Success in NZ – Back to the UK to share story

Success in New Zealand – Back to the UK to share their story

In 2000 Mike and Tammy Bell left a cramped rented house London with their three young daughters and flew off to make a life for themselves in New Zealand. Before Peter Jackson made this a popular destination it was an unusual and difficult move - especially with no job or home to go to and only £8,000 in their pockets.

This was not a rushed decision however. The planning, saving and hard work began nearly four years previously. Mike spent three years slogging through night-school while working two jobs to make the grade for Immigration. Tammy spent countless hours researching and studying every little detail of their move and carefully saved up enough money to pay for their journey and start a new life.

Now 7 years on life has changed dramatically for the Bell family. After landing two job offers in the first week, using their money as a deposit for a 4 bedroom house and working extremely hard they have achieved their dream. The children have had incredible opportunities and New Zealand has been very good for all of them.

Mike and Tammy are now using their skills and knowledge to make a success of helping other newcomers settle successfully in Aotearoa: Land of the Long White Cloud. As featured on the BBC series “Wanted down under” in January 2008

In March 2005 the Bells launched a free interactive website www.move2nz.com to provide information and enable anyone thinking about emigrating to connect with people who already had in a friendly and non-commercial environment.

“We launched move2nz purely out of need” says Tammy. “After coming across so many newcomers who just wanted real information from real people about the real issues of making a life in New Zealand I asked Mike to build me a website. I decided we could meet this need by connecting people and creating realistic expectations of emigrating to the other side of the world.”

move2nz is a family run organisation with twins Emma and Natalie (now 15) and Rebekah (13) playing an active part in sharing their experiences of what it is like to grow up and be a teenager in New Zealand.

“Many people moving to NZ are bringing children with them.” Mike comments “Often kids have the biggest concerns and talking to our girls has made a huge difference to
dozens of children of all ages.”

From the beginning the Bells decided that move2nz should be a free service for migrants: helping them keep their money in their pockets for their new life. Two years after starting move2nz Mike and Tammy opened their first office in Christchurch as a walk-in centre for migrants. Much of their time is spent working to help newcomers settle in and integrate into ‘Kiwi’ society - getting jobs, a home and a network of friends.

move2nz has expanded at a much faster rate that expected and now has over 23,500 registered members with 25% being from the UK.

As part of their work in helping migrants make good choices based on real-life information Mike and Tammy are heading back to the UK in April 08 to host their own seminars in New Zealand House London, in association with Immigration New Zealand

These fun and interactive Seminars are intended to give anyone thinking about moving to New Zealand, whether they are just about ready to step on a plane or have just started planning, all the information they need to make a success of their plans.

www.move2nz.com
tammy@move2nz.com

ENDS

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