Overseas worker and student arrivals almost back up to pre-pandemic levels

Public Policy / news

Almost 18,000 foreign workers and 14,000 overseas students arrived in New Zealand last month

16th Mar 23, 10:09am by Greg Ninness

The immigration doors have been flung wide open again as migrant arrival numbers start heading back up towards pre-pandemic levels.

The latest figures from the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment show 17,862 people arrived in New Zealand on work visas in February and another 13,638 on student visas.

Overseas worker arrivals slumped to just a few hundred a month between April 2020 and March 2022 as Covid-19 regulations severely restricted international travel.

But their numbers have been increasingly steadily since April last year, and last September passed 10,000 a month for the first time since March 2020.

In the six months from September last year to February this year 86,706 people have arrived in NZ on work visas.

The 17,862 overseas workers who arrived last month were only slightly below pre-Covid levels, with 20,514 arriving in February 2020 and 20,361 arriving in February 2019.

The numbers suggest overseas worker flows are recovering very quickly in the wake of pandemic restrictions, as shown in the first graph below.

Their numbers are likely to keep growing with 20,235 work visas approved in February.

Overseas student numbers are also heading back towards pre-Covid levels.

Their numbers dropped to just a few dozen a month between April 2020 and January last year, down from 21,153 in January 2019.

But their numbers passed 1000 a month for the first time in two years last June, and passed the 10,000 mark last month with 13,638 arrivals.

Student arrivals are very seasonal, following the patterns of the academic year, so it's likely that arrival numbers will drop off sharply again this month before hitting a seasonal peak again in July. (The second graph below shows the monthly student arrival trend).

There has also been a big jump in the number of people receiving residence visas.

Immigration Minister Michael Woods has announced 160,000 people have now been granted residence visas under the special 2021 Residence Visa Scheme, with 80% of applications processed.

As it's name suggests, this scheme was introduced in 2021 to fast track residency for overseas workers who had already been in NZ for several years.

A statement by Woods said the top occupations among those who received the residence visas were nurses, early childhood education teachers, software engineers and primary school teachers.

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30 Comments

by live4ever | 16th Mar 23, 10:15am 1678914922

Great news on all fronts. Will go some way to alleviate worker shortages in some sectors and hopefully put a floor under house prices while bolstering government tax take.

by tomjones_04 | 16th Mar 23, 10:43am 1678916589

‘Hopefully put a floor under house prices’ remind me why that is an important consideration? It’s a good thing for who? Young kiwis looking to buy? I have a 14 year old daughter that realises the corruption an idiocy of the NZ housing situation. She was made aware by her Irish teacher, recent immigrant to NZ. Let it crash. It’s certainly becoming the more popular narrative out there.

by Bluekiwi Prope… | 16th Mar 23, 12:18pm 1678922331

Instead of moaning and setting a bad example for your daughter. Set on the right track by working hard to get a deposit to buy a cheap do up in a slow part of the country and move up the ladder. Plus there is a reason why teachers are teachers, they arent exactly in it for the money.

by singautim | 16th Mar 23, 1:35pm 1678926909

Slow parts of the country equate to no jobs and especially no jobs for educated women. Why can't my four adult children now in their thirties, with good work ethic, with half of them with degrees actually buy in North Auckland where they have spent most of their lives and all their friends and partners live? It wasn't impossible when I was a young graduate. Agreed they have to tighten their belts and save hard but even a starvation diet and walking everywhere will not let them save a deposit faster than that deposit inflates. If we had been forewarned then we would have had just one child and helped them buy.

by tomjones_04 | 16th Mar 23, 2:16pm 1678929404

You know nothing about me and the example I set for my kids. I teach them to be generous and kind and they amaze me every day with their accomplishments. I want houses to be more affordable for them, I think that’s the best example possible.

by andreas_od | 16th Mar 23, 4:54pm 1678938841

agree, we also need to get rid of the term "property ladder" . If we belive NZ is 1st world country , there must be possibilities for yuong, honest, educated and hardworking people to buy not just do-up shitwhole in Papakura , but decent property in decent area

by GV 27 | 17th Mar 23, 6:25am 1678987551

Ah, so making housing less affordable somewhere else? Yea, that's not a super strong answer. It's great in a '*** you got mine' sense, but that's how we got into this mess in the first place.

by Jesse1 | 16th Mar 23, 11:38am 1678919885

Put a floor on house prices at these levels just means NZ remains an unsuitable place for many to make a life and those arriving will only replace those leaving. So many just want house prices to remain high, which translates to telling a lot of people to leave the country.

by Davo36 | 16th Mar 23, 10:22am 1678915346

Yay, just what we need, tens of thousands of mostly poor people coming into NZ so that kiwis can sit on the couch and play XBox - whilst receiving a benefit.

And we really do need a housing crunch again, prices were going down! They're not supposed to do that!

And some more traffic on the roads would be great too.

Perhaps water restrictions in Auckland again?

