How many Migrants leave New Zealand?
Apparently almost 20% of people who got residency in New Zealand between 2002 and 2008 have packed up and gone elsewhere.
Missing Migrants
Long-term absence for migrants approved for residence between 2001 to 2008 (top 10):
1. Taiwan: 2679 / 50 per cent
2. Hong Kong: 1132 / 40 per cent
3. Singapore: 1107 / 37 per cent
4. Indonesia: 1160 / 31 per cent
5. Canada: 1204 / 30 per cent
6. Malaysia: 2593 / 29 per cent
7. United States: 3511 / 29 per cent
8. Pakistan: 527 / 26 per cent
9. China: 14,868 / 25 per cent
10. Somalia: 519 / 25 per cent
21. United Kingdom: 14,650 / 16 per cent
22. South Africa: 6022 / 16 per cent
Total: 83,983 / 19 per cent
So – good news if you are emigrating for the UK or SA – looks like you are more likely to stay. Bad news if you are from Taiwan – you have a 50% chance of going back.
Unfortunately the article does say why people leave – except to speculate that people do their 2 years to get their IRRV and then bugger off to earn some real money so they can then fleece the free education system and wonderful healthcare and retirement system.
Theres no mention of people having to leave due to stupidly low wages and inability therefore for their families to have a decent standard of living.
What makes these figure really interesting – is it actually looks at people who have been granted residence – so actual immigrants – who leave. The more commonly seen figures are the net migration figures – which show how many people enter NZ vs how many leave. But that mixes up migrants and kiwis leaving. These figure show exactly how many immigrants turn round and go back home. It doesn’t however show how long they stayed – or whether they got the IRRV.
Despite not residing in New Zealand, these absent permanent residents – whom migrant advisers say were granted residency mainly through the business stream – will still be eligible for health and education subsidies should they decide to return.
Should they maintain their residency status, their children could also be entitled to New Zealand residency, which will make them also eligible for these subsidies.
Migrant advisers have raised questions whether this allows migrants to use New Zealand as a “second option” for retirement, as a springboard to Australia or use its services without contributing to the economy.
Of course completely ignoring how much money they coughed up to NZ to get here, including getting fleeced by so-called “advisers”.
This is where these articles are going a bit off the rails. Migration is often a give and take scenario – especially here in New Zealand because it actually has tough entry requirements. In order to get that IRRV and get those “subsidies” these people have to bring in a lot of money, and employ New Zealanders. Many Skilled Migrants have to live on subsistance wages to make that 2 years. They actually do contribute a huge amount – and put up with just as much and for migrant “advisers” to be spouting this kind of rhetoric speaks volumes about why they should not be given the veneer of respectability that comes with licensing.
Why the hell shouldn’t migrants come here, get their IRRV’s and then go elsewhere to earn a decent wage and then come back. If New Zealand really wants to change this – then maybe it should stop telling migrants they can’t earn much money here because they are foreigners and aren’t worth that much.
Just a thought.
Sometimes the solution to a problem is very simple. It doesn’t take a huge amount of hand wringing and high-level government law changes. Usually it requires no more than the application of (un)common sense.
Dr Coleman said the OECD has recognised New Zealand did as well as Canada and the US, and better than European countries, at retaining immigrants.
“Research shows that in general, business migrants are focused on establishing successful enterprises in New Zealand, and that they tend to be more profitable than similar-sized New Zealand firms.”
So possibly when you look at the global situation – there isn’t really a problem at all? Fancy that.
But business analyst Keng Lim says the fact a fifth of immigrants chose overseas showed they are not committed to New Zealand, and wanted permanent residency only as a “stand by option” or for “personal gain” – such as sending their children to New Zealand schools as domestic students.
The highest levels of resident absenteeism are from Taiwan (50 per cent), Hong Kong (40 per cent) and Singapore (37 per cent). At the other end of the scale were Tonga and Afghanistan (both 5 per cent).
“It shows that migrants from richer countries want residency so they can send their children here for free education, and hold on to their residency as a retirement option, rather than wanting to actively contribute to the economy,” said Mr Lim.
“With the high taxation here, many know they are better off elsewhere, but being able to get an indefinite residency makes New Zealand more attractive than Australia.”
I do wonder sometimes if these people actually know New Zealand at all. For a start – Taxation in New Zealand is actually not that high. It’s a LOT lower than UK levels for a start. And why do people think that you would want to fleece the system for a “free” education system that many people here are embarrassed by – and isn’t at all free anyway. It’s like saying we would come here for the benefits system – which is pants compared to what you could fleece the UK taxpayers for.
He said some would also use their New Zealand residency as a way to get into Australia.
