Craig Chappell
Organisational Learning and Development Consultant
North Shore Hospital, Waitemata District Health Board
Country of Origin: United Kingdom
Moved to New Zealand in 2007

What made you decide to relocate to New Zealand?

For some years we (my wife and I) had been saying that we wanted to emigrate and try a new life in a new country. After returning from our honeymoon we decided that the time was right to start investigating what was available to us. Australia was an easy option as we have family there but we wanted to carve our own path. My wife worked for Yorkshire Bank in the UK and their sister company, Bank of NZ (BNZ) were looking for UK staff to emigrate to Auckland. We started to do our research and liked what we saw — NZ has so much to offer in terms of lifestyle and quality of life.

How would you describe the process of relocating?

I wouldn’t say that it was a difficult process, but it does require a lot of time, effort and patience to get through all of the different elements like: medical checks, X-rays, police checks, trade suitability and submitting of proof of relevant qualification. Then there are all the decisions around selling all your possessions or packing and shipping it all across the world. Despite all that, I think that the rewards are worth all the effort.

Can you comment on your registration experience with your professional board in NZ?

This doesn’t apply to me as I came over on the strength of my wife’s job with BNZ and I work in a non-clinical role. What I think worth mentioning is that I was quite concerned about leaving a secure job in the UK in the hope that I would find something similar in NZ. I needn’t have worried. I secured a role within 6 weeks of arriving and actually turned down several other offers. My first role was as the recruiter for nursing and midwifery at Waitemata DHB.
 
I now work as Organisational Learning and Development Consultant for the same DHB which is a role more suited to my qualifications and past experience. I chose to find work within the health sector above others because I had public sector experience from the UK. I enjoy making a difference in the work that I do and the health sector is the perfect place to do that. As well as this, Waitemata DHB is growing fast which provides me with the chance to grow my career internally. I genuinely feel that there are great career opportunities available to talented, motivated people moving to NZ.

How would you describe the experience with the immigration process?

Our experience with Immigration NZ was great, but then again I have a very organised wife who loves project planning!

I know that other people have had problems and that the process has taken them a really long time. It all comes down to how organised and prepared YOU are. Read all the application information carefully — twice. Make sure you know what immigration needs and how long it will take you to gather that information—medical and police checks all take time. When we submitted all our paperwork to Immigration NZ we were assigned a caseworker who contacted us within 1 week of receipt. She was really helpful and we actually got our visas a week earlier than she told us.

From accepting the job offer on Jan 4th and starting the whole immigration process from scratch, we had our visas by April 28th. We arrived in Auckland on May 19th.  So for us the whole process took just over 4 months.

Would you recommend moving to NZ?

Definitely. But It’s important that people do their homework first. There are so many useful sites on the internet and lots of forums with people who are happy to share information from their own real experiences of immigration and moving overseas. Also, look at the cost of getting here, buying a home, schooling (if you have children) and most importantly consider how you’ll cope with leaving behind family and friends. Considering that we hadn’t been to NZ before we moved here, the whole thing is working out really well for us.

Auckland is consistently voted one of the Top 5 cities to live in the world— and with good reason, there’s so much to do here. If you love the great outdoors you’ll be in heaven here. The beaches are clean, quiet and too numerous to mention and the climate is a real improvement on the UK. We have no plans to move back to the UK. I couldn’t give all this up!