A feature in The Times entitles ‘Move abroad to beat the recession blues’ has hailed New Zealand as one of what it claims are the three best destinations to which one can immigrate in order to avoid the global recession.

The Report on New Zealand immigration claims the following:

This economy has always been fairly steady, neither booming nor busting.

“New Zealand has not escaped the effects of the credit crisis, but it has been hit less hard than many European and North American nations,” says Mark Bodega of the currency trader HiFX. com.

“And the newly elected National Party’s concentration on the economy is expected to keep it on a even keel.”

Research from Statistics New Zealand puts the unemployment rate at 4.2 per cent, with only 94,000 unemployed, up just 0.3 percentage points in three months. UK unemployment was 6.3 per cent for the quarter to December 2008, up 0.4 percentage points over the previous quarter.

But the economic position has brought a change in “immigration focus” from filling skill-shortage positions to protection of jobs for New Zealanders. That could mean that immigrants bringing in plenty of ready cash may be more likely to be granted residency.