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People arriving in NZ on work and long term visitor visas at record highs in 12 months to October

Property
People arriving in NZ on work and long term visitor visas at record highs in 12 months to October

Population growth from migration is rising strongly, according to the latest estimates from Statistics NZ.

They show a net population gain from migration of 55,613 in the 12 months to the end of October, up 10.8% compared to the previous 12 months and the highest it has been for that 12 month period since the last peak in 2016.

The gain from migration would have been even higher had it not been for a large long term outflow of New Zealand citizens.

In the 12 months to October, 45,513 New Zealand citizens left the country long term and 33,842 returned home after extended stays overseas, giving a net loss of 11,671 New Zealand citizens over the 12 months.

That was more than made up for by a net gain of 67,284 non-New Zealand citizens during that period.

The biggest contributing country to that growth was South Africa, with a net gain from that country of 10,235 in the 12 months to October, followed by 8860 from China and Hong Kong, 7941 from India, 7034 from The Philippines and 5140 Australians.

Although more people arrived from China and Hong Kong (17,409) and India (12,510) than from South Africa (10,708), China/Hong Kong and India also had high levels of long term departures of their citizens from this country, with 8550 Chinese leaving long term and 4569 Indians leaving long term, which reduced the net gain from those countries.

However, very few South Africans left this country long term, with just 473 long term departures of South African citizens in the 12 months to October, which meant a higher net gain from that country.

In total 148,420, people arrived in this country long term in the 12 months to October, which was the highest number since Statistics NZ began collating the numbers in their current format in 2002.

They were comprised of 42,910 New Zealand and Australian citizens, 33,301 people on work visas, 31,475 people on long term visitor visas, 27,083 student visas and 12,473 residence visas.

The work and visitor visa arrivals were also at all time highs.

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98 Comments

Saffas coming to steal our jobs and our women

(just kidding, I like the yaapies)

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A few in the ABs would be nice.

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Diversity is our strength.

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just kidding, I like the yaapies

Jaapies

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God you're boring. A mate of mine told me a saying they have for folks like yourself and the other clueless doomie gloomies on this site - As jy dom is, sal jy sukkel

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Not just a "clueless doomie gloomie," but one of Dutch heritage as well. I also have no shame in pronouncing Maori correctly.

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What that has to do with your desire to correct minor spelling mistakes I have no idea. But your virtue signal is noted.

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You probably had no idea that "jaapie" is the correct spelling and makes sense in Afrikaans. A "virtue signalling, clueless doomie gloomie."
Cutting.

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I was fully aware of that. The most cutting comment you’ve ever mustered on this site is to correct a minor spelling mistake. Real intellectual heavyweight.

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Right. So we understand you "like the jaapies" but have little time for "clueless doomie gloomies."

That wouldn't sound out of place on Newstalk ZB.

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I’m glad you think my commentary is radio worthy. Sadly I can’t say the same for you.

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Right. You could talk about the etymology of the Afrikaans language and how you "like the yaapies (sic)". You can also discuss how how the use of "jaapie" is fine within the context of your own world (and you're obviously not a "virtue signaller").

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And some wonder why there is upwards pressure on Auckland house prices.

55,000 is likely to mean about 14,000 to 17,00 additional houses. With many likely going to Auckland - along with natural increase and internal migration* - much pressure there for additional housing.
* I have heard that Auckland may have net internal migration loss.

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On the flip side increased migration puts downward pressure on wages and ability to buy property.

With record low mortgage rates, record high immigration, a fairly flat property market and a foreign buyer ban it is probably a good time to buy rental properties.

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An excellent way to build a country of lords and serfs. May the poor forever remain poor.

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It is indeed the path to serfdom and its simply wrong and will end badly. There's no political party here representing the middle working classes anymore.

Labour are the party for the wealthy Liberal Elites, the students, the union dinosaurs and the beneficiaries. And the more people they can get on the benefit the bigger their voter base grows.

National are for the farmers and NZF is for Winston.

So which party represents the working class in 2019?

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Thank you Labour, "champion" of the under privileged and average New Zealander. Yeah right! No better than National- just less competent.

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Yes I very much agree with you that "migration puts downward pressure on wages and ability to buy property". You only need to look at the affordability/salary differences between Auckland and Wellington to see that.

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about 15000 new houses a year being built in Auckland, so things are probably in hand.

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What about the cumulative shortfall? Not too mention the infrastructure shortfall. Brownfield infrastrcuture upgrades are always more expensive and the default when infill is prioritised.

