Now in Auckland - Feel free to ask us anything!

[Ady]

Hi

On the retail side, things are pretty good at the moment. there are 3 agencies that I registered with, all came to me with positions, but ended up taking a job I found myself.

Be prepared to be a dept manager/buyer possibly and have some staff managment experience, thats what they love!
There are hundreds of fashion jobs, and people are pretty desperate at the mo. Put it this way, I was offered a job in Real Groovy in Queen Street managing / buying for the clothing section. And my experience is not in clothing at all, you'd know that if you ever saw me...

When we got here we stayed in an apartment owned by a hotel for 2 weeks. Was a touch expensive, and was one of these tiny chinese boxes, 30sqm apartment. The new apartment is much better.

I found it by tramping around the city, and getting deals from every letting agency I could find. And then beating them on the price.
Aucklands rental market is very very soft at the mo. There are estimated to be between 5-10,000 empty apartments in the city centre at the moment.

Becuase most are run by the oriental population, they are not very keen to drop the prices, and think they can tough it out (WRONG!!!), but with new blocks opening almost every week, rentals on 50sqm and below sized apartments which they are trying to get $400 a week for, could fall to $250 imminently. Just don't sign more than an 8 week contract!

Oh, and some of the build quality of the new "Chinese" blocks, is a little ropey. One almost finished block round the corner has been refused a fire licence, and now needs mjor remedial work to get it anywhere near scratch. They thought the fire department would just cave in, but fortunately, they told the developers that the whole 18 storey block would have to be demolished if the work wasn't carried out before occupation. And you can bet thats not the only one...

Kiwi / Western owners with older bigger buildings are being much more sensible with the rent and therefore the market is still OK for larger apartments.

It may sound a little anti chinese, but thats how we've found things. It may be different for others.

[mollytess]

Hi, We are coming over to NZ in November for a holiday and are planning to concentrate on the Hawkes Bay area because that is where we think we would like to settle. But will fly into Auckland and stay overnight with a friend who emmigrated last year.
Our EOI went in 29th Sept, how long does it usually take before you are selected from the pool? Also, I only got 115 points and now wondered if I had added my husbands job on I may have got more or if I had gone through a visa agency they could have got me more points. Did you use an agency? (hubby is aqualified chef, and driving instructor) :icon_rolleyes: :icon_rolleyes: : :icon_rolleyes:

[MotherBear]

Hi Mollytess [img:3968f382f2]http://www.my-smileys.de/smileys2/00009148.gif[/img:3968f382f2]

Welcome! Selection after submitting EOI can take anything from a matter of days to a matter of months, depending on your circumstances. I believe NZIS may speed things up if you have a job offer or a decent amount of points, otherwise it could slow things down. Have you checked if your husband?s jobs are on the skills shortages list? If not, you wouldn?t get any more points for his input. As a driving instructor he would have to requalify in NZ, which involves taking 8 exams, so I believe. You can follow the progress of your EOI online by clicking on the ?What?s happening? link on the NZIS site.

From what I?ve heard, visa agencies are mega expensive for all that they do and, at the end of the day, they can?t guarantee you a result.

Good luck.

EOI selections are made every 2 weeks, and when you get selected depends on your score. A the present time it's most likely you'll be selected at the next draw, but unfortunately I can't find the page on the NZIS website which says when that is (darn that site!)

[MotherBear]

[color=blue:062a8e0d7f]'A selection of Expressions of Interest under the Skilled Migrant Category took place on 28 September 2005.

The selection point was 100 meaning Expressions of Interest with 100 points or more will now undergo preliminary verification to determine whether an Invitation to Apply for residence can be issued.

The next selection will take place in a fortnight.' [/color:062a8e0d7f]

This should make it around the 12th October, 2005.

[mollytess]

Gonna be checking the immigration web site every day next week! I feel like a kid at christmas but I dont know when christmas will come soon I hope.