Contracting in New Zealand

[weemster]

Hi All,

Had a good scan on this subject on the forums but no real info.

I am thinking about contracting in NZ. I have spoken to
a number of agencies over there and although the perm market is quite
buoyant (pretty much the same as over here) they don't really talk
up the contracting market. I enjoy contracting and would want to continue over there. We have enough money to cover a house etc over there and keep our Uk pad until such time we decided to sell it or return to Uk should the grass be not quite so green in the south of the planet.

Question is has anybody done anything like this in NZ
and how did they go about it (visa requirements, company formation etc) - I suppose its the same as in the Uk i.e once you have decided you just make the jump and go contracting.....big difference is you need to be in NZ and have to uproot Missus, plonk cats on plane etc in order to do this which makes things a little more risque should things go wrong

The permy route is the same but if you had an interview over there and
the company were interested they would pay/help on relocation and at least you would have a job to start with. The agencies I am speaking to are saying do the permy thing and after a couple of years (Work to Residency visa is a simple process with a company sponsor in a skills shortage listed industry) and go back to contract work after.

[silves89]

I was a permie who went to Christchurch, New Zealand last year. I wanted to contract and looked for a month (staying with friends) until we realised that Christmas was coming along with the month and a half summer-holiday dead zone and we wanted a house before then, so I went for a permanent job. Meh, but I'm back in the UK soon and I'm determined to make the permie/contracting switch back there.

I would have got a contract if I had held out but there really is very little Java in Christchurch and not a lot of C# contacts. Wellington is much better and I think Auckland is probably good as well.

New Zealand is as good as they say and not quite as dull as some others say.

[beached]

I have been in Auckland for last 4 years. I came over on a reccie took a permie role first week to get work permit(has to be a job under 2 years) then applied for perm. residency. Got residency dumped permie role and have been doing $90-125 an hour ever since. The contract market here(in Auckland) is dire at moment, the pimps are quoting $70 . I'm due to finish up next week having spent 3 months commuting wto Wellington and working from home 50%and planning on coming back to Uk for a bit. (Do you want to rent my house,2 mins to beach seaviews etc??!)
The permie roles are abundant look at hays.com.au for salary rates or absoluteit.co.nz

I would think that if you want to come you would have to do the holiday/under 30 visa thing or go permie.
\Give us a shout if you want to know anything more, contacts etc.

[weemster]

Thank you both - If you could PM contact dets - I can contact direct.

[Stan.goodvibes]

Contract and IT Market great at the moment

Currently contracting in Wellington. I grew up here but have a British passsport and have been back since contracting in London in those heady days of 1995 - 2001.

Contract market is well bouyant here in Wellington. I've lived in both Auckland and Wellington now and I have to say Wellington is sooo preferable over Auckland. The city is much nicer, travel is so much easier, and the IT market is better due to our Labour govt following the UK model of having a huge bloated public sector - long may it continue! Yeah the weather in Wellngton is not as good as Auckland, but if you are coming over from the UK, well, anythings better than what you are getting, isn't it? ;-)

My contract runs till June next year, when I *was* planning a return to the UK, but it doesn't look like there will be anyone left in the City by the time I get there LOL.

Oh well, good luck with the move - the NZ economy is rocking along at the moment, largely due to high dairy prices, although it has suffered a small dip along with everyone else who finally realised that their house probably isn't worth *quite* as much as it said on paper at the bank, but its all looking good for next year, so get over here and enjoy some sun...

- Dave

[weemster]

Beached and Stan,

Thanks for the advice.

Looking to contact you both offline - any ideas ?

[Stan.goodvibes]

Beached and Stan,

Thanks for the advice.

Looking to contact you both offline - any ideas ?

drop me a line at [email protected]. I'm a bit useless when it comes to advising on work-permit type stuff as I have dual UK/NZ citizenship, but if you want any help with agencies or accomodation or any up-to-date info on how the contract market is at the moment, that I can do.

Been a bit disappointed with the ContractorUk website lately - with all the turmoil in the City and the UK recession I would have expected more in their News section about the knock-on effects to contractors. I *was* planning to return to the UK and seek contract work in the City next Summer but I am beginning to wonder if their will be a City left by the end of the year.

NZ (and Oz) are getting a bit of fallout from the US Markets, but luckily we didn't have a Liemans in NZ! We'll take a bit of a GDP hit in the next year or two because we rely so much on exports but overall our economy is sound. if you want to keep track of how things are really doing here then read the Current Issue of the Bank Of NZ Weekly Review here every week... http://www.bnz.co.nz/About_Us/1,1184,3-29-319,00.html.

Cheers,

Dave
p.s. right now there is quite a big differential between Australia and NZ - their contract rates are considerably higher than here and their taxes are lower. When my contract is up here next June if the UK is still in meltdown then I'll be looking to move to Oz for the better pay. You may want to consider Oz instead (airfares between the 2 countries are cheap if you want to holiday in NZ)