Our road to migration

We started the process of migration in year 2004. We had applied to migrate to New Zealand. The process of application until approval took about a year. This process was very stressful experience both mentally and physically. It takes great determination, stamina and most importantly courage especially when we have never been to that country. We did our migration application all on our own and we had spent hours in this process as well as months of waiting for the outcome.

After being successfully granted our residency to New Zealand we moved there and stayed for about 3 1/2 years before moving on to Australia which is where I am now. In this blog I would try to recall our migration experience from time when we applied to New Zealand as well as our current application for residency in Australia.

In preparation for our move we had gathered information about New Zealand, the life style, its economy, job prospect, schooling, housing, transportation and so on.  I have also started to gather information on Australia. which I shall put in my subsequent postings of my blog.

For those who are successful in getting their residency and is at the planning stage of relocation the following might be helpful, though not exhaustive. It also depends on individuals for example are you single or a family with children etc.

Among the things to consider before you migrate would be :

1. Place to settle for example city or town,
2. Job prospects if you have not yet secured a job before migrating,
3. To ship over or to start from scratch,
4. To migrate together as a family or either of the partner goes first if you are married,
5. How much money you need to start off in a new country,
6. Schooling if you have children
7. Your property in your country - to sell off or to rent it out should you have already own a house.
8. Who is to follow up with your correspondences and other outstanding matters when you leave the country.

This list is not exhaustive and would depend on individual circumstances.

I would also put down our residency application process. However it is important to check the latest immigration rules from the immirration website and not just relying on my blog. There are also many ways to migrate and I am not a specialist in this area. Do consult an immigration consultant if there is a need.