MPI report endorses FOA position
August 6, 2020
MPI commissioned report endorses FOA statements that forestry leads sheep and beef farming for export returns and providing jobs. Click on the link below to
Are you interested in moving to New Zealand? We can help you apply for a Visa to live in New Zealand.
We can help you apply for a Visa in NZ by purchasing land in NZ.
Did you know that experienced businesspeople who have a minimum of NZ $3 million in available funds or assets can apply for New Zealand residency?
The information below is taken from the immigration New Zealand website. www.newzealandnow.govt.nz
New Zealand has the work-life balance just right. It’s why we consistently lead international quality-of-life surveys.
Get a career. And a life.
Working hard and getting ahead is important to us. We’re a well-developed, well connected country with all sorts of opportunities to advance your career.
But New Zealanders also believe life is for living. It’s about balancing a good day’s work with time for family and friends plus all the recreation and wide open spaces our country offers.
For the record, New Zealand was rated second in the world for work-life balance in HSBC’s 2015 Expat Explorer survey.
Imagine a land the size of the UK or Japan with all the facilities of an advanced Western economy but a fraction of the number of people.
Less pressure on space and natural resources means we don’t have the pollution, congestion and health issues that you often find elsewhere.
It’s one of the reasons New Zealand is one of the top three countries expats hoping to improve their wellbeing are most likely to relocate to, according to results from HSBC’s 2015 Expat Explorer survey.
Survey after survey proves New Zealand’s enviable work-life balance.
HSBC’s 2015 Expat Explorer survey ranked us second in the world for work-life balance (and first for ‘Quality of Life’). Overall, they voted New Zealand the second most popular place on earth for expats to live and work.
The latest (2015) survey by global HR consultants Mercer again ranked Auckland as the third best city in the world for ‘Quality of Living’, after Vienna and Zurich, and first in Asia Pacific and Australasia. Wellington scored well too, coming in at 12th.
The UN ranks New Zealand 9th out of 187 countries on its 2015 Human Development Index.
One of the largest global surveys voted New Zealand the 6th best place in the world for expatriates. HSBC’s Expat Explorer index reflects the opinions of almost 9,300 expats based in over 100 countries.
Our easy-going ways, uncrowded communities, relatively low crime rates and compact workplaces all mean life’s generally less stressed here.
Most migrants find the reality actually exceeds expectations in this regard. For example, according to HSBC’s 2015 Expat Explorer survey, more than three-quarters (77%) of migrants to New Zealand say their overall quality of life is better than at home. “Expats take advantage of this to stay for the long-term and 71% have lived in New Zealand for five years or more.”
New Zealanders find time for life’s finer things. For example, CNN rates Wellington one of the world’s eight great coffee cities.
Leave entitlement
With the +20 days leave employers offer annually you’ll have plenty of time to enjoy the things New Zealand is justly famous for, soak up the scenery, experience an outdoor adventure or two, or to just kick back from work and relax.
On top of your annual leave, there are public holidays that can add up to another 11 days off work.
New Zealand does not have the endless sprawls of high-density housing or rows of towering high-rises you find elsewhere. There’s room to breathe and a wide variety of lifestyle options.
You can choose upbeat urban apartment living or a suburban backyard with room for children and a vegetable patch (we call this a ‘quarter acre paradise’). Alternatively you can go a little further afield and live by the sea or get close to nature in rural open spaces, perhaps with some farmland and animals (we call these lifestyle blocks).
Just be aware that New Zealand homes can lack features you’re used to. Many migrants notice a relative lack of double glazing, central heating or air conditioning – or install those features themselves.
Less commuting
Smaller, less crowded cities and towns make getting to and from work much easier. Expect to leave home at a decent hour and arrive back with time to achieve something in the evening.
Auckland is the exception. Like any million-plus city it has noticeable peak hour traffic congestion.
While feeling safe is a luxury in many places, it’s one that New Zealanders are accustomed to.
We’re not saying serious crime doesn’t exist here – it does – but the rates are lower in New Zealand than in many other countries.
Compared to what goes on in many other parts of the world we’re an easy-going and happy country largely free of personal violence and strife between communities.
Kids on scooters in New Zealand
It’s why so many Kiwis who have lived overseas return home when it’s time to have a family.
We’re rated in international surveys as one of the world’s most peaceful, least corrupt countries.
The 2015 Global Peace Index, which compares 162 countries for the risk of personal violence, rates New Zealand as the world’s fourth safest country just after Iceland, Denmark and Austria.
Transparency International’s 2014 Corruption Perception Index ranks us the second least corrupt country in the world, just behind Denmark.
We don’t even have any seriously dangerous wildlife for you to worry about.
