New Zealand Immigration News

The permanent population of New Zealand increased by 1,000 people due to immigration in the month of July, while the nation experienced an overall increase of 15,200 for the year, according to a new report by Statistics New Zealand.

The department said the net permanent and long-term arrivals for the year was higher than the annual average of 11,900 for the years 1990-2009, though the figure masks outflows to Australia.

For the year July 2010, a net 16,500 people crossed the Tasman permanently, made up of 32,300 departures and 15,800 arrivals, the majority of migrants in both directions being New Zealand citizens. In the July 2009 year, the net outflow was 26,900 people.

'The trouble is people often default to the annual averages, and don’t look at the underlying month on month figures', said BNZ senior economist Craig Ebert. 'The net monthly figure was very dangerously flirting with zero.'

Part of the trend over the past year has been an increase in permanent departures, which tended to freeze as people waited the outcome of the global financial crisis.

'What we may be seeing is a stabilising permanent arrival figure that stays at a low level, instead of going negative', Ebert said.

The figures for July also show a net inflow of 900 migrants from India, 400 from China and 200 each from Germany and the Philippines. The net outflow of 1,400 permanent migrants to Australia was up from 900 in July 2009, but down on the net outflow of 2,700 in July 2008.

Visitor arrivals for July 2010 compared to July 2009 were up 4% at 182,900, with 3,900 more visitors from China, 2,800 extra from Japan, and 1,800 more from Australia.

'The visitor trends are patchy', Ebert said. 'European, U.K., Ireland and North American numbers are still weak to weakening. But we’re seeing a very aggressive bounce back in arrivals from Asia.'

Ebert said this demonstrates how much more New Zealand is part of a global economy, somewhat moving away from the old allies and creating greater exposure to Asian markets.

The figures may also help dispel negative commentary around New Zealand’s economic recovery, which Ebert said is still predicted to be slow. According to Ebert, its overall direction is still much more positive than portrayed by the media.

If you are planning to visit New Zealand in 2011 for the Rugby World Cup you may need a visa.

Applications will be accepted from September.

If you are from a country that is not on Immigration New Zealand's visa-free list you will need to apply for a visitor visa before you come to New Zealand.

If you are from a visa-free country, you do not need a visa. On arrival in New Zealand you will need to have evidence of funds for the length of your visit, and an onward ticket. If you have ever been deported from any country or have criminal convictions you may be stopped from entering New Zealand.

Regardless of whether you require a visa or not, you will also need to meet health requirements and character requirements, and be considered to be a genuine visitor, before you will be allowed entry to New Zealand.

If you are concerned about your eligibility to enter New Zealand because you do not meet the health or character requirements (such as criminal convictions or previously being deported from another country), please contact your nearest Immigration New Zealand (INZ) branch.

You should check the INZ website regularly, as policies are subject to review and may change.

Important note for those from the United Kingdom and Australia:

British citizens and other British passport holders who produce evidence of the right to reside permanently in the UK can visit for up to six months without a visa.

Australian citizens and people who hold a current Australian permanent residence visa or a current Australian resident return visa do not need a New Zealand visa to enter New Zealand.

More information can be found on the official website: http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/stream/visit/rugby/

According to a recent study, New Zealand lifestyle is more important than business and tax issues to investor migrants.

The study showed that lifestyle and a feeling of community are particularly important for New Zealand migrants, many of whom have young children.

A dozen investor migrants were interviewed in the Immigration New Zealand and Investment New Zealand commissioned study - an investor's wife was also interviewed. The studies were undertaken to find messages to lure potential investor migrants to take up a New Zealand Visa.

The study found that the decision to immigrate was a 'heart decision' and those emotive topics such as lifestyle and community were far more resonant for these migrants than facts and rationality.

Thirty potential messages were developed for the New Zealand immigration study and the migrants were asked to select the message that appealed most strongly.

'New Zealand is a great place to bring up a family' and 'New Zealand is a small country with a strong sense of community' were the two top messages chosen.

