Two questions, please

My wife and I have only begun to research emigrating to NZ from the US although we are quite serious. This is not some whim or wistful thinking. If we can get the visas and all the cards fall into place, we hope to be on the South Island by January. Please forgive me if I am asking questions that have already been answered on this forum--like I say I am just beginning to research this so haven't read even a fraction of the wealth of information available on this site and others.

#1) What's the story on a Work to Residence visa? Is that a practical option or a dead end? A preliminary check of our points towards a Skilled Migrants visa gave me 105, just over the threshold, but barely. Of course as everyone on this forum knows, if I just had a job offer (and both my wife's occupation and mine appear on the "list" so I am optimistic we can find work) my score would shoot up another 50 points and we'd be in. Am thinking a Work to Residence visa would give us a couple years to get established and find a job so that we could then apply for permanent residence. Again, is that a practical option or not?

#2) What we really want to do is move our existing business to NZ. Of course am looking at a business visa as well. Need to do some market research though to guage whether or not our business has a reasonable chance of success.

We own and operate a small wool mill that caters to individual producers of high value animal fibers. Sheep, alpaca, Mohair & angora. Also have been processing Brushy Tailed Possum we are currently importing from NZ. Would be very helpful to get in contact with animal fiber producers in NZ that would use the services of a custom processing facility as well as any fiber artists and guilds so that we could get a sense of the market.

After a preliminary & cursory websearch have not come up with any fiber guilds or crafters and the only producers I have found seem to be major operations producing mostly courser wools for things like carpet and upholstery. That is not our customer base.

Does anyone here have contacts in those fields with those sorts of producers & consumers? Thanks much for your attention to these questions.

Hi Woolly,
The WTR visa is a good option if you stand little chance under the Skilled Migrant category. If you can find a job offer, that would make your points up to 155 (105 plus 50 for job). So, you are probably better off finding a job offer.

Moving your business is a different, more complicated thing to do all together. Its and expensive and complex route to take. You could be better off going for the Skilled Migrant residency visa, then after the 3 month probation after acceptance, then start your business up in NZ. Much simpler, much cheaper!

Thanks for the response and the feedback. At this point am exploring all options and sorting out which is right for us. One thing I know for sure--New Zealand has plenty of sheep and hence plenty of potential customers. Only question being, is there room in the market for another mill? Continue to conduct market research on that. If you become aware of anyone that might be familiar with the field would appreciate very much your forwarding my contact information.

Well, I know the sheep population has fallen quite a bit over the years, but there are still plenty to go around! I think they outnumber the humans by something like 10 to 1!

Woolly,

You might want to have a chat with Meat NZ who promote the interests of the sheep processing industry - their site does have some info on pelt processing etc. I have been investigating the economics of investing in a farming business in NZ and found the site useful.

http://www.meatnz.co.nz/wdbctx/corporate/corporate.home

I would also recommend a visit to Meat & Wool Innovation who are promoting a wide range of opportunities:
http://www.woolpro.co.nz/

This site might also be useful and has some docs on wool/textile etc. industry in NZ: http://www.canesis.com/Canesis_Documents.shtm

On the subject of visas I would recommend you look carefully at the Business Investor visa which is idea if you have owned your own business (or have senior mgmt experience) and have some funds (e.g. from selling your existing business). We are taking this route as it gives ultimate flexibility and the freedom to pursue any direction.

Alan.