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* latest StatsNZ estimates that I can find has Auckland (2017) losing about 13,000 per year as internal migration and gaining about 9000 by natural growth (2018).
https://www.stats.govt.nz/reports/internal-migration-estimates-using-li…
https://www.stats.govt.nz/news/migration-drives-high-population-growth

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dp

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I do worry that Auckland house prices will escalate through 2020 and beyond........

TTP

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TTP
Yes I’d buy up as many houses as possible right now
They’ll never be cheaper
Are you sure ?

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"I do worry that Auckland house prices will escalate through 2020 and beyond..."
From all your spruiking comments, er predictions, of the past year or more, it seemed that's what you wanted? If Auckland prices have another substantial rise, yep, really dangerous territory. 10% up from here over the next 12-18 months would be pretty ridiculous.

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“The gain from migration would have been even higher had it not been for a large long term outflow of New Zealand citizens”

I left in 2015
Hold the fort !

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A query Northern lights.
Is your move permanent or short to medium term and are you from Auckland?
If short to medium term, I am hearing of those from Auckland especially often holding on to their home; is your case?

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When oh when oh when.... will msm start questing how we can build enough houses (etc etc) to cope with this nonsense.

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Bang on. A dereliction of duty by Campbell, Tame, Garner etc.

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Now that's not exactly fair, I remember them being very concerned about this in early - mid 2017. Haven't heard much about it since.

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Not to mention sewers, roading, hospitals, schools, dams, reservoirs, .......

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Train teachers, nurses, doctors, construction engineers, etc. Plenty of 'soft' infrastructure needed. Of course there is always the simple lets recruit them from abroad solution but that does become an immigration vortex.

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Does current govt policies qualify as soft?

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Dear Rastus
This government was elected to do something more than talk about immigration numbers
The latest statistics prove they’ve failed
That failure alone has harmed “housing affordability” their election talk

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..I've already sent the link to my local labour MP with the big fail comment. I suggest all who give a toss do same. Keeping them reminded can't hurt.

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This seems a good as place as any to drop this article - https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/118279054/landlordturnedrenter-time-fo…

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I've posted this before, but it seems worth posting again:

https://www.labour.org.nz/immigration
"In total, these changes are estimated to reduce net migration by 20,000-30,000."

Hard to imagine National calling them out on it though.

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Winnie is history

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I hope so, but I fear the people who vote for him don't do too much actual thinking.

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Uninterested,

I still think it should be Disinterested, but no matter. I would like to believe you're right as that would also see the removal of Shane Jones from the political landscape, but I think NZF will scrape over the 5% threshold.

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So GDP goes Up, GDP/Capita goes down.....guess which (flawed) indicator gets airtime....

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550 Chinese leaving long term and 4569 Indians leaving long term

wow... wondering why would they leave long-term ?

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Wages too low and housing too expensive.

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Or finally found jobs in Aus. Don't you know we are used as a stepping stone by many?

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Parents here, now do a runner?

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Austraaya property is hot right now and set to get worse with temps over 40C. Will they stamp Sir Ron B "return to sender"

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For many, it's due to work visa running out without a permanent skilled job and sufficient pay.
Plenty of technically-sound individuals on post-study visas find it hard to navigate through the job scene here in NZ, where personality trumps all other traits in an interview setup.

Our export education industry has created a "revolving door" situation bringing in thousands every year who want to move here but are not needed by us, while not bringing in enough that industry needs.

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We know that many Indians and Chinese pay so called agents a fortune to get here. Our govt has knowlingly facilitated the exploitation of naive foreigners just to prop up an education industry that is failing to compete on quality (which 3rd world student would choose an NZ education establishment if they could get into Cambridge, Oxford, Yale, MIT, Stanford, etc).

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The Dubai of the Sth Pacific in Reporoa

“This is a place where migrants and tenants were exploited because our economy is set up to grow as a low wage and high rent economy. A place where the investment in businesses and new infrastructure is shunned because it's simpler and easier to import cheap workers and bank the tax-free gains on leveraged property when not enough new houses are built to cope with the population growth.”

https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2019/12/18/953079/the-dubai-of-the-sth-pacif…

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Great piece.
What a lame society and economy we have become.
Sad.

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It just goes on and on and on ...

"A group of eight Chinese construction workers have been deported after an Immigration New Zealand investigation discovered they had been working illegally for up to two years."

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/405753/group-of-unlawful-chinese-wo…

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If only Immigration NZ had enough people to investigate immigration frauds...

