I found Accent Health Recruitment so helpful. I would highly recommend them to help anyone look for a job here because you will get loads of support when you arrive. They offered to help me with accommodation and contacted me on arrival in New Zealand to see if I needed anything.

My name is Claire. I am a registered nurse and moved to New Zealand in 2012. I spent a long time researching my options for New Zealand in order to have everything ready before the move. Once I got my registration and work visa I contacted Accent Health Recruitment to help me distribute my CV and find a job. I found the staff, especially Prudence, phenomenally helpful and I got a job after my first interview!!

I’ve been to New Zealand before and travelled it extensively and my favourite places are Franz Josef Glacier, Queenstown, Lake Wanaka, Christchurch and Taupo. There are lots of activities and adventures to do here, much more so than at home. The weather makes it so much easier to get out and about. Since coming back last year I’ve taken up trekking/hill walking or tramping as they call it here. There are so many places to explore here the list is endless.

My advice if you are planning to come to NZ is to be sure to organise your nurse registration and visa before looking for a job or coming to New Zealand. The New Zealand Nursing Council will send you the information you require to register. The nursing union NZNO are also helpful at giving you information in relation to the salary, annual leave, working hours etc.

The New Zealand Immigration website has all the information you require to apply for your visa before you enter New Zealand. Their website is very easy to navigate. The working holiday visa is a great option if you are under 30 and if approved enables you to work in New Zealand from the day you arrive.

Once you are in the country you can just pop into your nearest Immigration Office and get all the forms you need to apply for a new visa after the 12 month working holiday visa.

The first step in my family’s move to New Zealand was to secure a job offer in order to qualify for a residency visa. I became aware of Accent Health Recruitment at a NZ Expo and made contact with them to help me to find a job as a midwife in either Christchurch or Dunedin.

I had an initial interview with Kristin in London and she was able to use her local contacts in Christchurch to arrange a telephone interview with the Charge Midwife Managers at Christchurch Women’s Hospital. It was strange being interviewed when I was sitting in my kitchen in the UK at ten o clock at night but I was successful and a verbal offer was made that night!

This process was extremely well coordinated by Accent Health Recruitment and the extra email and telephone contact from them gave me confidence and support at what was probably the most tentative part of the emigration journey.

Once the job offer was confirmed in February 2010 I spent several months completing the required immigration and professional paperwork and again Accent Health Recruitment were supportive and encouraging through this time. Our permanent residency visas were granted in July 2010, ready in good time for our planned departure date in mid-August 2010. Although the permanent residency visa was more complicated and expensive to apply for we now do not have to go through this process again to convert a work permit to a residence permit in the future.

We arrived in Christchurch just three weeks before the September 2010 earthquake and I started work two days after the quake. From that first day I was welcomed and valued as a member of the team and found amazing support from my new colleagues and friends, particularly impressive, considering that many midwives had suffered damage to homes at this time. The working environment was very busy due to earthquake damage to primary birthing units but I was properly orientated, given required training and excellent support in the clinical area. Just five months later I was promoted and am still well supported and enjoying my role at Christchurch Women’s Hospital.

In February 2011 we found ourselves at the epicentre of the devastating earthquake that has decimated Christchurch. Our rental house was very badly damaged and we were without power and water for over ten days. Our local community rallied together to provide every person with whatever they needed at this time and we have profound respect for the fortitude and strength of our friends, neighbours and everyone in our community. Even though the rebuilding of Christchurch will take some years we are enjoying much improved quality of life compared to the UK. The children have an amazing school with individualised learning goals for each child and my husband has a great job with the local professional rugby team (a dream come true for a Welshman!). We started to build our own family home, a project that was unaffordable in the UK and are looking forward to a long and happy life here in Christchurch New Zealand.

The team at Accent Health Recruitment did over and above what I thought recruitment agencies offer and helped me settle in to the country. I still message one of the girls and keep in touch every now and then! Great team!

Hi my name is Elizabeth, I am a registered nurse and moved to NZ from the UK in August, 2012. The process to come to NZ took approximately 12months, and the easiest part of the process was getting the interviews – Accent Health Recruitment did it all for me.

The most challenging part of the process was ALL the paperwork and getting to the court to get stuff signed. My first impression of NZ was what a beautiful country it is, and with wonderful people!

New Zealand seems so relaxed, so easy to get to places for weekends away, has such stunning surroundings, and massive parking spaces!!

What I miss the most about the UK is my twin and normal Cadbury chocolate.

