New figures show net-migration to New Zealand is slowly starting to decline after a lengthy period of record arrivals.
In the year to March 2018 year, annual net migration was 68,000, the latest Statistics New Zealand data reveals. This is down 4,400 people from a record level of 72,400 recorded in the year to July 2017, but still remains high by historical standards.
Net migration for the March 2018 year was made up of 130,800 migrant arrivals and 62,900 migrant departures.
“More non-New Zealand citizens are leaving,” population insights senior manager Brooke Theyers said. “But there are just as many migrants arriving as a year ago.”
The latest figures show that migrant arrivals on work visas rose 6 per cent to 46,300, although there was a 13 per cent fall in arrivals on residence visas.
“Migrants coming to New Zealand to work were the largest visa-type group,” Theyers said. “The sources of the largest numbers of work-visa migrants were the United Kingdom, France, and Germany.”
A residence visa allows migrants to live in New Zealand permanently. There were 14,600 arrivals on residence visas in the March 2018 year, down from 16,800 in the March 2017 year.
The number of student-visa migrants had almost no change (23,800 in the March 2018 year), and neither did the number of New Zealand and Australian citizen migrants (38,700).
Article published 27th April 2018