The land of the long white cloud. This is a description often given to New Zealand referring to its climate during winter. With a Mediterranean climate, with summer heat and winter rains, many South Africans easily adapt to these similar climatic conditions of the Western and Eastern Cape of South Africa. From its northern to its southern most tip, New Zealand measures about 1600 kilometers and at its widest almost 450 kilometers.

Wellington is New Zealand's Capital City, but the economic hub of this country is in Auckland, a city with approximately 1,2 million inhabitants. Auckland is also known as the City of Sails. Almost one in every four households in Auckland has a boat or yacht or watercraft of some sorts. New Zealanders are very outdoors orientated and enjoy the freedom of going out over weekends into the countryside on hikes, trails overlanding and camping. Due to the proximity of the sea, water sports in every form and format is hugely popular and activities like sailing, fishing, skiing, surfing, windsurfing, diving and river rafting are widely supported. Nearly 60% of all New Zealanders belong to a health or sports club and almost all New Zealanders take part in some form of sport or another.

A very extensive agricultural economic sector relies mostly on the approximate 70 million sheep and about 10 million cattle as its main industries. In addition to the aforementioned, the dairy industry is highly evolved and very lucrative. A very big apple and pear industry competes on the international market and New Zealand white wines are increasing in its popularity. One third of New Zealand is planted with forestry, especially in the Rotorua and Bay of Plenty areas and big pulp and paper industries are also situated there.

The tourism industry in New Zealand is gaining serious momentum and with global warming affecting the vast snowfields of Europe, New Zealand will, in the next two decades, become a very popular destination for snow worshippers.

The education system is sound and education at government schools are virtually free of charge with only a nominal fee payable. Private schools are available, but tend to be expensive. Medicare is the government's free medical system and most medical procedures are covered by this system. Public transport in the greater cities is very reliable and inexpensive.

New Zealand offers a stable economy with employment opportunities for everybody. The country has a general shortage of tradesman and technically trained people as well as medical personnel and teachers, to mention but a few occupations. A country certainly well worth exploring.

The New Zealand Immigration Service has numerous types of visas to enable potential applicants to qualify either for Permanent Residency (PR) or for work visas, which can lead to PR. The main categories are as follows:

General Skills Visas

These visas are based on skilled migrants who have a basic three year qualification, current work experience, who is under the age of 56 years old and who may or may not have family relations in New Zealand and who may or may not have a spouse with a basic qualification. Certain points are attached to each category and if your points tally up to the pass mark you will be furnished with a PR visa.

Work Visa

If you fall short of the base pass mark then you may be eligible for a work visa, provided that your occupation is on the shortage list of occupations in New Zealand. Once you have worked in your occupation for 30 months you will be eligible for PR.

Business Visa

There are numerous types of business visas to choose from. Each of these visas have vastly different criteria and are complex in nature. Some of these visas include: Entrepeneur visas, investment visas, retirement visas etc. Should you require further information on these visas please do not hesitate to contact us.

Other visas

There are numerous other visas that one can look at to gain entry to New Zealand; fiancé visas, spousal visas, student visas, de facto spouse visas, parent migration visas etc.