The 5 W's | Part 2: Who

the cost of immigration you dont think about

Which of the 5 W’s: Who, What, When, Where, and Why, is the most important to ask? Personally, I think it’s Why - which is why I wrote that post first. But when it comes to asking about my move to New Zealand from America, I think the Who question is probably the least asked. I mean, it seems pretty obvious right? Who is moving to New Zealand? Uh - me - obviously (and my husband too, but you probably could have guessed that as well).

For others, it would also be children, or parents, or even siblings. I don’t really have those, so I’m not worried about it. But there is one person everyone is missing.

My cat.

We are bringing our cat with us to New Zealand because, of course, we are. I am not about to give up my SON.

But no one ever asks about the cat. They don’t think about it - even if they have cats themselves. Or dogs, or snakes, or any other kind of animal they love and call family. I think people don’t realize what it takes to move an animal to another country. Or maybe they have travelled with their animals before and think the process will be the same.

It’s not. And it’s a lot more complicated and expensive than you think.

Of course, I am only ever talking about New Zealand. I have no experience or knowledge at all on the processes of other countries. And unfortunately for those of you who have pets other than cats - I can really guarantee the information I give here, since I am only going off what we had to do for our cat.

So today I want to fill you in on all the details, costs, and requirements that we had to do in order to safely and timely ship our cat to New Zealand.

“Do you have any pets?” is my first question to people when they come asking for advice on how I managed to move to NZ. Most people do have pets, so the answer is often yes. And then I have to break the news to them:

”Shipping Naruto [cat] cost us $6500 for the entire process, was the most expensive single part of the process, and took the longest to prepare for.”

So let’s break down the total cost and why it took 6 months to prepare Naruto, when it only took a couple of months for us [the humans]. I will include documents we received to fill out, lists of requirements, costs, the company we used (and recommend), and more.

At the end of this post, I would consider you well-versed in what is needed to move a cat to NZ. Strap in, this is a long one.