Salary Payment in New Zealand

1) Salary Payment Basis

Salary Payment in New Zealand are paid on a weekly basis, and the

On the weekend if you are working, the company is required to pay you at 1.5 times the rate.

If you are working overtime, the company is required to pay you at a higher rate which is agreed with you. However, if you work with a job agency that helps you to look for job, there is a high chance that there is no overtime pay because you are working for different customers.

If you are working on a public holiday, the company is required to pay you at least 1.5 times the rate.

2) Minimum Wage

Minimum wage is currently at $14.75 / hour before tax as at January 2016. There is also an 8% holiday pay. This holiday pay is given to you to compensate you for the 4 weeks of holiday in New Zealand if you work for one annual year. As backpackers who are on the working holiday visa, does not work for a whole year, this 8% holiday pay is given as compensation for the 4 weeks holiday.

3) Payment of Jobs

While working for the seasonal jobs, the company can choose to pay you in two different types of methods:

a) Productivity method

If you are paid based on productivity method, the company will choose to pay you an $X amount per unit, and based on the number of units performed, the company will pay you.

Even if you work less then the minimum wage when recomputed back for your hourly wages, the company is still required to pay you your minimum wage.

However, this will then lead to the fact the company will terminate you the following day, as you are not productive enough, thus resulting in them losing money.

This is one of the concern of the unpredictability of seasonal jobs as stated in the following blog post.

For the productivity method is mainly used when there is time essence such as cherry picking and also planting of grape plants.

b) Per hour method

Most jobs are paid on hourly basis, and this pertains to odd jobs such as weeding, construction etc. This kind of jobs are not as unpredictable as the productive method jobs, however, there are still risk of being terminated the following day if you are not seen working hard in your work, and you were busy talking.

This is one of the concern of the unpredictability of seasonal jobs as stated in the following blog post.

Places to search for Accomodation in New Zealand

There are couple of ways to look for accommodations. These are some of the ways. 

1) Supermarket

In each of the supermarket, there is a board that shows classified ads from anybody who wants to sell anything (such as car) or offers any relevant services or offers any accommodation. The interesting part is that if you are looking for accommodation for around a week, it is better to go directly to the place to search for accommodation and see the classified ads in the Supermarket (such as Ashburton). Most people, do not put up their accommodation details on the website, thus you would not know that there are a lot of accommodation places.  

I have inquire with one of the owner who owns the accommodation, who does not have website, I understand from her that they want the privacy, thus they do not want to setup the website.

2) Website

You can search online to see if there is accommodation listed on the websites. Key places to search for accommodation are as follows:

- YHA (A hostel network which will all looks the same and works the same around the country.)

- BBH (A type of hostel network, that is similar to YHA, but each BBH hostel is differently styled, not like YHA which is like a franchise)

- Checking websites for local places in the place

3) Asking Fellow backpackers

Fellow backpackers will be able to recommend places that they stay in, and there may be openings for places that they feel is nice to stay in. 

Transportation in New Zealand

New Zealand has a varse landscape, and is made up of North and South Island. Public Transport for both Islands are sparse, and public transport is only more concentrated in the main cities like Auckland and Christchurch. For the rest of the country, the main transport is mainly by cars. To reach from one town to another, will take around at least 1/2 – 1hr drive away.

1) Car

The car is the basic way to travel around New Zealand. However, if you are travelling along, buying a used car may not be worthwhile as it cost around 3,600 NZD. The petrol cost is also not cheap in New Zealand.

Usually, at least 2 – 4 people will share the car petrol cost.

2) Mountain Bikes

As New Zealand is a mountainous area, and the weather frequently changes in the day (from sunny to raining), thus having a mountain bike helps to ensure that travelling can still be done even when there are wet weather.

If the bike you are using is a road bike, there are many issues of accidents or slippery slopes during wet weather.

3) Regional / Local Buses

There are mainly two types of buses serving the transportation system: regional and local buses.

