HELP!!! We want to live in New Zealand

[sicklizard]

Hi all
My wife and I have good friends and not too close family (by this I mean 1st cousins) in New Zealand (on both Islands) and they are constantly telling us how great it is there. We left England to set up our own business in America nine years ago. We have run our restaurant ever since but now the time is right for us to finally move to New Zealand.
The problem is we just don't know where to begin.
My skills and qualifications (financial) are not in demand in NZ.
My wife is our chef and is fantastic at it with previous experience in this field (about 5 years, totally now 14 years or more) but with no formal qualifications.
She is a fully qualified Florist but this too doesn't seem to be helpful.
We are in our early forties and have job offers, chef and retail, in NZ but we just don't know what to do next.
We tried filling in the EOI form but got stuck on my wife's qualifications.
We tried the work to Residence form but we don't seem to fit in any of the categories.
This may be our last chance to find a place we can really call home.
PLEASE, PLEASE somebody help us.

[MotherBear]

Howdy and welcome .

Would still want to work for yourselves in NZ i.e. continue what you are doing in the US? If so you could follow Macfod's example, find yourself a restaurant and apply for residency under the Long Term Business Visa. The process is a bit long-winded but sounds like it could be one way that you qualify to apply for residency. This is the Guide to applying for a LTBV. It's not opening properly on my PC at the moment so I hope it works for you.