Migration Trends 2005/06
Migration Trends 05/06 report - december 2006
Permanent Residence Approvals
There were 51,236 people approved for permanent residence in New Zealand in 2005/06. Sixty-two percent of people were approved through the Skilled/Business Stream, 29 percent through the Family Sponsored Stream, and nine percent through the International/Humanitarian Stream. The number of places available in the New Zealand Residence Programme (NZRP) in 2005/06 was 51,500 people, the highest level since 2001/02 (when almost 53,000 people were approved).
Demand for places in the NZRP remains strong, and residence application inflows were higher overall than in 2004/05, although inflows fluctuated across the three residence streams. There were substantially higher flows through the skilled categories, while inflows through the Family Sponsored Stream and the International/Humanitarian Stream were lower overall than in 2004/05.
The UK is currently the largest source country of migrants – 29 percent of all residence approvals in 2005/06. China is the second largest at 13 percent, up from 10 percent in 2004/05.
UK migrants accounted for 37 percent of Skilled/Business Stream approvals and 18 percent of Family Sponsored Stream approvals. China was the source of 13 percent of the Skilled/Business Stream and 18 percent of the Family Sponsored Stream. Samoa and Tonga were the largest source countries of approvals through the International/ Humanitarian Stream (31 percent and 12 percent respectively).