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Pathways to residence in New Zealand, 2003-2010
Abstract
The chapter reviews developments in New Zealand's immigration policy between 2003, when the innovative "expression of interest" (or "by invitation") selection system for skilled migrants was introduced. This system has been subsequently adoped by Australia (2012) and Canada (2015) with amendments to suit federal systems of governance and a variety of sub-national (State/Province) selection systems. The review traces the impact this scheme had on skilled migrant selection between 2003 and 2010. Other developments in immigration policy affecting those seeking residence in New Zealand under the family sponsorship and international categories of entry are also reviewed briefly. A companion chapter by Bedford, Callister and Didham, "Arrivals, departures and net migration, 2001/02-2008/09" reviews the comprehensive data Statistics New Zealand collects on all peoiple crossing the international border (pp. 50-103).
... The reason for including the long-term and mid-term temporary residence status into this quantitative data analysis is that in recent years, the revised temporary residence streams has provided a platform for many usual residents who have the intention of permanent immigration to make their immigration applications on shore and to transit their temporary residence status to the status as permanent immigrant in New Zealand (Bedford, Ho, and Bedford 2010). The new temporary residence stream of 2009 is a part of the New Zealand government's plan to have an innovative immigration program to deliver a comprehensive service to meet market needs and provide chances to further this country's economic development through promoting human mobility beyond the traditional routes. ...
... Apart from the usual and direct routes to obtain permanent residence through the residence streams (such as applying for permanent residence under the business or skilled categories), some nonconventional transitional routes for permanent immigration emerge. Transitions from temporary permits to permanent residence have become increasingly popular routes to permanent residence (Bedford, Ho, and Bedford 2010). During the period from 2003 to 2008, 69% of applicants approved for residence in all streams had held a temporary work permit during the year, 22% held a visitor's permit, and 9% held a student permit (Bedford, Ho, and Bedford 2010). ...
... Transitions from temporary permits to permanent residence have become increasingly popular routes to permanent residence (Bedford, Ho, and Bedford 2010). During the period from 2003 to 2008, 69% of applicants approved for residence in all streams had held a temporary work permit during the year, 22% held a visitor's permit, and 9% held a student permit (Bedford, Ho, and Bedford 2010). In migration studies, people on these transitional pathways increasingly form a component in an expanded conceptualization of conventional "migrants," which traditionally only referred to people with the legal status as permanent residents, as well as people born in a different country who had been granted citizenship. ...
The People’s Republic of China (PRC) has remained the second largest source for residence approvals in New Zealand since 1997. This large immigration flow also generated significant counter flow toward the homeland. Using data from Statistic New Zealand, this research analyses the permanent and long-term (PLT) departure and arrival data of New Zealand for five migrant groups from the Asia-Pacific region (Korean, Indian, Chinese from the PRC, Chinese from Taiwan, and Pacific Islanders from Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa) in order to show some distinct features of return migration of the PRC migrants in terms of volume, age, and sex. It is suggested here that both the immigration and the return migration patterns of the PRC migrants are reflective not only of China’s recent economic strength but also of New Zealand’s positioning in the global migration system. The study of PRC return migration in the New Zealand context contributes to an understanding of the changing power relations between immigrant sending and receiving countries.
... However, it had suffered outflows of its population into Australia's larger economy and labor market from as early as the mid-1960s (Bedford, 2003). Therefore, for many years, New Zealand had allowed foreign workers and private students to change their status from temporary to permanent (Bedford et al., 2010b). ...
... She considered that although former students might not perform as initially expected, their labor market participation was certainly advantaged by their Australian study experience (Hawthorne, 2008b(Hawthorne, , 2010. In New Zealand, Paul Spoonley was the leading expert on the national immigration and diversity issues, and Richard Bedford had exclusively examined the development of New Zealand's skilled migration policies (Bedford, 2006;Bedford and Spoonley, 2014;Bedford et al., 2010aBedford et al., , 2010bSpoonley et al., 2007). Other than Birrell whose criticisms had created media headlines and public debates about Australia's skilled migration policies (Maslen, 2011a(Maslen, , 2011b, these distinguished researchers were also involved in each government's consultation about relevant policy settings. ...
