. :)

Jim.