Auckland specialist immigration lawyer Alastair McClymont is concerned that immigration statistics are being distorted by politicians and fed to the media to fit political agendas and do not reflect the true situation. He says that the debate about whether or not New Zealand needs to reduce its annual number of migrants needs to be widened. 

‘NZ First leader Winston Peters has publicly stated that he recommends migration be reduced to a maximum of 15,000 per year. But which categories is he planning to cut? I don’t think you can have a debate about the high number of Indian and Chinese migrants who gain residency status unless we also have a debate about the numbers of international students who are permitted entry to NZ on a student work visa,’ says McClymont. ‘And the numbers will vary from year to year based on factors that are not within our control.’

For example, two years ago New Zealand lost 11,000 people to Australia. If we hadn’t lost this number our net migration could have been approximately 45,000.

‘Two things have changed recently. There has been an increase in international student numbers and we’re not losing so many people to Australia. Partly as a result of the collapse of the mining bubble and undergoing a recession, Australia has become less appealing to New Zealanders as a migrant destination. We received a net gain of 2000 people from Australia to New Zealand in the 12 months to the end of April.’

So just who are these people coming into New Zealand? They are a complex mix of international students, temporary workers, holiday makers, Kiwis returning home to live and new residents (a number of whom first entered this country on student visas).

According to Statistics NZ New Zealand the 68,000 net migrants in the past 12 months up to April 2016 include:

• 27% work visa holders who originate primarily from the UK, France, Germany and Australia. This includes young people on holiday work schemes who may be in New Zealand only for a year. Many in this group identified their occupation in the hospitality sector.

• 28% New Zealanders who have been overseas for one year or more returning home to live and Australians who intend to live here for over a year.

• 22% students who are counted as net migrants because they stay here for one year or more.

• 23% people coming to settle in New Zealand and of these 45% are Indians and Chinese nationals. This is because most international students are Indian or Chinese and apply for residency here after completing New Zealand qualifications and then succeed in applying for residency for their parents (but not their siblings).

‘Anecdotally, I understand that a large number of international students who come here to try to obtain residency succeed,’ says McClymont.

Stats for Indian international student arrivals

• 9700 new students came to New Zealand from India in the past 12 months.

• At a conservative estimate each foreign student spends $15,000 per year on their course of study – a total of $145 million per year. Most courses are for two years’ duration at the very least.

• Each student is required to bring with them into New Zealand $15,000 in financial maintenance – an additional $145 million.

• Total spending in New Zealand by new Indian students for the past year was at least $290 million.

The Minister for Economic Development, and Associate Minister of Finance, Steven Joyce, reported in mid-2015 that tuition fee income from full fee-paying international students had increased by $129 million to $884 million, an increase of 17%. International education is New Zealand’s fifth largest export industry, contributing $2.85 billion to the economy annually and supporting more than 30,000 jobs.

‘If Winston Peters had his way and New Zealand reduced its migrants to a maximum of 15,000, would we accept fewer international students?’ asks McClymont. ‘This would result in a massive hit to our economy. Fewer young Europeans on working holiday visas? This would affect tourism and the hospitality industry staffing. Or do we make it tougher for young Kiwis wanting to return here to live? There are serious implications in every category if we reduce immigration. The debate about migrant numbers is a lot more complicated than Mr Peters would have us believe.’