I love all this stuff.

by tuisbest | 16th Mar 23, 10:32am 1678915966

All good if you're sitting on the couch playing XBox. Just hope you don't become sick and need to head over to your local hospital's Emergency Department.

by Chaosinflesh | 16th Mar 23, 11:27am 1678919278

Cannot speak for other jursidictions, but I just spent four days in Auckland Hospital. Had no issue getting seen - though was fortunate I can afford a doctor who hooked me up, so to speak, by letting them know I was coming. However, my doctor is no longer taking new registrations, so that helps me, but not the newly arrived.

The staff were, for the most part, excellent. And judging from the accents, a fair few were immigrants, too.

They talked about the Monday just gone (which made the news on Wednesday) as crazy - but the issue didn't seem to be staff numbers, rather room availability.

by K.W. | 17th Mar 23, 10:36am 1679002582

I have also been told by a junior doctor that they have been told they will be unable to complete their training due to all the surgical cancellations, as this lack of surgery time means they cant graduate due to not enough practical hours being completed. So now we have no surgeries and no future surgeons either

by Alpeg | 16th Mar 23, 5:53pm 1678942439

That's a dumb comment. How can you know they are "mostly poor"?

by FJP | 17th Mar 23, 5:56am 1678985815

“Mostly poor”…. Let me guess, you also think that us imigants come from dirt huts to come flip burgers or drive ubers ?

by Waikatohome | 16th Mar 23, 10:28am 1678915733

There is a lot of doom and gloom in the country at the moment. Perhaps some optimistic and motivated immigrants will give things a boost. Downtown Auckland is certainly on the up, it was a pretty scary and depressing place whilst the borders were closed. Not sure where the visitors are going to stay though, not easy to find accommodation at the moment with Motels either full of the homeless or being renovated. Plenty of empty new-builds though.

by Advisor | 16th Mar 23, 10:38am 1678916320

This is exactly what we need right now - more students, workers and their dependents adding to aggregate demand for imported goods and services amidst our worst current account deficit run.

Chefs yet again top the charts in work visas dished out by INZ since July 2022.

by singautim | 16th Mar 23, 1:39pm 1678927154

Strange how chefs are in demand. The main criteria for 'skilled worker' residency visas. It has been this way for 20 years. What is causing them to disappear? Are they giving up and going home? Are they dying of a mysterious kitchen illness? INZ should investigate.

by Yvil | 16th Mar 23, 3:39pm 1678934394

"Chefs yet again top the charts in work visas dished out" Don't let facts get in the way of your rant:

the top occupations among those who received the residence visas were nurses, early childhood education teachers, software engineers and primary school teachers

by HouseMouse | 16th Mar 23, 6:28pm 1678944517

Actually those occupations (and that quote) relate to people who have received residence visas and have been here for a few years. It’s effectively legitimising status of people already here.

That’s different to work visas which is for new arrivals

by kiwi_overseas | 16th Mar 23, 10:50am 1678917054

160,000 inbound workers + students

How many people permanently outbound?

Where are they going to live?

by Hemi Ti Wire | 16th Mar 23, 10:52am 1678917152

Hardly at pre covid levels yet. And how many are actually working

by balance | 16th Mar 23, 11:02am 1678917737

It's lucky we have the brilliant infrastructure required to support this.

by Prickle | 16th Mar 23, 11:17am 1678918648

Good news for all those industries where kiwis do not wish to work. Hospitality, aged care, seasonal agriculture, and health. We have plenty of empty houses and apartments to accommodate them.

by keithwoodford | 16th Mar 23, 11:29am 1678919364

Without more detail, it is not possible to interpret what these numbers really mean.

We need to know how many of the work visas are on a track for residency.

Similarly, origin of the students, plus level of study, will tell a lot as to whether these are really residency visas in disguise.

Currently, both major parties are very pro immigration. But the employment fundamentals are about to change. And this is where a third party called 'NZ First' can by September find fertile ground.

by K.W. | 17th Mar 23, 10:41am 1679002907

I'd also be interested to see how many of them are simply returning to finishing their studies or resuming work, after having been prevented from entering the country for the last 3 years (or leaving the country in regards to the Chinese). How many are brand new students or workers who have chosen to immigrate now rather than just returning to pick up their old lives?

by Takere | 16th Mar 23, 12:20pm 1678922408

So where are all these people going to live when we have 27,000+ people still living in motels at a cost of $1m per day?

Where are all of these houses?

by Prickle | 16th Mar 23, 1:29pm 1678926589

We have a surplus of houses but these are unaffordable for the drug addicts and unemployable who are in our motels. Govt needs to buy these up for social housing. Immigrant workers will find somewhere coz they WORK.

by singautim | 16th Mar 23, 1:42pm 1678927379

Why doesn't the govt pay send an unemployable drug addict to Australia for each work visa issued? We will end up with the entire population recycled. Like Thor's hammer will our country still deserve to be called New Zealand?

by HouseMouse | 16th Mar 23, 6:24pm 1678944260

Many of these arrivals will be heading back to where they came from within 12 months, especially if they are working in construction or hospitality.

by K.W. | 17th Mar 23, 10:43am 1679003031

Many of them will get a rude shock when they see the state of the country after 3 years - it won't be the country they left or had heard about from friends. But they'll park themselves here until they score a work visa in Australia or Canada