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Hi! My wife and both my daughters (ages 24 and 15) are planning to start a business in New Zealand. I've heard New Zealand is a relatively safe place. Also, I'm willing to start my own computer programming business, especially since I've been working in that field for many years and my wife is an accountant. However, I do have some questions.
1. How can we get over culture shock and homesickness?
2. What are the places we can live in? (Auckland, Queenstown, Christchurch, Wellington, etc.)
3. Are we going to be discriminated over there because we are American?
4. What are the best schools in the area that we may live in?
5. What do we do first in order to actually start a business in NZ?
Its been a while since I have heard software development called "Computer Programming" :P
First you would need to determine if you are eligible for a visa, if so great, if not you are probably wasting your time looking at the specifics. Auckland is obviously the biggest IT market but there are hotpots in Wellington and Christchurch, its all economies of scale.
As for culture, I assume you realise NZ has much smaller cities with pros and cons. NZ might be exactly what you are after, but like moving anywhere visit first with a eye to move is easily the best advice anyone can give.
Hi! My wife and both my daughters (ages 24 and 15) are planning to start a business in New Zealand. I've heard New Zealand is a relatively safe place. Also, I'm willing to start my own computer programming business, especially since I've been working in that field for many years and my wife is an accountant. However, I do have some questions.
1. How can we get over culture shock and homesickness?
2. What are the places we can live in? (Auckland, Queenstown, Christchurch, Wellington, etc.)
3. Are we going to be discriminated over there because we are American?
4. What are the best schools in the area that we may live in?
5. What do we do first in order to actually start a business in NZ?
Thanks for everything!
1) Why would you want to move to another country and get over culture shock? Culture shock is one of the joys of visiting somewhere new. Read a book like this one: Living and Working in New Zealand: A Survival Handbook (Living & Working in New Zealand): David Hampshire: 9781905303762: Amazon.com: Books Can't help with homesickness; get Skype, and invite friends and family to come and visit (most of them won't).
2) Those are all places in New Zealand. I would suggest that your computing business won't take off in Queenstown. Your other 3 choices all seem reasonable.
3) Nobody will care if you're American. You might be shunned for saying: "In America, our garden hoses are 100 times better than the ones here." It's true, but keep it to yourself. Kiwis don't want to hear about it.
4) Public schools are rated on a decile system. The number actually refers to the average income of families living in the area (1 being lowest and 10 being highest). Decile 1 schools get more funding from the governement than decile 10. Most people want their kids in a higher decile school...
5) Go here and see if you are eligible for a visa: http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/ You probably are not: Entrepreneur Work Visa You might qualify for a Skilled Migrant Visa: Work and live in NZ permanently
Last edited by 72andsunny; 02-03-2015 at 07:25 PM..
Hi! My wife and both my daughters (ages 24 and 15) are planning to start a business in New Zealand. I've heard New Zealand is a relatively safe place. Also, I'm willing to start my own computer programming business, especially since I've been working in that field for many years and my wife is an accountant. However, I do have some questions.
1. How can we get over culture shock and homesickness?
2. What are the places we can live in? (Auckland, Queenstown, Christchurch, Wellington, etc.)
3. Are we going to be discriminated over there because we are American?
4. What are the best schools in the area that we may live in?
5. What do we do first in order to actually start a business in NZ?
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