I'm an American. Get Me Out of Here.
In the past couple of weeks there’s been a huge influx of people basically shouting from the rooftops “I’m an American. Get Me Out of Here!” I get it. That’s where we were in 2016, and unfortunately so many things that we thought might happen in the US are happening. Even worse, the country doesn’t have any good way to fix the stalemate in Congress, so we’re left with a highly politicised, term-limit free Supreme Court making decisions and a collection of executive orders that will either get thrown out in court or done away with during the next president’s term.
If you are part of this group of Americans starting to do research on leaving the country, here is a list of resources that are helpful if you’re just starting out the immigration process. There’s a lot to learn, and when we started the process we didn’t know what we didn’t know. Hopefully this will give you a starting place.
Immigration New Zealand - or INZ (pronounced I N Zed, not Zee) for short. To move here you will need a visa of some sort. The starting place to figure out which visa might work for you is the INZ website. Once you’ve given it a good look over, if you’ve still got questions, just call them. Unlike in the US, the bureaucracy in New Zealand generally wants to help, not put more red tape up. You may find that after you’ve explored the different options, you want to talk to a professional immigration advisor. I’ve written about our experience with that here.
New Zealand Now - This is a government site that is FULL of information about moving here, settling in, and the ins and outs of living in New Zealand. If you’re curious about different resources available, i.e. the national healthcare program and early childhood education subsidies, this is a good starting place.
Facebook Support Groups - There are lots of these to join and learn from. A word to the wise, though - search the groups for posts on topics you are interested in instead of posting a fresh post.
TradeMe - Curious about housing options? Car prices? Availability of inexpensive or second hand furniture for the big “do I bring things or do I sell it all and start over” question? TradeMe is the go-to place for buying and selling just about everything in New Zealand. While you can look while overseas, you won’t be able to sign up for an account with one small caveat - if you have a specific arrival date that is soon, you can email TradeMe and they will most likely let you set up an account.
While I’m sad to see so many people interested in leaving the US, I’m excited to meet some new American expats. If you’re visiting on a reconnaissance trip (highly recommend, btw) or make the move, let me know! We’ll grab a coffee.
PS - The Guardian reached out to talk about moving to New Zealand. I wish the angle of the article focused on the more substantiative bits of our conversation instead of the surface things like Amazon, but it was still fun to talk about all of the motivating factors behind our move and how we find New Zealand.