My advice if you are planning to come to NZ is make sure you have plenty of time set aside, so that it’s not stressful with all the paperwork.

Accent Health Recruitment were really helpful throughout the whole process and answered any questions I had, they also helped me nag my old boss for paperwork.

I arrived in New Zealand May 2012. I had been working with Accent Health Recruitment since the fall, and finally had all the paper work done and a job offer! Accent Health Recruitment has been a great help, dealing as the go-between person, helping me figure out the paperwork, and sending chocolate with the post!!

I started at Starship Children’s Hospital, a part of the Auckland District Health Board. I was given 3 weeks of orientation with another Canadian girl, so it was great to have similar education backgrounds. Now I am “on my own”, but the staff here are great, very friendly and helpful, so I’m catching on quite quickly. There are quite a few similarities to Canadian health care systems, but there are also a lot of differences. Either way, great to see and to learn something more.

I moved into a house with other Working Visa people from all over the world. It has been great, as they are available and willing to adventure with me, and be a good resource. There are also other nurses from other countries here who are also excited to see and do things in and around Auckland!

With the 12 hours shifts, I am able to have more time off, so I’ve already done a bit, but have lots of ideas of places to go and things to do on my days off!!

This is a much nicer winter then the Canadian ones back home, and so far it is a great experience to be in a new city in the Southern Hemisphere!!

My name is Ann Cooper, I am a theatre nurse from England, and came to New Zealand. The process took just over 12 months from expression of interest to visa granting.

The easiest part of the process was actually getting a job. Accent Health Recruitment were very good and kept in touch all through the process, arranging two interviews via the telephone, and advising on what kind of questions were likely to be asked. I was actually offered both jobs.

One of the most challenging parts of the process is getting all your paperwork sorted out and verified, and some of the forms are long winded. We used the services of an immigration consultant which was quite expensive. Knowing what we know now we would have done quite a lot of the work ourselves. The Immigration department were quite strict and thorough on health issues too, and followed up on everything declared on the health questionnaire, wanting reassurances from consultants that there was unlikely to be any reoccurrence of previous health issues.

Our first impressions of New Zealand were actually gained the previous year when we spent a month travelling in a camper van. We loved the place and the people were so laid back and friendly, like the UK was 20 years ago, people here make you feel so welcome and have a real interest in you, and like to chat.

We travelled both islands during our 2008 holiday, and really liked Northland and Nelson in the South. The south Island is the place to go if you are young and thrill seeking, but being rather more ‘mature’ we settled in the Bay of Plenty on the East coast of the North Island.

We have been here 10 months now, have bought a house and settled in well. The only things we miss from the UK are our grown up kids, friends and M&S.

We found the immigration NZ expos to be very helpful, where you can investigate jobs, bank accounts and make other useful contacts. However jobs for non-skilled partners are not so easy to find. Graham was a social care worker in the UK working for social services; he is doing voluntary work here 3 days per week and being paid for 1 day. Although the paid work is only minimal it has helped him to settle and make friends too, so all in all we are very happy and pleased us made the move.

Hi my name is Sue Coleman and I am a Registered Mental Health Nurse. I came to NZ in Jan 2012 with my husband and 2 daughters from Lincoln, UK.

The process to come to NZ took me about 12 months.

The easiest part of the process was getting a job with the help of Accent Health Recruitment!! The most challenging part of the process was going through the nursing registration process and figuring out their ‘speak’ and what they wanted from me. Accent Health Recruitment were very helpful and gave us pointers when I got a bit stuck.

My first impressions of NZ were friendly people, clean country and the best parts of NZ are the slower pace of life, people are more accepting of differences between people, fantastic landscapes, better weather than UK….you can just be yourself!

What I miss the most is my friends & family and a really good curry!

My advice if you are planning to come to NZ is to do extensive research into where you want to live, take into account the needs of your family versus location, this is very important to help you all settle in.

I would also advise when leaving, say your goodbyes at home; don’t wait until you’re at the airport!

From the first contact with Accent Health Recruitment agency we felt informed, appreciated and listened to. Prudence found me a job which combines both my skills as a nurse and midwife in a fabulous part of the South Island. I guess if you are looking at this web site you are seriously pondering a move or trip to New Zealand. Well what’s stopping you?

I am a dual trained nurse and midwife and we (my husband Graham and I) moved to Akaroa near Christchurch in May 2010. I had my New Zealand nursing registration and I have been very fortunate to have worked all over the world from the Middle East to the Channel Islands to Australia and more. Most times I have used recruitment agencies to help with work and visa direction; not all have been the most helpful or switched on…………..This time I chose Accent Health Recruitment Ltd to help us with a permanent lifestyle change and job offer. I was lucky that the position I applied for waited for me to arrive and that process did take nearly one year!

