Replying to this PM here, so possibly others can get the benefit too
[PM is edited a bit due to conflict of interest]
look4me said:
machan.. as i hv heard nz now has lots of opportunities now a days. whn it come to it.. u could easily get a pr in 3 years or less.
is it easy to cover up your total course fees by working part time?
whn it comes to nz.. they only opened 20 hour work permit+student visa only a couple of years ago.. so its not popular yet.. but im mainly targetting at the job opportunities.
all lankans now want to go to aus. its now the dream here. many agents,tv advertisements,paper advertisements hv set their minds to it.
hospitality management, hotel trade,cookery,hair dressing are the courses that now they are focusing here. since they are highly paid n all of them are into more professional side.
indians,pakistanis,new zealanders,chineese,lankans all are gathering there. so there must a huge competition whn it comes to finding jobs n part time work.
if i complete ma degree there it take nearly 3 years to do so. so what i hv to plan is around 2011.
so things will get worse by dat time or not??
hv doubt about getting a pr too.. over populating..?
i see things differently. that's y im not following the most common path. pls help me out on dis matter.

choosing nz is a hard decision.. even i hv many of ma pals living in aus(melbourne). but way i see the things is kinda different. dats y even put up a thread.
First of all, I know nothing about the immigration laws in NZ. So I can't give an intelligent answer for it machang.
But when it comes to IT, all countries do have opportunities to
qualified people. By saying qualified, I didn't mean just a degree would be enough. You need to have some professional level qualification (Cisco, Microsoft, Java, Linux certified courses) to get good opportunities.
There are friends of mine, who completed the degree with me few years back without a 'proper' job yet.
AUS also have that kinda permit. you can work 20 hrs per week while studying and can work full time during the semester breaks. The spouse of an undergraduate also can work 20 hrs per week while a spouse of a postgraduate can work full time.
Personally I don't think that you can earn all the course fee + Living expenses by doing the 20 hr job. Even I couldn't. (I had a job which paid me $30 per hr, whereas the normal pay rate is $15 - $20.... So even I couldn't earn the full course fee by that.)
But there are ways to do it. Sorta illegal. But you can do. such as getting a credit card and loans from banks.
There are opportunities to qualified and creative people. Most of all you need to be a good communicator to get a job in AUS. Because we operate in a relationship based level. Not on hardcore management theory level.
Opportunities do not get decreased due to population. That's a small misconception bro. When more people come to Aus, more suberbs get developed. If we concider the land area of Australia, still the people live in a very small part of the continent. So there is a huge potential for growth, especially in the oil & mining industry.
Personally I think cookery and hair dressing will not get a good recognition in the future. Don't ask why coz it's just my instinct. May or may not happen. But I don't recommend somebody to do cookery and hair dressing now.
About the PR... Yes, currently if you study full time for 2 yrs, you can get a PR if you pass the points test. (you get the PR if you have 120 points.)
But for every 4 years, they revise the law. So things might not look so bright & good after another 3 years. (They last revised the laws in September 2007).
[Again that's their choice... They can revise the laws anytime they want.]
So better grab the opportunity at hand.
The theory is, Australia needs good intelligent hard workers. So if you're one of them, you can get the PR somehow. Coz even the rules got changed, you will somehow be eligible. (Mostly Sri Lankans are like that by nature.)
Competition is there for part time jobs. It is divided in a nice way though.
Sri Lankans - Cleaning
Indians - Taxi driving
Chinese - Restaurants
etc.
But you don't need to stick to that area. There are people who get desk jobs as part time jobs. (e.g. my self

) You have to apply for jobs without getting disheartened. Somehow you'll get a job if you're a good communicator and a critical person with some experience.
Without any experience OR without an Australian qualification, it is hard to get a good job.
Hope this helps
NZ is not bad. But sorry, I can't answer for things which I don't know, coz it will destroy your future if I tell wrong info.