Since the late 1990s, the competition for ‘the best and the brightest’ has shaped many developed countries’ policy approaches toward international students seeking permanent skilled migration in their countries. Australia and New Zealand are among those that established innovative immigration policies to facilitate the skilled migration of international students after successful completion of their studies. Using Considine's policy system framework, this paper reviewed each country's policy setting linking education and migration between 1998 and 2010 and compared policy developments by their constituent policy institutions, policy actors, political economy and policy culture. The similarities and differences between the two countries are identified and used to understand how international education and skilled migration policies had changed in each setting.
... As demonstrated above, INZ policy has been constantly refined and re-defined; however, regardless how the policy emphasis shifted from one to another, the factors of human capital and economic investment in recruiting immigrants have not changed much (Bedford et al., 2010). While this neoliberal ideology was well advanced, it needs to be pointed out that there was new discourse emerging in immigration policy-making -that is "a shift in emphasis in policy from a focus on numerical targets towards settlement outcomes" (Bedford et al., 2005: 1). ...
A neoliberal immigration regime often takes an “economic” lens to frame and reframe immigration regulation based on a rational cost–benefit analysis of what immigration might bring to immigration-receiving countries. Under such a regime, skilled and business immigration is framed as an “economic” immigration category, which can channel in financial and human capital, while family and international humanitarian immigration is regarded as a “social” immigration category assumed to produce immigrants who are more dependent and not able to bring immediate and direct economic gain for immigrant-receiving countries. In New Zealand (NZ), such a neoliberal trend is very much alive within its contemporary immigration policy development. The paper aims to illustrate the neoliberal trend of NZ immigration policy that relates to the entry of immigrants’ family members, especially the older parents. In order to achieve this goal, a detailed review of the evolving NZ family immigration policy over the last three decades and a descriptive analysis of NZ family immigration intake will be presented. By combining the policy review and descriptive analysis together, the paper can inform a better understanding of how the neoliberal immigration regime has had an impact on the patterns of family immigration in NZ.
... Immigration has been an integral part of Aotearoa New Zealand society since 1840 when Māori signed the Treaty of Waitangi. Since then, British setters have been the main source of immigrants as the then government wished to entrench the interests of British imperialism (Bedford et al., 2010). Accordingly, numbers of Asians were historically kept low by all possible legislative means, including a poll tax on Chinese immigrants (1881-1914) (King, 2003) and the Old Age Pension Act 1898 which denied Chinese or other Asiatics' access to pensions (Te Ara, n.d.). ...
Aotearoa New Zealand is a country where cultural differences are widespread and longstanding. The Treaty of Waitangi laid the foundation for an inclusive society where citizens’ full participation is granted. Nevertheless, a number of Asians seem to have limited access to the benefits of an inclusive society, with great concerns over social isolation and marginalisation. This requires social workers attend to Asians’ life challenges, justified by key principles of human rights and social justice; yet a paucity of training exists in social work education, limiting their ability to work with this population. More training is necessary in the social work curriculum through which social workers enhance cultural competence, with relevant knowledge and skills, in relation to working with Asians in Aotearoa New Zealand.
... As demonstrated above, INZ policy has been constantly refined and re-defined; however, regardless how the policy emphasis shifted from one to another, the factors of human capital and economic investment in recruiting immigrants have not changed much (Bedford et al., 2010). While this neoliberal ideology was well advanced, it needs to be pointed out that there was new discourse emerging in immigration policy-making -that is "a shift in emphasis in policy from a focus on numerical targets towards settlement outcomes" (Bedford et al., 2005: 1). ...
A neoliberal immigration regime often takes an “economic” lens to frame and reframe immigration regulation based on a rational cost–benefit analysis of what immigration might bring to immigration-receiving countries. Under such a regime, skilled and business immigration is framed as an “economic” immigration category, which can channel in financial and human capital, while family and international humanitarian immigration is regarded as a “social” immigration category assumed to produce immigrants who are more dependent and not able to bring immediate and direct economic gain for immigrant-receiving countries. In New Zealand (NZ), such a neoliberal trend is very much alive within its contemporary immigration policy development. The paper aims to illustrate the neoliberal trend of NZ immigration policy that relates to the entry of immigrants’ family members, especially the older parents. In order to achieve this goal, a detailed review of the evolving NZ family immigration policy over the last three decades and a descriptive analysis of NZ family immigration intake will be presented. By combining the policy review and descriptive analysis together, the paper can inform a better understanding of how the neoliberal immigration regime has had an impact on the patterns of family immigration in NZ.
