Also Looking for Some Advice

[Jake]

Hey All,

I'm an 18 year old Canadian who will be graduating from high school this coming June. I've been to New Zealand several times, and have loved every second of each visit.

A friend of mine and I have been contemplating moving over there from Canada next year, but are not exactly sure yet. We are planning on the move to be permanent, and I was wondering on what kind of jobs you would be able to get without a university degree?

We've both been accepted to University, but are not exactly into the whole idea of school for another 4 years and wanted to move out and far away from where we're at. Would you recommend we wait and extra four years and come over, or come over now? Would we be able to survive?

Thanks.

[MotherBear]

Hi Jake and welcome.

NZ is looking for people with certain skills, qualifications and work experience, so it is quite difficult to get to stay there permanently.

As you haven't got any of these yet, probably the only ways you could get into NZ would be temporary for the moment. You could either go on a Working Holiday Visa which would allow you to work for a certain amount of time, but also to scout out other possibilities. If you don't want to remain in Canada to do a degree, you could always apply for a Student Visa for NZ and study there. Gaining a NZ degree would ease the way later on if you still want to stay in the country. It would cost, of course, but might be worth it if you really want to get a foot in the door.

There would no doubt be quite a few jobs you could find but the problem is that they wouldn't be enough to allow you to stay in NZ permanently and you'd need to apply for a WP to be able to work legally there (unless you were on a WHV and that would only be short term).