NEW ZEALAND IMMIGRATION PROFILE AND STATISTICS
4.1. IMMIGRATION PROFILE AND STATISTICS
CHAPTER 4
NEW ZEALAND IMMIGRATION
TABLE 3.
MONTH AND YEAR NUMBER OF IMMIGRANTS AND
LONG TERM ARRIVALS IN NEW ZEALAND
February 1999 4,948
February 2000 5,758
February 2001 7,164
February 2002 8,574
Glaringly there is a steady increase in the numbers of immigrants and long- term arrivals in New Zealand. February 2000 saw an increase of 810 new immigrants and long-term arrivals in comparison to February 1999. These number of new arrivals to New Zealand to permanently reside or stay for long periods of time multiplied by over seventeen times the following year.
February 2001 kept in line with a drastic increase of 1406 new immigrants and long-term arrivals.
It is important to remember that Jackson has stressed that statistics are not always accurate (Jackson, J, A. 1986,8). They are an estimate because there is no exact measurement for movement of people. There is no way of
knowing for certain if all permanent residents or long term arrivals have permanently settled in New Zealand. The statistics do not account for deaths and births. People born in Great Britain but who have lived in South Africa for most of their lives, would be counted as British born.
In addition, many migrants recognise the practical value of New Zealand citizenship for international travel and, or for future migration to Australia for example. Therefore statistics of permanent residents are merely a rough estimate.
According to Dalziel, February 2002 "saw an 1,410 increase in arrivals in New Zealand"
(http://www.nzimmigrationguide.co.nz/NZlmmigrationMonitor04.htm).
According to the article February Immigration Statistics,
(http://www.nzimmigrationguide.co.nz/NZlmmigrationMonitor04.htm) there has been an increase in permanent residence approvals in 2002 and they are exceeding the migrant target for 2002. The total number of immigrants and long-term arrivals for the years 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002 is 26,444, adding to a country whose population is approximately 3,8 million.
The data I obtained through Immigration Centre, from a free seminar on migration to New Zealand that was held at the Westville Hotel in Durban on the 4 September 2002, was that New Zealand's population is made up of about four million people now. Durban in comparison, which is only a city in KwaZulu-Natal, has approximately six and half million people. The two major immigration cities in New Zealand is Auckland, with an estimate population of one million one hundred people, and Wellington, the capital of New Zealand with three hundred and fifty thousand people.
Wellington and Auckland have more employment advertised in The New Zealand Herald than any other cities in New Zealand. According to the spokesman for the Immigration Centre, at the seminar, New Zealand "needs very qualified people to keep their economy going." It was worthwhile to note that there were twenty Indians, six Whites and four Coloureds who attended the seminar and were contemplating immigrating to New Zealand that day.
My attempt to obtain specific statistical information on the estimated number or percentage of South Africans and South African Indians immigrating to New Zealand for the past few years through immigration agencies was difficult. I contacted Protea Pacific New Zealand Immigration Specialists in Auckland and Durban, who have been in the migration business for the last fourteen years, New Zealand Immigration consultants and Immigration Centre
in Durban, to enquire about the number of South Africans Indians who have immigrated through them over the past fourteen years.
If some figures would have been provided I would have been able to determine the years when immigration numbers grew. The various reasons offered for the unavailability of information, by the different agencies was:
• There are different stages in the migration process therefore it is not possible to give exact numbers
• There is no time available for the agency to help me
• The company is understaffed and perhaps they would be able to help at a latter stage.
Given the time constraints of this dissertation, I was unable to wait for their data. Two agencies did not reply to messages left on their answering machines or via electronic mail.
According to Corrie Rademeyer, "the number of expatriate South Africans in New Zealand has grown by 130% to 26,061 in the five years to 2001"
(http://www.sanztrust.org.nz/numbers.html). South Africa according to this article has the highest growth rate of immigrants, to date in New Zealand. It surpasses the immigrants from China, India, Korea, Great Britain, Samoa, Fiji, and Australia. The South African community is the fifth largest immigrant community in New Zealand and forms less than one percent of the population though.
I could not find specific information on the number of South African Indian immigrants in New Zealand. Nonetheless, it seems that South Africans are considering New Zealand as an attractive place to immigrate to. New Settlers Programme Leader at the School of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work at Massey University in Auckland, AndrewTrlin, says, "that it appears South Africans are ideally suited to settling in New Zealand"
(http://www.sanztrust.org.nz/bench.html).
He believes South Africans share a similar language (English), qualifications and cultural background with New Zealanders. Some the South African Indians I intervieVJed in New Zealand felt that New Zealand was quite similar to South Africa while others have trouble adjusting to the different cultures in New Zealand, climate and education methods. I believe that this
generalisation that Trlin makes is not only a broad one, but is based more on the migration experience of White South Africans. Other races from South Africa who speak different languages may not adjust as easily as English speaking South Africans.
Furthermore, I do not believe that South African Indians for example share a similar cultural background with New Zealander's as a general category. New Zealand is made up of four vastly different ethnic groups. These ethnic groups are European or Pakeha - as they are called in New Zealand - Maori, Pacific Island Polynesian, who are commonly referred to as Islanders in New Zealand and Asians. If according to Trlin's statement, South Africans and New
Zealanders share similar qualifications, why are South African qualifications, so rigidly scrutinized by the New Zealand's Qualifications Authority (NZQA)?
In the article, South Africans set the benchmark,
(http://www.sanztrust.org.nz/bench.html). from 35 South African principal applicants (whoVJere eighty percent male and had a mean age of 41 years), and their families who took up permanent residence betVJeen July 1997 and May 1998 only 25,7% of them had their qualifications recognised by New Zealand Qualifications Authority.
HOVJever, while Trlin states that the South African population group is being used as a benchmark to measure the progress of other immigrant groups in New Zealand it might not necessarily mean that this indicates a successful immigration assimilation in or integration of South Africans with the host country.