I have nursed in New Zealand before, so I knew a lot of what to expect so was really looking forward to getting back.

We wanted rural and costal for our location and I wanted more autonomy and diversity in my job. Akaroa on Banks Peninsula fits the bill perfectly. There is a bit I miss about where I came from in Devon and Cornwall, but NZ certainly makes up for it.

If you choose Accent Health Recruitment and New Zealand you really have made the best choice – my only regret is that I didn’t use them years ago!

Good luck and stay focused, see ya soon!!

My name is Webster Mudavanhu and I am a Registered Nurse. Before coming to NZ I lived and worked in the UK.

My family and I were introduced to Accent Health Recruitment by a family member living in NZ and they were great throughout the whole process. We explained what we wanted and they met my exact needs. They helped me to find a job in Christchurch, in fact they did all the work i.e. organised the job interview. I had a phone interview, which was my first experience of such an interview. It was quite an anxious moment just to wait for the phone to ring. As you will guess I got the job, thanks to the huge support Accent Health Recruitment provided me and my family.

Of course that was not all they did, they were a huge support during the nurse registration process which was a lengthy and complicated process. They also helped with the immigration process acting on my behalf keeping me updated throughout the whole process.

Relocating to another country is a big step and can be a daunting prospect. Organising everything can be hard work but Accent Health Recruitment were a huge help as they took the load off my shoulders in as far as taking care of business in NZ. So all we had to worry about was taking care of things that needed to be sorted in the UK.

Although we had already started the emigration process with Accent Health Recruitment, we had the opportunity to meet Prudence and her team at the Leeds emigration expo UK in October 2008. It was good to finally meet the people doing all the hard work. We started the whole process in May 2008 and set a time frame of 6 to 9 months. We were not far off our target given that I postponed my plans to relocate a couple of times. We finally arrived in Christchurch in March 2009 and we were all blown away and instantly knew we had made the right choice.

I like working as a Registered Nurse in Christchurch because the work culture is more relaxed and I find I have more time with my family. My work colleagues are friendly and helpful. There is not much difference to nursing in NZ and the UK. We have been in NZ for 4 months and we are happy with our NZ experience. Although we are in the middle of winter we have been told that we are going to enjoy the summer!!

We do miss our friends and family back in the UK of course but New Zealand is great place for raising kids and certainly the lifestyle is slow paced, have not experienced a traffic jam since arriving here!!

I would like to thank Prudence, who constantly kept in touch and her team at Accent Health Recruitment for making my dream to emigrate to NZ possible. I strongly recommend Accent to anyone thinking of emigrating to this beautiful country.

I am a UK registered nurse, my name is Sharon Anderson (known as Sharri). We have achieved our dream and that’s our life here in Christchurch!!!!!!!!!

I work at Christchurch Hospital. I came to NZ with my husband Gordon and youngest daughter Chelsea in November 2009 from Scotland in the UK. The whole process to come to NZ took me 9 months from starting our application to arriving in NZ. Accent Health Recruitment was the agency we choose to help us, and they got me and interview and a job in Christchurch.

To be honest, the process, we were leaving family and friends behind and that was hard. The most challenging part of the process was Immigration. Not an easy process at all lots of challenges along the way.

My first impressions of NZ were it was a lovely place with stunning scenery. The best parts of NZ are the people, Kiwis are very friendly and supportive, and they will do anything to make you feel at home.

I do miss my family, we have grown up children still in Scotland, and we miss them dearly. My advice if you are planning to come to NZ is to do a lot of research and be 100% committed to your new life. Bear in mind your skills are in demand. My advice is to get in touch with someone who has actually conquered the whole immigration process, that way you are guaranteed to get good honest impartial information that could help you make the biggest decision of your life.

It’s our biggest regret we sold up everything back home. We arrived with a suit case each because we were told it was cheaper to buy new things than ship. Definitely not. We were given the wrong advice and ended up spending most of our savings kept for a deposit on a house on general household needs.

On a positive note though after 9 months we have bought a beautiful house in a lovely area, you do get a lot more house for your money here, that part is true.

On a whole we love life here and wouldn’t even think about going back. But it does take time to settle into the new culture and the way of life here, there are lots of challenges ahead to conquer but with determination you can succeed and have a wonderful life. One final thought: if it’s quality of life you are after for you and your family NZ is definitely the place to be. On the other hand if it’s to make lots of money, then you maybe want a different direction.