Local buses are used for intercity transport. However for backpackers, they do not usually travel via the intercity, they will either walk or drive in the cities. The bu transport comes at a certain time, and the duration for each bus is quite infrequent (eg. 30 minutes interval). The bus will usually make a big loop before going the place you want to go, thus it is not very accessible.

For the regional buses, it mainly pertains to the following companies who provide the service:

- Naked Buses

- Intercity 

The problem with regional buses is that they have special offers on the bus route, such as $1 for the first passenger for the relevant bus route. However, the price will increase exponentially based on the demand on the relevant bus route,. There is no fixed price for the bus route, similar to the airplane ticket booking system. Thus choosing the shuttle service below, may offer you a piece of mind that you may not be grossly overcharged as the route had being totally filled.

4) Shuttle Services

Shuttle services are small mini-vans that offer shuttling services to selected cities. The network for the shuttle services are not as good as the regional buses above, however the rates for the shuttle services are fixed. Thus with the fixed rates, there is no worry that you will grossly overcharged.

5) Trains

Due to the development of the road system, trains are used mainly for tourism purposes, unless it is in Auckland where the trains are used for transportation. The train network is not as developed as the bus network, however the trains can pass through beautiful locations such as the following link:

http://www.dunedinrailways.co.nz/

6) Caraven

A Caravan is similar to a car, however the caravan offers all the basic amenities as a home (bed to sleep in, cooking facilities, toilets etc). There are many advantages for a caravan, whereby you can stay in holiday parks. But the key advantage of the caravan had being reduced after the Rugby World Cup in 2011. 

In the past, caravan could just park anywhere in New Zealand that has good view, however due to concerns of massive number of people when they travel in New Zealand during the Rugby World Cup, people complained that they were parking in private land without permission, the government setup a freedom camping act in 2011. The caravan are required to be parked at designated spots. 

The other problem of caravan is that you need power outlets, to charge the relevant facilities of the caravan such as water filling point, electricity etc. 

7) Hitch Hiking

Hitch Hiking for many people seems to be a very dangerous things to do. However, there are many backpackers who are doing hitch hiking. There are two group of people who pick up hitch-hikers. One group pertains to local New Zealanders who welcomes picking up new people, and are interested to learn more about other culture, and other experiences, and the other group of people are fellow backpackers who have performed hitch hiking previously, and now when they own their vehicle, they wanted to give back to the community. Hitch hiking can be done in the following methods:

1) Holding up a sign while walking down the road in the main highway

- The advantage of this method is that the drivers will know where you want to go, and the driver who are picking you up will send to the location you want to be at.

- The disadvantage of this method is that driver who can bring you closer to your final destination may not stop as they know that they are not going to that location. Thus the wait for a driver who wants to pick you up may be longer.

2) Standing at a certain location in the highway putting your thumb up.

- The advantage of this method is that you may meet drivers who can bring you closer to your final destination, and in the end result you may reach earlier then the first option.

- The advantage is that you may meet more interesting people along the way, you may be able to explore more places not in your iternary.

- The advantage is that you may be more flexible in your travel plans.

- The disadvantage is that people maybe more wary if you just do this, as they may not know what you want.

Why I choose Ashburton

Why did I choose to stay in Ashburton in Summer

During the Summer Season, many people choose to head down to Nelson, Cromwell to work to make more money by packing fruits. Well to me, making more money is one thing, but I came to New Zealand to mainly think about what I want to do with the remaining of my life, to do what I like, and also to secure a permanent job if any.

Well, looking at the past week, many people had commented that it is hard to find a permanent job in new Zealand, as people only offer it to people with valid work visa, or NZ resident. For backpackers they are mainly afforded the basic job that nobody want to do.

Thinking back, the only reason why backpackers are so sought after in new Zealand is that New Zealand did not allow people from the poorer countries (India) to come to work to do the job that backpackers are doing (Kiwi plantation, Cleaning accommodation, construction). With the minimum wage set at such a high percentage, and the beautiful scenery, New Zealand is able to attract foreigners to come to stay in New Zealand.

