Advice on moving to New Zealand

JK04

I'm going to go to New Zealand for a year on a working holiday visa in the next couple of months.

I was wondering from others experience, is it best to apply for a visa through the likes of USIT or Visa First or just do it myself through the NZ Gov site?

And how about getting a bank account and tax number set up? Get it done here before I go out or when I get out there?

Also on USIT I see flights can be booked through them, would it be any cheaper or are there any other benefits by doing it through them compared to just booking them myself?

Any info on that would be great.
Thanks

ukulayla

Hey there! I'm just back from spending 2 years in New Zealand, first year on a working holiday, second on a sponsored work permit. I went through USIT because it was a spur of the moment decision to go and basically I had no clue what I was doing! All in it cost me about €1200, including my flight, insurance and visa. They also set up a bank account for me, but this is really easy to do once you get there. You'll also need an IRD number to work. You can start without one but they can't pay you until they get ti cos it's your tax number. To get that you just go to any post office when you arrive and they will sort it all out. The best and cheapest flights I've found were with Emirates, about €500 one way. The visa is so quick and easy to sort out. I sent my forms in 2 weeks before Christmas, so I was told it would be a while what with the office closing for the holidays, but I got an email on Christmas Eve offering me a visa! There's also an unlimited amount so you don't have to worry about missing the deadline like with some other countries.

I went to Auckland, and loved it, but after 6 weeks I went travelling around the country and fell head over heels in love with Queenstown. It's a tiny little town in the middle of the mountains in the South Island. It's a ski resort town so they start hiring like crazy at the end of May/start of June for the season, or if you want to work on the mountain then check out nzski.co.nz otherwise check out an online paper called the Lakes Weekly Bulletin, all the info on accomadation and jobs will be on there.

Basically no matter where you go in New Zealand you're going to find a great Irish community. Auckland is like an extremely green Dublin, Wellington is like Cork, and Queenstown is like Galway. Honestly the most difficult part will be coming home. Biggest mistake I EVER made.

Ok I better draw the LONGEST POST EVER to a close! If you have any questions at all just shoot them my way.
Best of Luck!

jacksie66

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JK04

jacksie66 wrote: »

Don't go anywhere near USIT. They'll rob you blind. The above poster said 1200 for everything? Ha!
I'm going to Christchurch in June and I payed 750 for flights through Emirates, 105 for the visa from the New Zealand immigration website and 130 for travel insurance.
USIT charge you to set up a bank account and get a IRD number. These are free if you do it yourself.

Cheers for that, I decided to do it all myself. Just have my visa sorted at the minute. Who did you go to for your insurance? Think the cheapest quote I got was 150

jacksie66

This post has been deleted.