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Migrant arrivals highest ever

Posted on 26 April, 2017

Migrant arrivals rose to 129,500 in the year ending March 2017, Stats NZ said today. Migrant departures were 57,600 in the last 12 months, which led to an annual net gain in migration of 71,900. This surpassed the previous annual record of 71,300 set in February this year. Annual net migration has been rising since 2012. “This was mainly due to the rising number of migrant arrivals to New Zealand," population statistics senior manager Peter Dolan said. "Fewer migrant departures also contributed to the increase in net migration." Three-quarters of migrant arrivals in the last five years were citizens from other countries, led by the United Kingdom (10 per cent) India (10 percent), and China (9 percent). The remaining 26 percent were New Zealand citizens. Work visas were up 5,100 in the March year to 43,700. New Zealand citizens rose 1,300 to 31,995 and residence visas also increased, up 2,000 to 16,800. Student visas, however, continued falling, down 3,800 to 23,900. More than 3.5 million visitors came to New Zealand in the March 2016 year, which matched the February record and was a nine per cent year-on-year increase. "The majority of the visitor arrivals in March 2017 were from Australia (36 percent) followed by China (12 percent) and the United States of America (11 percent)", says Dolan.