If you’re looking for a change of scenery and lifestyle, moving to New Zealand can give you a fresh start. Besides the beautiful beauty of NZ and a relatively relaxed pace of life, NZ is a great place to raise children with plenty of opportunity for outdoor life and world-class education systems.
Moving to NZ from the UK offers you the same conveniences that you are used to and a lot of additional benefits in terms of outdoor life, living costs and housing options. You will find New Zealand to be quite welcoming and Kiwis are best known for their easy-going, optimistic outlook on life. While the work culture is about getting ahead, there is an acceptance that there is more to life. Companies encourage exploring and enjoying time away from work, giving you a great work-life balance.
There is a lot to consider before taking the plunge though.
Housing and living costs
While city living in the UK can be expensive, crowded and with limited housing choices, even the big cities in NZ give you a variety of options. You can find a stand-alone home of your dreams, a semi-urban home in the countryside, a house by the sea or a self-sufficient apartment in the city. The best part is that in most NZ cities and towns, you can find the ideal house within an easy commute.
The cost of living is comparable to that in western countries, in fact, when compared to many cities in the UK, expenses in NZ are much lower. Mercer’s 2019 Cost of Living Survey listed London as the 23rd most expensive city in the world to live in while Auckland was 89th on the list and Wellington placed 114th. City living is more expensive than in the smaller towns.
Outdoor living and climate
NZ enjoys a temperate climate that varies across the country. The central North Island has warm, dry summers and mild, wet winters so you have plenty of opportunity to enjoy outdoor life and recreation. The three major cities in NZ all recorded over 1900 hours of sunshine per year.
There is no end to the outdoor activities so you could do anything from exploring native forests, to surfing or lazing on the beaches, hiking in the mountains or even just relaxing in the parks and recreational spaces in the city. Winter has skiing and snowboarding, summer has fishing, boating and swimming.
Families and educational standards
The NZ lifestyle makes it a great place to raise a family and several Kiwi expats return when they have their own. NZ ranked at number three on The Economist’s 2018 Worldwide Educating for the Future Index. We are also one of the only six countries in the world to earn a perfect mark for emphasising education on key 21st century skills. A large part of the educational system is provided free of cost and children can receive an excellent education right from early childhood to university degrees.
Visa options for UK Citizens
You don’t have to take just our word for the quality of life in NZ, apply for a working holiday visa and pay NZ a visit to see how you can enjoy living here. A working holiday visa gives citizens from the UK (between 18-30 years of age) a permit to live in NZ for up to 23 months. With this visa, you can work for 12 months and use the remaining 11 to explore the country. Citizens of the UK receive a much longer timeframe than citizens from other countries to live and work in NZ on this visa.
You can also explore other visas that allow you to work and live in the country for a fixed period of time. Investment visas are available for those who are planning to invest at least $3 million NZD. Resident visas that are applicable include the skilled migrant category visa, which allow in-demand professions like teachers and nurses to immigrate and work.
NZ’s economy and job opportunities
Thanks to the efforts of successive governments over the last three decades, NZ enjoys a resilient, open market economy. A high point was in 2016 when the economy saw growth of about 4%. It has since eased back and is expected to average around 2.7% until 2023.
New Zealand has exciting investment prospects in sectors like ICT (Information and Communication Technology), agricultural research, biotech and other ‘sunrise’ sectors. There is also plenty happening in traditional sectors.
All this translates to great job opportunities and the government anticipates a need for highly skilled workers. If your skill set is listed under the ESID (Essential Skills in Demand list), your prospects are especially good.
Contact us to discuss the NZ visa options available to you. With many years of experience and a focus on helping you get where you need to be, we can make sure your move to NZ is as smooth as possible.