About the only thing that might be in danger from an animal is your vehicle. Kea, parrot-like birds found at higher altitudes in the South Island, sometimes display a taste for the rubber on windscreens, doors and mirrors.
Peaceful community
New Zealanders are by and large open-minded and believe people should be free to live the lifestyle they choose.
There are laws to prevent people abusing anyone’s freedom of expression and speech, and we have a reliable and trustworthy police force you can turn to which solves a comparatively high number of all crimes.
Police don’t harass you here. They have strict rules they must follow and can’t act arbitrarily. As a rule, they don’t carry personal firearms.
Because it’s pretty safe and secure, you and your family can feel free to get out and enjoy everything New Zealand has to offer.
You can expect to walk or cycle the streets, play in playgrounds, catch public transport and generally do the things you want to do without fear.
You can enjoy New Zealand’s open spaces at will, discover the beaches, have fun in the playgrounds and parks, picnic, explore the bush, climb mountains and cycle to your heart’s content.
Family exploring Wellington, New Zealand
Your family can enjoy everything New Zealand has to offer.
Otari-Wilton Bush, Wellington
A fair deal
In many countries the blight of corruption makes everyday life uncertain and difficult. Not in New Zealand.
Hidden or unadvertised fees are usually illegal, and enforcement is supported by Kiwis’ in-built expectations of ‘fair play’, integrity, honesty and trust. There are cases of corruption, but they make headlines because of their relative rarity.
You can expect to pay the advertised price or fee for services and goods and no more. You can also expect officials and people in authority do what they’re supposed to do without requiring extra cash, ‘service fees’ or favours.
For more on consumer’s rights in New Zealand visit Consumer, our independent consumer watch-dog.
Moving to a new country gets more complicated if you have a family to consider. But rest assured, New Zealand is a great place to bring up children.
It’s why so many Kiwis living abroad come back home when it’s time to start nesting. They know that children here enjoy many things other countries just can’t offer.
New Zealand offers all sorts of options for choosing a home and lifestyle for your family. Our education system is recognised around the world. Our healthcare too is strong. It’s affordable, and getting seen by a doctor is usually easy.
We make fitting in and getting set up in your new country easy. And less commuting plus a better work-life balance means you get to spend more time with your family.
New Zealand is the world’s second most desirable place for families, according to HSBC’s 2015 Expat Explorer survey. One family-critical topic of the survey covered was ‘healthcare’, where our system was rated as the best in the world.
New Zealand is the perfect place to bring up children.
It’s stable, peaceful and safer than just about anywhere else in the world – in fact we’re the fourth safest country in the world, according to the 2015 Global Peace Index.
76% of expat parents living in New Zealand felt that their “offspring are more healthy living in New Zealand” according to HSBC’s 2015 Expat Explorer survey. Nearly three in five agreed that they personally had become more physically active since their move. They’re among the reasons expats rated New Zealand first in the world for ‘health’.
There are wonderful opportunities for young people to grow up with easy access to sports and outdoors, space and freedom: to ride horses, to run along open beaches, to swim in clean water, to walk through native forests and to truly experience the beauty of nature.
Our wide open spaces mean you have the choice of every style of living you and your family could want – from suburban homes with room for kids to run around in, to places by the seaside or even a spot out in the country with your own farm animals.
There is a wide range of housing options in New Zealand in terms of style, quality and price depending on location. Many tend to be built for our temperate climate and often don’t have some of the creature comforts (e.g. central heating, double glazing) people may be used to in cooler parts of the world.
Every country has a certain amount of natural beauty. New Zealand just happens to have loads of it.
Better still, it’s not just concentrated in a few remote corners. The great scenery of our wide open spaces surrounds and inspires us, even in our biggest cities.
That’s why nearly 22,000 expats interviewed for HSBC’s 2015 Expat Explorer survey rated New Zealand first in the world for overall ‘experience’.
New Zealand is one big natural playground. You’ll find all sorts of opportunities to get outdoors.
Land and place are central to our Māori people’s identity. That connectedness has rubbed off onto non-Māori New Zealanders (pakeha), reinforced by the pioneering heritage of their own forebears.
Understanding our relationship with land and sea explains a lot about Kiwis. For example, our passion for sport and outdoor activities. It’s because those activities get us close to things that nourish us spiritually.
Environmental guardianship
New Zealanders share a strong sense of guardianship (kaitiaki-tanga) for our environment. For example, we maintain robust controls over land development, fishing, water quality and conservation. We’ve dedicated over 30% of our land area to national parks and other protected areas.
There are extensive campaigns to rid our land of threats to native wildlife and to support populations of endangered species such as our native birds, including the kiwi.
You’ll get an idea of how carefully we protect our environment from the strict bio security restrictions on what you can bring in to New Zealand when you land at the airport.
