What preparations do I need to complete in order to travel to a different country?

You will need to apply for a US passport. You can do this through the US post office in person if you applying for the first time. Look at travel.state.gov for details on what forms to fill and out what fees you will have to pay. Dual citizenship - you must live in New Zealand for 5 years and meet the other requirements before you can be granted citizenship in New Zealnd. Now the real nuts and bolts: you need to have a skill that New Zealand needs before you can be welcomed into the country as an immigrant. You can find all this information on www.immigration.gov.nz . If you are between 18 and 30 you could conceivably come to New Zealand and live and work for a year on a Working Holiday Visa, but there again, you must meet the requirements to be granted this visa. See, you can't just decide to pick up and move to another country because you want to. If you somehow have a skill in short supply, you can apply for permanent resident status. You have to go through a whole process - submit and Expression of Interest (if you have enough points, and then are chosen) then you will receive an Invitation to Apply, where you fill out lots of paperwork, get a medical exam (at your expense) and a chest x-ray (also your expense) along with police reports (which you pay for - fingerprinting and sending it in to the FBI with a payment). There is also a fee - I think it's about $1500 or more. You also have to wait until they decide they have all the information they want to make the decision so could request additional documentation from you. This process can take months to years. And when they do finally decide to accept you into the country, you then will be required to pay another fee. So, it isn't cheap and I recommend you do all this before you enter the country. Also, until you are a permanent resident, you won't be covered under the national health care plan, so will have to have your own medical insurance. You need to be able to support yourself when you move to New Zealand and costs are high. To see what food costs, check www.woolworths.co.nz. For cost of rent, which is typically paid weekly, check out www.trademe.co.nz and look at real estate and flatmates sections. There are also jobs listed on trademe so you can see what is available. Don't mean to burst your bubble, but if you are young, then stay where you are and get an education and some experience so you can go where you want to - and will be welcomed as you can contribute to the country's welfare in some way.

First things first, You probably need a place and or job (or something else) in NZ for once you get there. You will need to have a U.S. Passport first since you would need to leave your home country to go to another country. You can have dual citizenship but you would need to have lived in NZ for at least 5 years before applying for NZ citizenship. Though you may lose your U.S. Citizenship. (details are in the link below). TO apply you need to talk to the consul there to get more information.

Visiting New Zealand and moving to ( immigrating) to new Zealand are two very different things. To immigrate, you must qualify and apply for immigration. It usually takes several years, and lots of paperwork..IF you qualify. See site below for all the immigration info.