The study revealed that children are a critical element when it comes to emigrate - young children are viewed as a strong motivational factor in the search for a better quality of life - teenage children are perceived to act as more of a barrier in the decision-making process.

The aim of biometric information checks is to confirm the identity of New Zealand Visa applicants and strengthen border security.

The program will share data with the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States under the umbrella of the Five Country Conference (FCC). The FCC has developed a system with substantial privacy safeguards for securely matching fingerprint biometrics of individuals.

Biometric information from foreign nationals, including photographs of all or part of a person’s head or shoulders, fingerprints, and iris scans, are collected as part of the New Zealand Visa application process.

The biometric sharing system will help combat immigration fraud and strengthen border security by helping identify, early in the immigration process, people with criminal histories or those using false identities.

Fingerprints of FCC citizens will not be shared.

'Organised crime groups and illegal migrants are increasingly using identity and passport fraud to evade detection', said Arron Baker, Immigration New Zealand’s Programme Manager for Identity and Biometrics.

'Biometrics uses technology to improve on traditional checks using names to detect and prevent these people from entering New Zealand. It is a fast, effective and privacy protecting way of quickly facilitating genuine clients while filtering out those who pose risks to New Zealand.'

It has been decided that young children can now come to New Zealand to study for up to three months each year on a visitor’s permit under recent changes to immigration requirements.

New Zealand immigration changes will allow young students to study for up to three months.

New Zealand immigration policy changes now allow students in years 1-13, between five and 18 years old, to study for a single period of up to three months per calendar year in non-consecutive school terms.

These students could also come to New Zealand without their parents or legal guardians as the policy had no guardian requirements, although the Ministry of Education’s Code of Practice restricts any school signatories from enrolling anyone under the age of 10 without their parents present in the country.

Guidelines also require schools to request a letter of consent from the visitor's parent or guardian, giving permission for the visit and approving the arrangements if school-age visitors not accompanied by a parent or legal guardian.

Students under 10 still cannot be enrolled, even as group students.

Other changes taking effect include the ability for all temporary permit holders to study more than one course for up to three months, instead of the single course as before.

The BBC's Nick Bryant reflects on New Zealand's mix of controlled fury, subtle charm and social harmony, and asks why the rest of the world can't be more like it.

What can you tell about a country from the people you encounter at its point of entry?

Alas, in this age of globalised uniformity, the truth is, probably not that much.

Most of the immigration and customs officials that you come across in those sunlight-starved arrivals halls aren't very sunny themselves, as they mechanically stamp your passport or grudgingly wave you through.

If anywhere on the planet there's a more eloquent expression of controlled fury then I would dearly love to see it.

But late the other night, I came across that rarest of bureaucratic beings - a middle-aged customs official with a sense of humour, a welcoming smile, blond dreadlocks which hung lazily over his shoulders, and a gloriously free spirit which he was delighted to share with a planeload of new arrivals from Australia.

He and his colleagues looked particularly kindly on us - a camera crew with almost as many bags as Imelda Marcos has shoes, which had arrived without one key item - the requisite paperwork to get us through customs.

"This need not be a major problem," they said with their Kiwi twangs, as we were welcomed into New Zealand, a land of geniality in a far-flung corner of the world.

Controlled Fury

I confess that I have long been an admirer, even before I discovered that you could watch rugby union here morning, noon and night.

Whereas most countries these days have 24-hour rolling news channels, with thumping music and explosive footage, New Zealand has round-the-clock rolling mauls, with thumping tackles and explosive footballers.

With a channel devoted solely to rugby, it also means that you never have to wait long before getting to view what is surely sports superlative pre-match ritual - the Maori war cry known as the haka.

New Zealand's fabulous food and wine - and the sharp freshness of the air - make it one of the great lifestyle superpowers of the world.

This, of course, is where the national team, the fabled All Blacks, face down the opposition with puffed out chests, sharp slaps of their thighs, lizard-like tongues and fuming eyes that look like they're about to burst, like ping pong balls, from their sockets.

If anywhere on the planet there's a more eloquent expression of controlled fury then I would dearly love to see it.