Tourists can only ever skim the surface of New Zealand’s spectacular scenery. Many New Zealanders who’ve lived their whole lives here haven’t seen or done it all either. Over 90% of migrants find our scenery exceeds or meets their expectations, according to a recent Immigration New Zealand survey.
So, what can you expect? Well, if you’ve seen The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, The Narnia Chronicles or The Piano, you’ll have an idea: soaring mountainscapes, mysterious lakes and rivers, dramatic volcanic plateaus, vast open plains, braided rivers, thermal wonderlands, fiords, native forests, glaciers, miles of farmland and even more miles of glorious coastline with gorgeous sandy beaches…. all that sort of thing.
It’s not just the range of beautiful scenery there is to see – it’s all the different ways you can experience it: by car, on foot, by boat, on horseback, by helicopter, by rail, by rubber raft…
Humans have a much smaller footprint on New Zealand than in many countries. So it’s easy to lose the crowds and have the wide open spaces to yourself.
Size-wise we’re slightly larger than the UK and slightly smaller than Japan. But we have a fraction of their populations, just 4.5m.
So, on average you’ll find just 16 people for every square kilometre in New Zealand. That compares to 253 in the UK and 337 in Japan.
While we get our share of wild weather, our climate lacks the extremes that make getting into nature hard.
We don’t have months of baking heat or intense snow: ours is a temperate climate which means relatively mild, wet winters and warm dry summers.
However, being a maritime country, the weather can change rapidly from day to day or even during the day. There are also wide variations: the far north can be positively subtropical, while the deep south can get icy winds. It can be sunny and warm on the east coast, and cloudy and wet over the mountains on the west.
New Zealand has southern hemisphere seasons, with winter from June to August and Summer from December to February.
New Zealanders open their hearts to newcomers.
In fact, nine out of ten migrants find the welcome they receive meets or exceeds their expectations, according to a recent Immigration New Zealand survey.
In the 2015 Expat Insider survey, 94% of respondents said they found Kiwi people ‘friendly’ or ‘very friendly’. It’s one of the reasons we scored so highly (second of 64 countries) for ‘ease of settling in’.
Naturals at welcoming strangers
New Zealanders know what it’s like arriving somewhere new. We’re great international travellers and nearly a quarter of us were born outside New Zealand. Over 90% of us feel some connection with another country through family, friends or interests.
Our warmth and hospitality are also a product of our size. New Zealanders don’t have to protect their private space by staying aloof. Quite the opposite – living on the edge of the world as we do, we prefer to reach out and make connections.
Nearly four in five migrants say they are integrating well with the local Kiwi and Māori culture according to HSBC’s 2015 Expat Explorer survey.
Relationship with the land
Kiwis in many respects are quite a different breed. It’s a result of where we come from and the values we hold.
Our country is a land of wide-open spaces, where the elements come alive. We share a fierce appreciation of the land that inspires us and provides opportunities for ourselves and for future generations.
Shaped by our culture
Open spaces, open hearts, open minds. That’s New Zealand and its people in a nutshell.
Our character is also shaped by a unique mix of Māori and European culture. This melding of ideas and customs began with the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840 and continues to this day.
Today, New Zealand is diverse, combining influences from around the world, especially the Pacific. We’re a country of open, welcoming people, a place you’ll make lasting friendships.The culture that has created is a strong connector between us, and a bond we love to share with visitors.
Open spaces, open hearts, open minds. That’s New Zealand and its people in a nutshell.
A tradition of hospitality
The spirit of welcome runs deep here. Māori have a word for it – Manaakitanga.
Loosely translated as hospitality, Manaakitanga sums up the act of welcoming and looking after guests. The idea is that by offering hospitality, generosity and mutual respect everyone involved comes out better off.
Bringing people together
Food and hospitality have always been at the heart of the Māori way of life.
Whether it’s a picnic on the beach, a hāngi at your child’s school or a barbeque with neighbours – you’ll find that food and friendship go hand-in-hand in New Zealand.
Manaakitanga extends far beyond Māori tradition. It’s even recognised by our Government as one of the two core values of our tourism strategy.
Are you interested in moving to New Zealand? We can help you apply for a Visa to live in New Zealand.
We can help you apply for a Visa in NZ by purchasing land in NZ.
Did you know that experienced businesspeople who have a minimum of NZ $2.5 million in available funds or assets can apply for New Zealand residency?
The information below is taken from the immigration New Zealand website. www.newzealandnow.govt.nz
MPI commissioned report endorses FOA statements that forestry leads sheep and beef farming for export returns and providing jobs. Click on the link below to
There’s some agitation out there at the moment about farming being under threat from forestry. In my opinion, much of what’s circulating is based on