NZ Shores did a fantastic job!

My name is Linda, I am from Hertfordshire in the UK, I moved to NZ with my husband Scott.

Challenges

The most challenging part of the process is not being able to arrange somewhere to live before you arrive. You can only apply for rentals once you get to NZ and demand is high, it is also irrelevant if you apply for a property first, they choose their preferred tenant after the viewings. We booked Air BNB accommodation for a couple of weeks; I’d advise doing this prior to getting here.

NZ Shores advisers

My adviser was Julia Cooke. Julia was amazing, she efficiently dealt with the complex application, regularly kept us up to date by email and zoom and explained each stage of the process. Even when after 6 months of arriving in NZ, we made the decision we wanted to move from Waikato to the Bay of Plenty, she applied for Scott’s new work visa, just as we went into our first COVID lockdown!! From the beginning of the process in 2019 to when we finally got our residency she did a fantastic job, she is an asset to New Zealand Shores!

First impressions

My first impression of NZ was how beautiful the scenery was as we drove in from Auckland to Hamilton. Although on arrival in Hamilton, our first sight of it was driving in through a run-down industrial area – not so great! We now live in the beautiful Bay of Plenty!

What I miss from home

What I miss from home are, the big shopping centres, supermarkets that sell everything in one place and are open 24 hours a day!

My advice to new migrants

My advice to other migrants’ is don’t visit home for the first 12 months of being in NZ, they were definitely the hardest for us as we left all our family back in the UK and knew nobody here in NZ, neither of us had ever even been to NZ.