New Zealand

Highest net outflow since 2001

A total of 9,000 people entered New Zealand as long-term arrivals in the year to July. On the other hand, there was a net outflow of 29,500 New Zealand citizens in the year ending in July, the highest since a net outflow of 40,800 in 2001. In the July 2007 year, non-New Zealand citizens recorded the highest net inflow of 38,400 since the July 2003 year. The number of short-term overseas visitors reached 173,000, up by four percent compared to the July 2006 year. A total of 2.46 million visitors arrived in the year to July, up four percent (or 87,700) from the previous year.

Fewer new entrants in labor market

New Zealand is experiencing a severe labor shortage with unemployment rate of 3.5 percent. The pool of unskilled labor is also shrinking because the country is losing quite a few unskilled workers to Australia and people are retiring in great numbers. Young people entering the workforce have higher skills. Immigration is regarded as a partial solution, but numbers are falling. The number of net long-term migrants entering the country has dropped 0.2 percent, from some 14,000 for the year to November last year to 10,100 for the year to June this year.

Fake marriage arranger jailed

Stephen William Adams, 46, who arranged a fake marriage, was sentenced to 16 months in jail after he pleaded guilty to supplying false or misleading information to an immigration officer. Jiachang Lu, a Chinese national, approached Adams after living in New Zealand as a student and asked him to arrange a sham marriage. Lu paid N$17,000 to Adams and a further N$6,000 to the woman involved in the scam, Nicola Sheree Bell. Lu received a sentence of 180 hours community work and has been deported. Bell was also sentenced to 120 hours of community work.  

Vietnamese charged with aiding irregular migrants

A Vietnamese, Thu Huynh, is charged with aiding and encouraging nine fellow Vietnamese to work unlawfully in the country. The nine Vietnamese were permitted to work only on the boat in New Zealand. With his assistance, they were able to work in vineyards and orchards in the Nelson and Hawkes Bay areas between 2003 and 2004. Thu provided them with accommodation, work and transport, while charging them an upfront fee and deducting hundreds of dollars from their pay. When they complained about non-payment, he threatened to tell the police of their illegal work status. The nine were all arrested and deported to Vietnam, but were brought back as witnesses and given temporary work permits. One witness, Hoa Bay, said that he had been working up to 18 a day for seven months, but had not been paid.  

NZ declines to take Guantanamo refugees

New Zealand has declined requests from the US to resettle Guantanamo Bay detainees as refugees in New Zealand in 2005 and early 2006, said Department of Labor Refugee Services Director Kevin Third. The government accepted each year a quota of 750 refugees who had been prioritized by the UNHCR. The Department of Labor considers the country's capability to resettle them and available support mechanisms to assist the resettlement process before taking any refugees.

Sources: "Fall in new migrants," New Zealand Herald, 20 August 2007; "NZ resisted US requests to take Guantanamo refugees," New Zealand Herald, 21 August 2007; "Man charged with abetting illegal workers threatened to expose them, court told," New Zealand Herald, 21 August 2007; "Marriage scam arranger jailed," Stuff.co.nz, 24 August 2007; Catherine Harris, "Shrinking workforce 'needs to work smarter'," New Zealand Herald, 28 August 2007