Tanuja - Doctor

My name is Tanuja and I recently moved to New Zealand with my family for work. The NZ Shores team (and our advisor, Charlotte Stockman) played a vital role in making this move possible.

Obtaining registration for work was a lengthy process, but getting the visa was even more cumbersome, so having an advisor to help us along the way was very beneficial. Our situation was a bit complicated because we are US citizens but were not living on the mainland US, so we had to take extra steps to get things done. We ended up having to travel to Korea for the required medical evaluations (Korea is very organized and efficient, so that was a good choice). We found that the cost of the medical evaluations in South Korea were much less expensive than the US options. Each step just took a bit longer than it probably would have if we were living in the US. Fingerprinting for FBI clearance had to be mailed, no electronic options.

The passport verification process was a mess because the third-party company (VFS) that does it was not competent so instead we had to send our passports to NZ Shores so they could send them directly to Immigration NZ for verification and then send them back to us. This of course meant that we couldn't travel during that time period, but we got them back just in time.

We then had to wait for INZ to actually issue our visas, which happened just days before we landed in the country. We had to purchase our flights on the assumption that they would in fact grant approval before we were required to arrive and start work. NZ Shores helped in communicating and pressuring Immigration to get this done in time.

From initial job application to arrival in NZ took nearly a year and cost thousands, but so far it's been worth it. NZ is a really beautiful place and the people are so kind. Public facilities and access to the outdoors are wonderful. I think our biggest surprise/complaint is that cars don't yield to pedestrians, so watch out if you're a walker, and warn your kids.

The other bit of surprise was the lack of insulation in homes. Since the climate is fairly mild (north island) most people just learn to deal with the temperature swings. It's only newer homes that are really insulated. Just small complaints because it's really a wonderful place!

Things are a bit expensive, but we knew that before coming. It's somewhat relative depending on where you're coming from. Rental housing has been very difficult to find! We negotiated initial temporary housing provided by employer and I would advise anyone to do the same or start looking early! This may change as markets change, but currently it's a really tough rental market.

We've found that we can still get most of the stuff that we need/want here, even in a small town, you just have to be willing to pay more sometimes. You can also order products online, even from Amazon Australia. They also have TradeMe, a great online marketplace for buying and selling goods (and houses, and jobs, etc.). That black hole could suck you in if you're not careful.

It's a little tricky with your online subscriptions because many things are limited by regions (streaming services, iCloud account, etc.) so you may want to look into that, depending on how long you'll be staying. We couldn't download a bunch of local apps (like banking, ride hailing, etc.) unless we changed our settings (region), but otherwise things work pretty seamlessly.

I think the main thing we miss is our community of friends/family that we left behind. It takes a while to build a real sense of community in a new place. There will always be obstacles when making a big move, so my advice would simply be to relax and take your time so it doesn't get overwhelming.