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Agreed Great piece. It made me send it to Jacinda and then to my local (national) MP before I'd eaten breakfast. If this was a unique case then sad but OK but we know it isn't. Shame on both our govt and the previous govt.

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What would Jacinda care. She loves opening her arms to all these poor people from around the world. Even if it's making the poor poorer and the rich richer here.
I don't think she's smart enough to work that one out.

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There is definitely some truth in this. It's not just NZ though, the %age of GDP going to capital has been steadily rising and going to labour steadily falling, pretty much across the OECD. These are long term structural trends (technology & China). NZ just would not be competitive without access to low wage seasonal labour. There is increasing division in society (land owner vs renter), where does it end?

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There is increasing division in society (land owner vs renter), where does it end?

if pushed far enough... "Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité, ou la Mort"

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In the past seasonal labour was not counted in the immigration stats. The definition of an 'immigrant' was someone staying more than 1 year.
The common holiday-work visa used by travellers from the UK lasted 12 months or 23 months with the ability to change it while here. So my son had a 23 month visa and left after 12 months and a neice arrived, stayed about 2 months and left without ever working.

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"This is a place where migrants and tenants were exploited because our economy is set up to grow as a low wage and high rent economy. A place where the investment in businesses and new infrastructure is shunned because it's simpler and easier to import cheap workers and bank the tax-free gains on leveraged property when not enough new houses are built to cope with the population growth.”

Author and well known advisor Bernhard Hickey....Say no more

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Well, J K. failed to turn us into the Switzerland of the S Pacific so that we could lead in the money laundering racket, so this is the next best thing.

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It shows that all poltical parties are same be it Labour or National or our dear friend WP. Come election promise and do the same and in this context atleast National is better for it is doing what is saying that is working for Foreigners and Rich of NZ. Labour may not say but does the same and to show more concern may throw some dole which again may not be a good idea.

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Yep, and if you look at National's new policy announcements, it really doesn't matter which one of them wins the next elections. "Greed before need" is the status quo, making the most influential people richer every day. Of course they don't want to change it.

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..just vote TOP

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There's got to be 5% in a single issue slow-down-immigration party.

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You're not wrong there. On another blog I read, someone suggested the Steady State Party.

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The quota for work visas and permanent residency to be adjusted monthly to match the previous months emigration.

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They all know we run an immigration economy down here, but no one wants to acknowledge it.

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Gullible voters votes for incompetent government.

Incompetent government enfranchises more gullible voters.

This is a forever downward spiral, unsolvable for nearly all western "democracy".

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I'll bite. What's a better system than democracy in your opinion?

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Poohtocracy obviously. (as in Winnie the Jinping)

In the history of the world how many benign dictators have there ever been? Lee Kwan Yu in Singapore, maybe. Autocracy has been proven to be worse in almost every instance. The only big problem with democracy is that electorally politicians are forced to focus on short term rather than long term planning, similar to corporates trying to keep stock high in short term without sufficient long term focus. It could be addressed by linking their incomes to long term improvements (eg big bonuses based on improvement in average standard of living over 10 years after they are in power).

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"It could be addressed by linking their incomes to long term improvements" - I'm sure DonKey would be STARVING if that was implemented!

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You can tell your leader he's an evil tyrant. And a dork.
Thanks

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Why do so many of your countrymen want to come to western nations?
Because they are far superior to China! More freedom, wealthier, much better environments, better climates. The list goes on and on.
Your country is polluted, repressed and still fairly poor.
That's why so many people want to leave it.

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Xingmowang,

Well, at least you are consistent in your disdain for our democratic process-and it certainly has its flaws. Why then, do you persist in remaining, when you could presumably head for the earthly paradise that is China. I am sure the government there would welcome any considered criticisms you might have on say, freedom of expression, something that our fatally flawed system affords you.

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If only I could draw. I would have a cartoon of Ol' Winnie saying "Hit the pause button" all the time holding his famed "No" sign.

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He's sure hit the pause button on doing the stuff he promised before the elections.

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He's just enjoying the perks and allowing his heir to progress pork barrel politics.

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... keep your heir on ... Winnie is NZF ... and vice versa ... he will stay on as the leader ... on and on ... only the Grim Reaper could remove him , and even that would be a heated meeting ....

Shane Jones hasn't a prayer ... heir today , gone tomorrow ...

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Wait election next year and will again start is rant against immigratio.

Actually all are same be it in any political party. May be TOP- Gareth Morgan gave up too early.

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Holy crap!

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All the skilled South Africans leaving in droves before their country turns to shit. Will be Mugabe all over again.