Yes – and many people get residence in Australia just so they can get into New Zealand. We were advised to do just that seven years ago. By NZIS staff. Says it all really.
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Related posts:
- How many permanent migrants came to NZ since 1957? Go on, guess!
- Why do so many Kiwis leave for Australia?
- Should New Zealand have an emergency fund for Migrants?
Comments
6 Comments on How many Migrants leave New Zealand?
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Hubby on
Wed, 20th Jan 2010 11:26 am
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Hubby on
Wed, 20th Jan 2010 8:49 pm
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maria on
Thu, 21st Jan 2010 1:28 am
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Avalon on
Thu, 21st Jan 2010 6:27 am
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Hubby on
Thu, 21st Jan 2010 11:15 pm
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Avalon on
Thu, 21st Jan 2010 11:36 pm
cough *bs* cough
I thought I was reading the latest rousing speech from Winston Peters – but no! the mis-informed commentary is from ‘advisers’.
So;
“A Fifth of immigrants return over sea’s showing a lack of commitment to NZ.” hmm, with approx 1,000,000 kiwi’s living abroad, that shows that ~25% of NZ born people have no commitment here either. So on balance, Immigrants are more committed to NZ than the native population.
With relatively low wages here, many Kiwi’s know they are better off oversea’s. And only go for ‘personal gain’. So lets cancel their passports as they leave the country, then they have to prove their commitment if they want to come back and use NZ as a retirement option, or use the social benefits that tax payers have funded for years while they were abroad. Or perhaps lets just double tax them, they have to pay NZ taxes on their income on top of resident taxes in the country they are working in. That’ll surely show someone’s commitment to NZ by paying double tax!
“migrants coming here for a free education” – well;
1. it ain’t free! Look at all those ‘voluntary contributions’ schools charge.
2. As it happens, the vast majority of potential migrants decide not to move country anywhere, because their kids are at a crucial stage in their education. i.e. Advanced Exams at 18, prep for exams at 17, Basic exams at 16, prep for exams at 14&15, Moving schools at 13, all the way through to about to start school at 5 – you get the picture. And that’s before you consider the needs of children a couple of years behind or in front of the sibling being thought about.
Anyhow, this kind of crap just makes my blood boil! ‘advisers’ here are stoking something for some purpose.. I’m just not sure what it is.
I think it says something quite sad when Somalia is in the top ten. Irrespective of the numbers, Somalia consistently comes in the bottom 2 or 3 countries in terms of quality of life, safety, desirability to live, peace etc.
That there is something which means people would return to Somalia, I’m assuming willingly rather than being deported, says it’s not always the life style and Kiwi society that is enough to keep people here.
:… that people do their 2 years to get their IRRV and then bugger off to earn some real money so they can then fleece the free education system and wonderful healthcare and retirement system.
Oh yes, the wonderful NZ retirement system. Not means tested and just requiring you to fulfil the age and residency requirement. So you thought.
Just imagine: Your spouse, maybe a born and bred Kiwi who has worked and paid taxes all their life, gets penalised for having married the wrong partner: one who receives a good overseas pension rather than having never worked, never paid into a retirement scheme, but has come to NZ with empty pockets to collect taxpayer-funded NZ Super.
Hello Maria 
But then, once you go to WINZ to claim your pension, it turns out that your overseas state pension is counted against your NZ pension entitlement, even if you paid mandatory individual contributions into your overseas pension fund, so it’s at least partly your own money set aside for retirement. Too bad it went into a government-administered pension scheme, not into a private investment fund run by, say, a bank.
Theres a full chapter on what happens to your state pension in Avalon’s Guide 
Ive spent about 4 years now trying to warn people that you cannot claim 2 state
pensions (Which means its not worth paying into the UK scheme once you emigrate here)
Hint – people thinking of emigrating to New Zealand should buy my book – then they would know stuff like this and not get a shock
hi Maria
Thanks for the comment.
I think when people look at anything in this level of detail, then the high level summary/simplification has plenty of catches compared to our expectations. It’s not something anyone is likely to find out until they’ve been through it themselves.
Having liberated my UK private pension over to NZ, there was lots more to know about the process and what it involved, which none of the ‘pension moving’ companies talk about until you’re seriously going to be a client.
The complexities of your final years taxation in the UK is something that can only be figured out when you have to do the tax return. Knowing what we do now, I might try and do things differently – however fundamentally it wouldn’t change our plans significantly.
As ever, research, research & more research.
The information IS out there, it’s just that we have to look for it and ask the right questions. Rather than assume someone will come along with the answers to questions we’ve thought & not asked.
Heck, there were loads of questions we didn’t know the answers to before we moved – hence writing the book
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