[funderbunnies]

Hello,

My family (husband, wife and two kids) are looking to move to New Zealand. We will be working remotely, keeping our US jobs, so job market is not a consideration.

We were considering the Bay of Plenty area maybe but wanted to get a better understanding which area would best meet these needs even if it's outside the Bay of Plenty area:

1) Good schools (children ages 10 and 3)
2) Decent internet speed as we'll be working from home
3) Open minded, expat friendly community we can join
4) Small farms (1-5 hecares) in our price range of $300,000-$400,000 USD

Thank you very much!

 

[escapedtonz]

Hello,

My family (husband, wife and two kids) are looking to move to New Zealand. We will be working remotely, keeping our US jobs, so job market is not a consideration.

We were considering the Bay of Plenty area maybe but wanted to get a better understanding which area would best meet these needs even if it's outside the Bay of Plenty area:

1) Good schools (children ages 10 and 3)
2) Decent internet speed as we'll be working from home
3) Open minded, expat friendly community we can join
4) Small farms (1-5 hecares) in our price range of $300,000-$400,000 USD

Thank you very much!

Hi and welcome,
First of all, how do you intend to be accepted into NZ by the Immigration service - which visa ?
You aren't coming here to live study and work as you already have a job. I'd say you are unable to satisfy the criteria for a Resident visa via the skilled migrant category. I'd say the only route for you would be via the business migration category, but that said I'm no expert.
What about income tax. You'll still be working for a company in the US so I expect you will still have to pay taxes in the US as if you were living in the US ?
Immigration NZ are looking for people to contribute to its future and economic growth by investing and paying taxes etc. I'd expect you will have to pay income tax on your US income here in NZ, so that means double taxation ? All things to consider.

I'm in the Bay Of Plenty and will try to answer the other questions :-
(1) Your 3 year old would not be in school. You have the option for them to attend kindergarden and depending on the visa you could get up to 20hrs childcare allowance per week to reduce the kindergarden costs or they could attend a free kindy 4hrs per day Mon-Fri for free. To get this allowance your temporary visa must be for longer than 2 years or you need to be at least on a Resident visa. Normally a child starts school just after their 5th birthday. The law states they must be in school before they are age 6 or formally homeschooled.
Yes there are plenty good schools for your 10 year old in the BOP. The year they start in all depends on their age as at the 30th June.
The school year starts the last week of January / first week of February.
(2) Internet speeds is a bit of a joke in NZ as it's nowhere near that of the US or UK etc. It is getting better with fibre getting more widely available but don't expect it to be good rurally.
(3) Yes.
(4) That's around NZ$475000. I couldn't find a decent house for that price, let alone a small farm with up to 50 000 sq metres. If you do it will not be in any small community. It'll be very rural and you'll need a car to get to the neighbours, the shops, school and everything else in between.
Have a look on Buy online and sell with NZ's #1 auction & classifieds site | Trade Me at properties. If you do find one in your price range I'd bet it'll need a lot of work. A lot of updating etc.

Regards,

 

[funderbunnies]

Thank you so very much for your quick reply. This is extraordinarily helpful. We've recently engaged an Immigration Adviser and I think they can assist in navigating the visa process. I am hopeful that we can figure out a way. I assumed contributing to the economy by purchasing property, goods and services etc and all applicable taxes that would include would suffice but I certainly see the complexities will need to be figured out.

As far as housing goes, I have seen many places in our price range in these areas that seem fully renovated: Rotoma, Edgecumbe, Mamaku etc. Most are between $410,000-$559,000 NZD so that would be in our range. We planned to have a car so that wouldn't be an issue. Do you feel those areas would be too rural to receive decent internet connectivity?

Thanks again for all of your help!

 

[escapedtonz]

Thank you so very much for your quick reply. This is extraordinarily helpful. We've recently engaged an Immigration Adviser and I think they can assist in navigating the visa process. I am hopeful that we can figure out a way. I assumed contributing to the economy by purchasing property, goods and services etc and all applicable taxes that would include would suffice but I certainly see the complexities will need to be figured out.

As far as housing goes, I have seen many places in our price range in these areas that seem fully renovated: Rotoma, Edgecumbe, Mamaku etc. Most are between $410,000-$559,000 NZD so that would be in our range. We planned to have a car so that wouldn't be an issue. Do you feel those areas would be too rural to receive decent internet connectivity?

Thanks again for all of your help!

No problem.
Hopefully your immigration advisor will come up with a way but I'll be honest - it isn't that simple.
Getting the opportunity to live in nz permanently is a difficult achievement and only available to a select few that have the attributes immigration are looking for to enhance the future prosperity of nz.

Contributing to the economy by buying property, goods and services isn't anywhere near enough of an incentive to get you a visa to allow you to live permanently in this country. If you were coming here as a skilled migrant, getting a job etc etc then you'd probably get through but the fact you will not be working in nz but working remotely here across the internet for a copmany in the US does confuse matters somewhat.

If you went the entrepeneur / Investment in a business route the investment would have to be in the $millions plus you'd have to have over $1 million in cash or debt free assets etc.

Rotoma, Edgecumbe etc is way out Western Bay Of Plenty. It's 100 km east or 1.5hrs east of Tauranga and central Bay Of Plenty. A lot higher population of Maori and Pacific Islanders that way on which I would say reduces the chance of stress free integration. A work colleague is from Opotiki. He was born and raised on a farm and his father still has a large farm in the area. There'll be less expats for sure as it's a much smaller population and the reason why the property prices you have seen are cheap for what is on offer. The prices here reflect the supply and demand. Where I live in Tauranga it is pretty suburban but only 5 mins drive and you are semi-rural which is where we hope to buy. You would struggle to find a refurbished or newish lifestyle property or small farm with a couple hectares of land for less than NZ $800k. It's because it is a much more desirable place to live. Near the beach, good shopping, good restaurants, good leisure facilities, offers a good outdoorsy lifestyle, very safe, excellent schools and good transport links. But good things come at a price.
I've no idea who you are and what's important to you. Maybe smalltown nz is high on your list.