Well, lets hope that by the end of the trip, I will have a clear understanding of what I want to do with my life and enjoy what I love to do. 

Types of Jobs for Work Holiday Visa

To obtain jobs based on your working holding visa, the jobs are mainly seasonal or part time in part time. The jobs cannot be full time, unless if the company is willing to obtain a working visa for you.

To apply for the jobs, you must provide a resume for them, and based on the resume they will contact you. However,for lower skilled jobs, they may just hire you on the spot. Most jobs that you obtain for working holiday visa are mainly unskilled, and may be mundane. However, as you are easily replacable, there are plenty of unpredictability in terms of the seasonal / part time job. Please refer to my post on the unpredictability of seasonal jobs next.

The main types of jobs you may get can be segregated into the following types:

1) Retail

This is a job that you usually see in your departmental store. As your job is to serve the customer. I think the key difference and the importance of a sales person is that thy are given proper training, and that they are also knowledgable of the products they sell. I rellise that this does not ring true in many countries. The retail staff in NZ mainly acts as as a friend to you, which is way different from the service you will receive in Japan or Taiwan or China, whereby they treat you as their master.

Getting this kind of jobs may require previous retail experiences.

2) Factory

For factory work, this can range over many different types of jobs. It can pertains to mussel shell remover, to beef deboning etc. They may usually sign a part time contract with you ranging from weeks to months to perform the factory task. In some lucky opportunities, they may offer you a long term contrract in which the company will offer you a work permit, which will indefinitely extend your visa in New Zealand.

Experiences in factory work may command higher pay, however you must be knowledgable about the requirement of befef deboning, thus you may request to be hired as the supervisor.

3) Farms

For farm work, this can range from jobs in the vine yard to the cherry farm, potatoes farm etc. The main key about farm work is that there are seasons for the work. The season may be annually, or the season may be quarterly dependent on the harvesting period.

There are some people who are skilled, are may command hire pay while doing farm works, as they may be doing things such as driving the tractor (modernized tractor with GPS and automated system).

For farm work there are plenty of unpredictability as you may not know what you are doing for the next day. It will only be announced on the following day, unlesss if your work has already had a specific role (eg. Picker of fruits, or Packer of fruits).

Most of the farm jobs are outdoor, and that due to the outdoor nature of the farm jobs, when it rains, there may be no jobs for the backpackers to perform.

4) Food and Beverage

For food and beverages you are looking at jobs such as dishwasher, waitress and cashering service. For these types of job they also require a resume and you have to provide evidence of your experience.

Especially for the waitress, the person will need to have very good product knowledge, knowing what type of specials are served today, and what are the ingredients for the specials, and the relevant cooking method ffor the ingredients. There are plenty of trainings being performed for the waitressing job.

5) Hospitality

In terms of hospitality jobs, the jobs are mainly as chambermaids or as a receptionist in a hotel. This jobs are not aplenty, as there are only a few hotels and hostels in New Zealand For those bed and breakfast accomodation or AirBNB accmodation, the jobs are usually not paid and are used to offset the accomodation amount.

For the hostels, the jobs are mainly as hostel manager, the receiptionist and the cleaner.

6) Construction

For construction jobs, the construction jobs mainly pertais to Christcuhrch, as after the Earthquake in Central Christchurch in 2011, the recovery process is still commencing. The work is tough as a construction worker, however they are usaully paid higher then the mniimun wage to compensate for the hard work.

If you are highly skilled, you can find a job as a project manager, or consultant for the construction projects.

7) Travel Related Industries

As NZ is a tourism capital, and 4.9% of their GDP pertains to tourism, NZ always require tour guides who can speak multiple languages. Eg. Japanese and English, Chinese and English) to work with the relevant customer group. However, these jobs are deemed to be cushy, the jobs need to send resume and also need to go for job interview to assess your suitability.