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Will be interesting to know how Chinesse are finding ways around - Now as happening rampatly, it is a matter of time before before the cat is out.

High immigration can be the reason for demand but not house speculation, which has again started in Auckland. Even now house have started to go much above the RE Agents/Vendors expectation - Like Old Time. Asking price have also jumped by more than 10% - next data will reveal that in Auckland.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/118178782/here-are-the-12-factors-you-…

As mentioned in Stuff :

FOREIGN HOUSE BUYING

"This effect has officially waned now since last year's ban. But internationalisation of housing markets from the 1980s brought new buyers into our cities who were not there before. More demand means higher prices.

Note that anecdotal evidence out of Australia is that foreign buyers have developed ways of getting around rules there, and maybe we will see the same eventually happen here."

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Realization is the first step. Atleast one media has picked up and slowly more will follow and than some smart journalist will also investigate and find out, how. Be it Proxy buying (Which is definitelyhappening as is legal and hard to prove) and may be using Trust or companies, businesses or may be diverting through Singapore (how ?) ...Have to visit any Auction and see how Mid Million dollar houses are getting multiple bidding (definitely not FHB) and stuart786786 you are correct, it is like old times.

Most who bought houses in 2016 and after and wanted to offload, earlier were unable but now are doing it with ease and also profit. Good for those speculators but Bad for FHB.

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If you're a Chinese business owner:
Step 1: Have a friend in Singapore set up a 'consulting' business.
Step 2: Have your Chinese business buy consultation services from said Singaporean business.
Step 3: Pay for the consultation services -> cash is now in Singapore, appearing as legit business expense on the books
Step 4: The consulting business can now buy property for you in NZ

This is just my uneducated guess though.

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The link you posted is the single most importantly written article in 2019 regarding house prices. It is very clear, precise and on point. All who wish to understand housing in NZ should read it, several times over

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It is misleading in one key respect - land in our largest city currently has the highest structural availability of its entire history. The city has expanded completely off the ends of an isthmus and Auckland is now structurally akin to other cities of the world with high land availability. Unfortunately Auckland is governed by an idiotic council that has banned use of land close to where people want to live (whilst developing large and expanding exurban sprawls). Proximate land in Auckland is freely structurally available, but regulated to be scarce.

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We should legislate that illegal purchases of residential housing assets by foreigners are all treated as assets obtained from the proceeds of crime. Government repossesses them and resells. Far better means of boosting the coffers than finding new ways to tax real NZers.

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Feeling less and less like a New Zealander and more and more like a foreigner up here in Auckland.

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Gotta love those places where staff only speaks mandarin. Somehow the IELTS English requirements don't apply to those immigrants...

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bit like when I holiday in Queenstown and a I run into a rare kiwi local who hears my kiwi accent so we have a good old chin wag like old friends catching up even though we don't know each other.
a bit like when you are on a OE and you find another kiwi
its now happening here in auckland central

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South Africans are fine , they dont speculate in our houses because they are too poor, they dont seem to be part of drug importing cartels, they dont qualify for welfare, so they have to work , which means they are paying taxes.

They generally behave , you seldom see them being sentenced to jail terms for anything

And we actually rely on them for a lot of stuff , our 3 kids were taught by a lot of them , my business banking relationship-manager at ANZ is from SA , our hospitals rely on them as nurses, my GP and dentist and physio are all South Africans , hell even the Vet is South African , our printer in Browns Bay is a South African , the insurance brokerage we use is owned by a South African altho my broker is a Kiwi ...........

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Agree. All of them come here to escape the turmoil back in SA. Theyre almost always highly skilled e.g. doctors, dentists, engineers etc and are usually salt of the earth types that share much of the same values as the average kiwi

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This Govt just put teaching on the skilled shortage list, and now I'm seeing Facebook posts from SA teachers stating they are moving to NZ but are having trouble finding a teaching job. Never mind, I'm sure they can learn to drive a taxi/Uber like the other unemployed skilled immigrants when they get here.

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dp

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Permanent residency declining in Nov after blip up in October.

From the MBIE immigration data explorer
2018 2019 Reduction
39,624 34,614 12% Approvals
4,572 3,312 27% Refused

Judging from that it is either more deliberate delay tactics by INZ or maybe NZ is not so popular as it used to be. If the latter then it would probably be our deserved reputation for ignoring exploitation of foreign workers.

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The likes of Australia, Canada and Singapore filtered out all the good ones. We in NZ gets the crumbs...

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Motor moa dont put yourself down. All those chinese are heading to Oz On Fire like yourself.

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