New Zealand continues to attract work-visa migrants, tourists

New Zealand continues to be a magnet for migrants arriving on work visas and tourists as annual net migration touched 71,333 for one year ended 28 February 2017, an increase from 67,391 during the same period in 2016. Statistics New Zealand said that the number of permanent or long-term migrants arriving in the country in the past 12 months was 128,816 while those who departed during the same period numbered 57,483. Of the total arrivals, 57,156 descended in Auckland, Wellington, its capital city, attracted 9,970 people and Canterbury recorded 12,720 arrivals. On the other hand, 21,843 left New Zealand from Auckland and 5,884 left the country from Canterbury. The New Zealand Herald quotes Peter Dolan, population statistics senior manager, as saying that about one in three migrants arriving in New Zealand came on work visas. He added that more than 25 percent of all migrants coming on work visas were from France and the United Kingdom. Michael Gordon, Westpac Bank acting chief economist, feels that these numbers are not likely to decline in the near future. He said that the net migration numbers will remain on the higher side owing to the country’s strong economic position and New Zealand is rising in stature as an attractive destination China continued to be the largest source of residence visa arrivals on a permanent or long-term basis, with total residence visas increasing by 17 percent to 16,833. On the other hand, work-visa migrant arrivals from the UK grew by 12.2 percent to 7,210 while from France, it increased by 15.1 percent to 3,441. Meanwhile, visitors arriving on a short-term touched 3.544 million for the year ending February, a growth of 10.7 percent compared to same period a year earlier. The number of Australian visitors grew to 1.42 million, an increase of 5.3 percent, the Chinese visitor numbers rose 9.4 percent to 402,832. The number of Indian visitors soared by 14.8 percent to 53,424 and the country attracted 46,288 visors from Hong Kong, a jump of 28.1 percent. According to Statistics New Zealand, New Zealanders made a record number of 2.66 million foreign trips in the year ended February 2017, a growth of 10 percent from the same period a year earlier. If you are looking to travel to New Zealand, contact Y-Axis, a leading immigration consultancy company, to apply for a visa from one of its several offices.