As the travel agent, you can go to places which people have to pay to get in, They will also test you on your product knowledge, for example if you are a tour guide for the star gazing tour, you are required to be knowledgeable about the stars in the southern hemisphere, before going to work as a tour guide.

8) Woofing

Woofing is an unpaid job whereby you are working for a short period of time, maybe 2 hours a day to exchange for your day's accomodation. Some fo the woofing hours may be longer, however, you are compensated with food and accomodation. However, there is no monetary benefit. Woofing is useful for people who are waiting for their work visa extension, or they are on their tourist visa, whereby they are not able to “work” in New Zealand legally.

9) Au Pair

For Au Pair, the job is mainly to take care of the family for the parents when they are working. It is similar to the idea of a baby sitter, however in most cases the Au Pair service, the backpacker is supposed to live in with the host family. In most cases, no salary is given to the Au Pair backpacker, but accomodation and food is given to them. For some cases, an allowances will be given when they have completed one week of AU Pair Services.

For Au Pair Services, th key is that you need a fully qualified driving license, as without the driving license, you cannot send the children to school, as the school is usually driving distance from their home. There is minimal chances of walking to school. 

Places that offer free Wifi

Smartphone has being a real game changer for all of us, as it really connects people all around the world for cheap or free cost via wifi or data. In New Zealand, data given is very little for basic plan (500MB), thus there is a need to source for free Wifi in New Zealand. The best thing, is that your hostel offers free wifi for your access. However if your hostel does not offer wifi, where are the frequents haunts backpackier will look for are as follows:

1) Count Down Super Market

For the CountDown Super Market, they offers free wifi for 45 MB or 45 minutes per day. These are useful to check recipies for food on sale, to confirm what are the key ingredients to make a decent meal based on the price of the food that day.

2) Warehouse

Warehouse is a departmental store that sells all kinds of things ranging from grocery and non-grocery items. The wifi that is given is unlimited, and in some of the warehouse there are seats for you, and you can surf the net, watch some videos, check your email. Even you do not purchase anything from warehouse, the people will not chase you away.

3) Library

There are many people who dread the printed books of the last century, as most of their readings come from online sources. However, the library in NZ is the best place to look for the digital link to the world. They offer unlimited free wifi, so sometimes when there is nothing to do, you see many backpackers hanging around in the library, not reading the dusty tomes of books but surfing the net through their smartphones. 

The administration of Working Holiday Visa

Working Holiday Visa, have you heard of it before? It is a type of visa for you to work in New Zealand for seasonal jobs (such as weeding, factory jobs etc) for youths below a certain age. The age is determined based on your government agreement with New Zealand. For example in Singapore the age limit is 30 years old.

For the Working Holiday Visa, there are also situations whereby there is a quota annually for the different country application. For Singapore the quota annually is 200.

For the Working Holiday Visa, the amount of time you can stay in New Zealand is also dependent on the number on the agreement between your country and New Zealand. For example in Singapore, when we obtain the Working Holiday Visa, we can only stay for 6 months.

To obtain the working holiday visa, you will need to apply through this website stated below:

http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/stream/work/workingholiday/

Once you reach New Zealand the first three things you must do are the following:

1) Creating the bank account

2) Create tax number

3) Getting your NZ mobile number

1) Creating the bank account.

Stories that I heard about making the bank account, if you just arrive you need to ask the bank to post you a postcard to the residential place, and then you had to show the post card to the bank who will then be able to help you open an account. This should usually take you 5 days.

But when I was making my bank account, i realise you can create it within the same day. You just have to possess a letter of accommodation from the place you stay. The letter of accommodation can from anywhere (such as YHA backpackers accomodation, Holiday Park etc).

