Skilled migrants in New Zealand: a study of settlement outcomes

Author: Ruth Wallis

This report examines skilled and business migrants’ settlement outcomes, including employment, region of residence, access to services and the migrants’ satisfaction or dissatisfaction with their housing, children’s schools and other experiences of living in New Zealand.

The settlement outcomes of new skilled and business migrants during their first year of residence in New Zealand are examined in this report, which is the first analysis of an on-going survey. The report covers many aspects of the migrants’ lives including employment, income, region of residence, housing, schooling and access to services. It also covers migrants’ perceptions of their lives in New Zealand so far – their likes, dislikes and unwelcome shocks or surprises – as well as the reasons migrants left their home countries and why they chose to migrate to New Zealand.

Skilled migrants in New Zealand: a study of settlement outcomes is available as a PDF document.
The document is 492KB, and 62 pages.

Skilled migrants in New Zealand: a study of settlement outcomes [pdf 62 pages, 492KB]



     • See all publications by Ruth Wallis

All publications in subject category: Immigration - Economic (including labour market)

     · Cultivating the Knowledge Economy in New Zealand
     · Economic Impacts of Immigration: Scenarios using a Computable General Equilibrium Model of the New Zealand Economy
     · Fiscal impacts of immigration 2005/06
     · Fiscal Impacts of Migrants to New Zealand
     · Housing Markets and Migration: Evidence from New Zealand
     · Immigrant Selection and the Returns to Human Capital in New Zealand and Australia
     · Immigrants in New Zealand: A Study of their Labour Market Outcomes
     · Immigrants in the New Zealand Labour Market: a Cohort Analysis using 1981, 1986 and 1996 Census Data
     · International Trade Negotiations and the Trans-Border Movement of People: A Review of the Literature
     · Literature Review on the Economic Impact of Immigration
     · Skilled Migrants in New Zealand: Employers’ Perspectives
     · The Economic Impact of Immigration on Housing in New Zealand 1991–2016
     · The Impact of Immigration on the Labour Market Outcomes of New Zealanders
     · The Integration of Highly Skilled Migrants into the Labour Market: Implications for New Zealand Business
     · The Labour Market Adjustment of Immigrants in New Zealand

All publications in subject category: Immigration - Evaluation of policies and programmes

     · Business Immigration: The Evaluation of the 1999 Business Immigration Policy
     · Experiences of Recent Business Migrants in New Zealand
     · Housing Markets and Migration: Evidence from New Zealand
     · Humanitarian Category Circumstances
     · Immigration Research Programme: Summary of Findings 2007
     · IMSED Research Work Programme Summary of Findings: January 2008 – December 2009
     · International Trade Negotiations and the Trans-Border Movement of People: A Review of the Literature
     · Life in New Zealand: Settlement Experiences of Skilled Migrants Results from the 2007 Survey
     · Migrants and their take-up of ESOL tuition
     · Migrants'' Experiences of the English Language Bond
     · Migrants’ and Parents’ Experiences of Sponsoring
     · Patterns in the Sponsorship of Social Migrants
     · Refugee Resettlement Research Project Report
     · Settlement Assistance Needs of Recent Migrants
     · Summary of Evaluation Findings from Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) Policy First Season (2007/08)
     · The Economic Impact of Immigration on Housing in New Zealand 1991–2016
     · The Evaluation of the Settlement Services Pilots

All publications in subject category: Immigration - Settlement

     · Annotated Bibliography of New Zealand Literature on Migrant and Refugee Youth
     · Benefit Receipt of Migrants to New Zealand – 2007
     · Developing a New Zealand Settlement Knowledge Base: Baseline Information for the New Zealand Settlement Strategy Indicators
     · Developing a New Zealand Settlement Knowledge Base: Phase One Working Paper – A Framework and Initial Indicators
     · Developing a Settlement Knowledge Base: Settlement research and evaluation literature sweep
     · Experiences of Recent Business Migrants in New Zealand
     · Family Structures
     · From Work to Residence
     · Housing Markets and Migration: Evidence from New Zealand
     · International Migration Outlook – New Zealand 2008
     · International students: Studying and staying on in New Zealand
     · Life in New Zealand: Settlement Experience of Skilled Migrants – Results from the 2008 Survey
     · Life In New Zealand: Settlement Experiences of Skilled Migrants
     · Life in New Zealand: Settlement Experiences of Skilled Migrants Results from the 2007 Survey
     · Migrant and Refugee Youth in New Zealand: Statistical Profile, 1996 to 2007
     · Migrant Settlement: A review of the literature and its relevance to New Zealand
     · Migrants and Labour Market Outcomes
     · Migrants and their take-up of ESOL tuition
     · Migrants'' Experiences of New Zealand
     · Migrants’ and Parents’ Experiences of Sponsoring
     · Migration Trends 2005/06 Report
     · New Faces, New Futures: New Zealand
     · Patterns in the Sponsorship of Social Migrants
     · Patterns Of Gendered Skilled And Temporary Migration Into New Zealand
     · Providing Information Services to Migrants: Literature review
     · Settlement Assistance Needs of Recent Migrants
     · Settlement Patterns and the Geographic Mobility of Recent Migrants to New Zealand
     · Skilled Migrants in New Zealand: Employers’ Perspectives
     · Skilled Migrants: Labour Market Experiences
     · The Economic Impact of Immigration on Housing in New Zealand 1991–2016
     · The Evaluation of the Settlement Services Pilots
     · The Experiences of Migrant Youth
     · Transition to Permanent Residence: Job outcomes of work permit holders

All publications in subject category: Immigration - Trends, Statistics and Summaries

     · Ageing New Zealand: The growing reliance on migrant caregivers
     · Astronaut Families and Cosmonaut Couples
     · Benefit Receipt of Recent Migrants to New Zealand - 2006
     · Doctors and romance: Not only of interest to Mills and Boon readers
     · Employers of Migrants Survey 2009 – Customer satisfaction with Immigration New Zealand Relationship Managers
     · Employers of Migrants Survey 2009 – From recruitment to retention
     · Fiscal impacts of immigration 2005/06
     · Global Visa & Permit Survey 2008 Summary of Key Findings
     · Housing Markets and Migration: Evidence from New Zealand
     · Indicators of Skill Shortage
     · International Migration Outlook – New Zealand 2008
     · International Migration Outlook – New Zealand 2008/09
     · International Migration, 1995-1998: A Report on Current Research and a Bibliography
     · International Trade Negotiations and the Trans-Border Movement of People: A Review of the Literature
     · Migrants In N.Z.: An Analysis of 2001 Census Data
     · Migrants in New Zealand: An Analysis of 1996 Census Data
     · Migrants in New Zealand: An analysis of Labour Market Outcomes for Working Aged Migrants Using 1996 and 2001 Census Data
     · Migration Trends & Outlook 2008/09
     · Migration Trends 2005/06 Report
     · Migration Trends 2006/07
     · Migration Trends and Outlook 2007/08
     · Migration Trends Key Indicators Report : July 2009
     · Monthly Migration Trends : July 2008-June 2009
     · New Faces, New Futures: New Zealand
     · People on the Move: A study of migrant movement patterns to and from New Zealand
     · The Economic Impact of Immigration on Housing in New Zealand 1991–2016
     · The origin, family structure and labour supply of overseas born nurses
     · Trends in Residence Approvals (series)
     · Work Visas and Permits Research