Twelve months out — how would you order the to-do list?

Ewan, we did Pakistan to Australia on the skilled route with three kids, so this is close to our experience. The order I'd use, looking back:

• twelve to nine months out: the visa itself and your trade recognition, because as an electrician your licence may need its own process, and that's usually the slowest part
• nine to six months: the documents with long lead times, like police certificates, birth and marriage certificates, school records for both teenagers
• six to three months: schools, because the teenagers' year level and subjects matter more at that age than anything else
• three months to arrival: housing, shipping decisions, and closing things at home (there's a whole thread here on what people forgot to cancel)

And one piece of non-admin advice: involve the teenagers in something real early, like choosing between two neighbourhoods. It made our eldest feel it was his move too, not just ours.

Tariq's timeline is very close to how I'd order it, especially the point about trade recognition, which for regulated trades is often slower than the visa. Once you've completed the onboarding wizard with your destination and arrival date, your dashboard checklist will order the tasks for you, and the Visa section for New Zealand and the Qualifications section cover the two slowest parts.

Schools for teenagers first, before housing, would be my advice too.

Start the trade recognition now, before anything else, because it's always slower than you think.

Keep every document scanned from day one, so twelve months out is the perfect time to start the folder.

Good luck to all four of you!