However, the letter must have the letter head of the place you stay, and most importantly must document that you are staying with them, and also the date and signature of the person who handed you the letter. The bank will call the place such as YHA and check with the person if you are really staying there, if you are not, they will not allow you to open your bank account.

a) Types of Banks in NZ

There are multiple banks in NZ, and the more well-distributed banks are ANZ and BNZ. Kiwi banks is in the post office, however this is not a good bank to use. Though it is a local bank, as the problem is that the withdrawal of money is only possible when the Kiwi postoffice is open (which is regular working hours). There is no retail ATM machines around for Kiwi bank.

The other main important thing to use for well-distributed banks are that they have many ATM Machines.

Note: If you withdrawn money from ATM machines that are not owned by your relevant bank, there is transaction fee, which may not be worthwhile for you, especially when you are travelling. Thus it is important to find for well-distributed banks.

b) Types of Bank Cards

i) EFTPOS

In New Zealand, EFTPOS is frequently used by the merchant. From what I understand the reason why most retail shops offer eftpos is that people are not used to paying cash, they feel that it is an hassle, thus there is demand for cashless payment. For the supply wise, the NZ Business owner feels that evevn though there is transaction fee, the money received is real time, they do not need to waste time to bank in the money, thus the convenience is worth it.

ii) Internet banking Access

You can get your eftpos card within the same day, however, if you want to get your internet banking access you need to obtain another separate card which will come in around 5 working days. Separate banks have different requirements for internet banking 2 factor verification (2FA) as stated in the attachment.

Note: The 2FA is not an electronic token / mobile number.

In New Zealand security is not yet so tight. The other thing about the bank is that, if you are not at the location to receive the internet banking card, you can ask your friend to collect on your behalf. You just need to tell the bank, and no further verification is required. I think this is a more trusting society, as if this is Singapore, you would still need a letter of authorisation, with the relevant photocopied IC etc for verification.

I love this trusting nature on NZ:)

iii) Debit Card

If you are on working holiday visa, you are only able to apply for debit card which allows you to purchase items or services online via your NZ bank account. There is an annual fee required to be incurred to obtain a Debit Card. The rates is dependent on the different bank.

For us who are on Working Holiday, we are not eligible for credit card due to the salary amount:(

2) Create your Tax number

There are mainly two ways of getting your tax number via online submission to offshore@ird.govt.nz or printing out the relevant IRD form (742) as stated in the link below , and its relevant supporting documents and submit to the Kiwi Post office.

http://www.ird.govt.nz/forms-guides/number/forms-700-799/ir742-nonres-offshore-individual.html

The relevant supporting documents are as the following:

- Bank account details (a documented letter from your bank stating that the bank account is operating).

- Passport / Driver License

- Identification Card (Your country's IC)

- Working holiday visa

- Evidence if you are tax resident in your own country (eg. Tax evidence that you pay in your country)

I personally would choose to submit via online submission, as I do not need to print out all the documents, and with the advancement in smartphone, you can take pictures of your hard copy documents and send them as pdf. For online submission, it takes around 5 working days to process the tax number.

3) Getting your phone number

There are multiple phone companies in New Zealand. The prices are mainly around $20 for the lowest plan as at 2016. There are some plans that offer benefits such as free wifi per day etc at certain spot (such as a phone booth etc).

These may be one of the key considerations to purchase the phone plan, as sometimes you may be going to hostel that may not have free internet access, and as we know backpackers want to save money, thus if there is a place there offers free wifi, well that will be great:)

Currently the plan that I am using now is from Spark, and it offers me free 2GB wifi per day at specific phone booth location as stated in the link below.

https://www.spark.co.nz/shop/mobile/plansandpricing.html

For the phone companies, most or all should have developed apps to state where the places that have wifi. The app will also tell you your usage level (for phone call, sms and data). Topping up could also be performed via the app.

To obtain your NZ phone number, you can either go to the Supermarket (eg. Countdown) to purchase the relevant phone cards. However, if you want the people to assist you to setup your phone, just go to the phone company outlet (Eg. Spark outlet) to ask them to help you. Remember not to lose your old phone sim card during your working holiday !!!

Well thats all for the the administration of Working Holiday Visa. Will document other important stuff in the next article.