New Zealand’s immigrants benefit the country more than assumed earlier, says study

High immigration levels to New Zealand have benefitted the country more than assumed earlier, according to a study conducted on behalf of the New Zealand initiative.

Named the ‘New New Zealanders’, the study examined data relating to migration in various types of categories such as economic effects and impacts on house prices.

Stuff.co.nz quotes Jason Krupp and Rachel Hodder, researchers, as opining that though high levels of migration cost the country quite a bit, it is more than offset by the gains that foreigners arriving in New Zealand bring in.

They added that data unambiguously asserts that the Land of the Long White Cloud profits from immigration.

Of the total PLTs (Permanent and Long-Term arrivals) less than 20 percent of the people entering the country on a temporary visa become its permanent residents ultimately.

The study, citing the findings of Bill Cochrane and Jacques Poot, renowned economists of the country, also refuted the belief that property prices rise up because of the immigrants as they are more likely rent to accommodation than buy it.

In fact, these economists are reported having stated that the natives of New Zealand are responsible for the spurt in prices of houses.

If the fiscal impact is taken into consideration, the contribution of each of the migrants to the government pool is about NZ$2653 as against around NZ$172 that each of the Kiwis is generating. They, however, added that the low contribution of the locals is because of the age factor of all New Zealanders.

According to a 2013 study, only 47 percent of the local population figured prominently in the economically active band as against 60 percent of migrants.

The study also quashed the belief that foreign workers were displacing New Zealanders in the job market, contending that there was no evidence to suggest it.

As the number of jobs in an economy are variable, migrants were also creating jobs by raising demand for goods and services of the Oceania country. The report was of the view that migrants intermingle well and ghettoisation was an anomaly rather than a practice.

Finally, the authors suggested that government should make immigration process more proactive for accommodating new migrants by decreasing bureaucratic hassles.

The study suggested that migrants with higher salaries and entrepreneurs should be encouraged so that the country would attract highly-skilled foreigners.

The largest source country for permanent residents for New Zealand was China, which contributed 18 percent of that total. India was at the second place by contributing 16 percent of the same and at third place was the United Kingdom at nine percent.

If you are looking to migrate to New Zealand, contact Y-Axis, India’s most renowned immigration consultancy company, to apply for a visa from one of its 30 offices located all over the country.