Tuesday, 6 January 2009

Short summary of moving to New Zealand

Here's a short summary of what it took for us to move to New Zealand:

-- It took about 9 months to get the visas. Would go much faster if you had a job first.
-- It's much easier to do when you're under 55 and your kids are under 18. The rules change after that.
-- It was challenging to find a job here while still in the US, but it wasn't impossible. Pay is well below California averages.
-- We hoped living expenses would be lower. Unfortunately, while they turned out to be lower in some areas (housing, insurance, property tax), they were much higher in others (food, clothes, imported goods).
[[MORE]]-- Making a real lifestyle change takes a lot more than just moving. We're still struggling with that in some ways.
-- There are a lot of odd quirks about moving to a new country: strange laws, new holidays, odd customs, new foods (and the loss of previous favorites), licenses, taxes, forms, the legal system, the medical system (prescriptions, appointments, who pays for what, etc) -- and even small things, like how you interact with trades people and what they call certain things (like "Panel Beater" instead of "Body Shop")
-- There's a lot of "hidden" work after you move, like finding new stores, a new attorney, doctor, dentist, bank, insurance broker, accountant, etc, learning your way around the town, learning the new driving rules (and how to drive on the left). This is from someone who has lived in 15 or 20 different places before (but they were all in California).
-- Getting household goods shipped was a challenge and a half: lining up movers, shipping to the right port, customs and biosecurity clearance, lining up local movers -- a ton of details, and very easy to make costly mistakes
-- Banking is very different: mostly electronic here, checks are rarely used, bill paying is different, new frequent customer programs, new credit card
-- Finding and buying a house: finding a real estate agent, shopping for homes, getting prices (sellers sometimes prefer auctions or other formats where prices aren't published), totally different negotiation process, no escrow (all handled by the lawyers), a very short sales contract, somewhat different process of finding a loan

Just one quick story -- the loan process might be of interest. First I was referred to a local lender by my real estate agent. It was a "building society," rather than a bank. The approval process consisted mostly of a short interview; the paperwork was basically a formality since we were borrowing much less than the purchase price. But the interesting part was what happened after the loan was approved. Rather than just signing the contract and that being the end of it as in the US, our attorney called and walked through the loan agreement with me, paragraph-by-paragraph. Home loans in NZ are full-recourse, for example, which was good to know. After the lawyer finished with me, he then had the same conversation with my wife. He did the same thing for the other legal documents associated with the purchase (the original purchase agreement was only 4 pages long). He explained that this was standard practice in NZ; I thought the whole thing was very cool.

I'm still a US citizen. I still have a US passport. I still have to pay US taxes on all income. I have family and friends in the US, and will always have deep connections there. I think of myself as an American, not a Kiwi.

I also have Permanent Resident status in NZ. After passing through all of the hoops (which took 2 yrs), I have the same privileges as a New Zealand citizen. I can do everything they can except certain government jobs (security clearance, etc); I could even serve in the military. I also pay income taxes here. My family and I are covered by the national health system, we're eligible for government benefits, we can vote, travel out of the country indefinitely and then return to stay permanently, etc.

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