But for now, I'm quite happy to be fed a steady diet of haka at breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Wherever you flick to on New Zealand television, it's hard to avoid a rugby star dressed in black - and rarely does a commercial break go by without one of the big-name stars trying to sell you something.

It takes a brave consumer, after all, to say no.

Sadly, the All Blacks have never managed to translate the dramatic range of their hakas to the more humdrum task of flogging white consumer durables, and most of them have the acting abilities of stage-struck waxworks.

Lifestyle superpower

Of course, I would not want you to think that my fondness for New Zealand merely flows from my love of rugby.

No, there's the fabulous food and wine, some of the most flavoursome coffee that you will find anywhere in the southern hemisphere - if not the world - and the sharp freshness of the air, all of which make it one of the great lifestyle superpowers of the world.

The Lord of the Rings turned Wellington into a world centre for film-making. There's also a funky arts scene, and a deep-held love of literature - the Kiwis are very bookish.

And such has been the global success of its film industry - with global mega-hits like the Lord of the Rings trilogy - that Wellington is now known as Wellywood.

They're even planning to erect giant capital letters high on a hill above the airport to spell out that success.

The irony is that the New Zealand film industry, under the tutelage of its most successful director, Sir Peter Jackson, is renowned for virtual reality.

This in a country where the real reality is so hard to beat.

Quaint fastidiousness

For all its attractions, there are times when it does feel like you are time-travelling in New Zealand.

Parts of it do feel like the land that the last four decades forgot. But its old-fashionedness can also be part of its subtle charm.

Take its televised coverage of Test cricket, where the commentators convene during the tea interval at a picnic table on the boundary. With quaint fastidiousness, they enjoy a pot of tea.

The stunning surroundings of Davies Park cricket ground near Queenstown. In other ways, though, New Zealand can be edgy and forward-thinking.

It was the first country to grant women the vote, and the first nation to see females occupy every high office of state.

It's just about to launch the world's most comprehensive emissions trading scheme to curb greenhouse gases, and some of its most senior civil servants are so with it, they look like they should be running organic supermarkets rather than the country.

Best of all, perhaps, is how non-indigenous New Zealanders live in such harmony with their indigenous compatriots.

Maori is taught in schools, a Maori chieftain adorns the country's coat of arms, and the indigenous heritage is a shared national heritage.

I hope to return soon to explore the fiords and mountains of the South Island, perhaps even its ski fields, and sample some of the world's finest Pinot Noir in the vineyards of Otago.

Next year it hosts the Rugby World Cup, but for now I will leave this country with my usual parting thought: "Why can't the rest of the world be more like New Zealand?"

Article taken from BBC website at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/8683377.stm

Immigration Minister Jonathan Coleman says that New Zealand will not follow Australia in limiting the number of migrant workers coming into the country.

Dr Coleman said New Zealand could not afford to block people with skills that 'we are permanently short of' and that migrants were critical to growing the economy.

'We’ve always matched our temporary permits to the demands of certain occupations, and the system has always worked well for New Zealand and is constantly being reviewed', Dr Coleman said.

Effective immediately, applicants for temporary visas to New Zealand are required to submit original or notarised copies of documents in support of their applications, according to a recent advisory by Immigration New Zealand. Scanned or e-mailed copies of supporting documents are no longer accepted.

Immigration New Zealand is set to overhaul its computer systems at a cost of over $60 million.

New Zealand's 16-year-old application management system (AMS) has suffered a significant number of problems in recent years, but the anticipated upgrade depended on enough cash being made available from the immigration department's budget.

Jonathan Coleman, the New Zealand Immigration Minister, told a select committee that it would be paid for with contingency funding and from the agency's existing baselines.

The replacement system is expected to let New Zealand immigration officers capture and store biometric information on migrants, allow for consistent, centralised decision-making and to allow migrants to apply for a New Zealand Visa and track their applications online.

'One of the issues about quality in immigration is that there is a huge degree of discretion at the front line', Dr Coleman said.

It is expected that the upgrade is to go to tender in September and to be ready for a final investment decision by February 2011.