Hey Evelyn,

I read your post and felt that maybe I can help just a little. I was raised in the UK but never truly felt that the craziness of London was home. Sadly, I had £20000 of debt hanging over me and I felt well and truly stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea, unable to move and find somewhere I could truly stop. Anyway, I was never interested in school and although I dabbled in various college courses I was ultimately a jack of all trades, master of none. This didn’t bother me so much, however, for me to get away from the UK I needed qualifications, skills, money or whatever else customs and immigration usually require from you. So, I found a job, it felt like starting 20000 miles behind everyone else in terms of achieving financial goals and was crushing at times when I had to commit to 12 hour days and nights, 7 days a week. After half a year of overtime and long hours my debt was free and I was able to save for myself. Eventually, I had enough money in my account to see me away for quite some time.

I had an incident at work and was forced to quickly weigh up my options on my next move and decided that New Zealand was the place I was going to escape the craziness of the city and have some time and space alone to grow. Anyway, long story short now, once I arrived here I’ve learnt of many people travelling on simple working holiday (backpacker) visa getting residency to citizenship passports. It all starts with one set step. Most of the company I’ve kept since arriving in this country has been backpackers, like me. You wouldn’t believe how many avenues are open for you to get your foot in the door. I’ve heard of a few stories of simple fast food workers getting work visas!

If you are young enough (under 30) then look at getting a working holiday visa, then work on fields or in offices doing temp work, earning money to pay for visas/legal costs, then gradually work your way towards a work visa or residency. Talk with your employers, talk to work colleagues, talk to everyone about your intentions and eventually a peice of the jigsaw will fall into place. If you are fortunate, you may even find employers willing to sponsor you!

Being from a similar position to yourself, I have every confidence that you’ll make it happen! I wish you all the best!