“My first impressions of New Zealand were a beautiful, lush, hilly country, where each person living here is so fiercely proud of their land and willing to tell you about it!”

From start to finish, it took Sharon Commandant less than 6 months to find a job, arrange for all her New Zealand nursing accreditation and visa approvals and arrive in Wellington.

“The easiest part of the process was securing a job,” says Sharon. “Thanks to Accent Health Recruitment they walked me through my options, explained what New Zealand employers are looking for and of course they did all the hunting for me!”

“It meant I landed a job over the phone.”

The most challenging part of the process was the paperwork in registering as a nurse here. “It wasn’t made clear that I needed a stamp from a JP, and this delayed my registration by 2 weeks or so.”

Originally from Ottawa in Canada, Sharon and her husband had travelled through New Zealand in 2009 on a Working Holiday visa, falling in love with the country. The pull of New Zealand, Sharon says, started with hearing how beautiful the country was. Seeing Lord of the Rings had them searching online for more information. Sharon’s husband is an actor who has now secured a role in The Hobbitt.

“We registered with NewZealandNow, a government website sponsored by Immigration New Zealand, and that’s how we found out about Working Holiday Visas. Those we applied for online and received within just a few weeks. They’re a great option.”

“After living for 6 months in New Zealand, travelling a bit, we explored our options in Australia. But we truly wanted to live in New Zealand, so I contacted Accent Health Recruitment to see if they could help.”

Today, Sharon is working at Wellington Hospital and finds the laidback lifestyle a real pleasure. “Each of my co-workers loves to laugh and joke with each other.

“I have always wanted to work somewhere where you can really feel your colleagues are there for you, and I have found that here in Wellington. It’s nice to see a whole ward going to dinner together, lots of baby showers, and so on.”

When asked to give advice to potential migrants, Sharon suggests researching the regional opportunities. “You should really look into where in the country you’d like to stay as there are very different ways of life around each city or region.

“I am really happy in Wellington. It’s a big city that feels small and funky.”

I am a UK midwife, now working in Christchurch hospital in Canterbury New Zealand. My name is Helen Ward I came from the UK 6 months ago. The whole process to come to NZ with the general planning/ research took about 1.5 years but the serious process only took 4 months.

Accent Health Recruitment were the ones who got me the job and guided me!! So I was very lucky to have them. The most challenging part of the process was the midwifery registration in NZ and getting all the medicals completed for NZ Immigration.

When we first got here, we said “Yep we definitely made the right decision. The people are very friendly.” The beautiful scenery and laid back attitude are the best parts of NZ.

In NZ they don’t have great central heating!!! But you can get this installed – but it does cost!

My advice if you are planning to come to NZ is: make sure you research it extensively even the little things and don’t just take one person’s word for it. Join an immigration forum they are invaluable.

I came as a single mum with three children with next to nothing money wise, my final thought would be “anything is possible if you want it enough, dream the dream”.

I first met Accent Health Recruitment at the Emigrate Show in February 2008 and started work in Blenheim, New Zealand in November 2008. It was a hugely daunting prospect to up sticks and move to the other side of the world with my husband and 2 year old son Alisdair. We could never have done it without Accent Health Recruitment. From the start they were a huge help in all of our plans, from job seeking to finding flights.

Alison, my initial contact in New Zealand, was a fantastic support and help through the complicated process of applying to register with the Nursing Council of New Zealand, and assisting me to find a suitable post. We first met Helen at an interview in Edinburgh, when the process really kicked into gear. Helen helped support us through the Immigration process. There are always so many questions to ask as the whole process is so complicated and Alison and Helen were always there, patient and ready to answer all my queries. All my emails were answered promptly and they were always really helpful on the phone.

Accent Health Recruitment found me a job that matched my interests and experience. They always considered what we wanted to do as a family, as well as where we wanted to live.

We’ve been here in Blenheim for 3 months and we’re loving our Kiwi experience. It’s a more relaxed pace of life and the people are friendly and helpful. I am enjoying my job, and adapting to the differences of being a nurse in New Zealand (although a surprising amount of it is just the same as at home). Homesickness does kick in at times, but New Zealand is a beautiful place and a wonderful place for children so we are hoping we can lure some of our family over!

As for Accent Health Recruitment – they were invaluable to our emigration experience and I would absolutely recommend them to anyone thinking of making the big trip down under.