... As demonstrated above, INZ policy has been constantly refined and re-defined; however, regardless how the policy emphasis shifted from one to another, the factors of human capital and economic investment in recruiting immigrants have not changed much (Bedford et al., 2010). ...
The Immigration Act 1987 fundamentally transformed New Zealand's immigration policy from one that was race-based to one based on economic needs of New Zealand society. It opened the borders to immigrants from much wider regions. As a result of this "open-door" immigration policy, a substantial new Chinese immigrant community from the People's Republic of China (PRC) was established in New Zealand. Building a closely-tied multigenerational family is an important feature of family life for this immigrant group. Often, multiple generations live together or within close proximity with one another in highly interdependent relationships. However, a growing number have also started to maintain their family lives transnationally, with different family members across generations living apart but maintaining close ties, with frequent interactions across national borders. Given this transnational family arrangement is very different from Chinese traditional practices of family maintenance, the impact of this change on the wellbeing and functioning of these families and their individual family members is an issue of increasing academic interest. This thesis responds to these concerns and explores the relationship between people's experiences of transnational migration and their multigenerational family dynamics. Through engaging with individual life stories and perspectives of 45 participants across generations from new PRC immigrant families living in New Zealand, this thesis seeks to understand how those families with closely-tied multiple generations cope with dislocation and relocation during the process of transnational migration. It also investigates how transnational migration experiences contribute to new emergent domestic dynamics, including the development of new strategies and practices to PAGE | II maintain family traditions, interests and coherence across national borders, as well as shifting intergenerational relationships. The empirical data demonstrates that despite the increasing proportion of new PRC families living transnationally, their experiences of managing family lives vary. I argue that this diversification of transnational family experiences is largely attributed to the interaction of various impact factors associated with both the internal dynamics of immigrant families themselves and external contexts where those families are closely related. My research also attests that family members' transnational migration experiences accelerate changes to the way they perform family life, particularly amplifying intergenerational differences and altering intergenerational dependency. Even though those changes introduce vital challenges towards multigenerational family maintenance and coherence, my research reveals that families are resilient and able to actively forge multistranded resources as well as engage various transnational activities in response to those challenges. While this thesis poses intriguing perspectives and culturally-specific scenarios to study immigrant families in New Zealand society, more importantly, it also contributes to the broad theorisation of transnational family formation and maintenance in the increasingly globalised world.
In Anknüpfung an kritische Debatten zur Einführung des Punktesystems in Deutschland wirft der Beitrag aus der Perspektive vergleichender Policyanalyse einen Blick auf die Punktesysteme in klassischen Einwanderungsländern, um die Innovationspotenziale und Legitimationsprobleme einer Übertragung auf Deutschland auszuloten. Dabei wird deutlich, dass die drei fokussierten Einwanderungsländer Kanada, Australien, und Neuseeland jeweils unterschiedliche Systeme entwickelt haben, die allesamt kontrovers diskutiert werden. In Reflexion auf das Ergebnis werden Empfehlungen für Deutschland entwickelt, wie Innovationspotenziale von Punktesystemen genutzt und Legitimationsprobleme vermieden werden können.
Zusammenfassung
Der Aufsatz untersucht die unterschiedlichen punktebasierten Einwanderungsregelungen in den klassischen Einwanderungsländern Kanada, Australien und Neuseeland, und versucht hieraus Schlussfolgerungen für die Politikgestaltung in Deutschland zu ziehen. Dabei ist festzustellen, dass keines der Punktesysteme eins zu eins auf Deutschland übertragbar ist. Vielmehr wird deutlich, dass jedes System immer auf die sozialen, ökonomischen, politischen, aber auch geografischen Besonderheiten eines Landes ausgerichtet sein muss. Dennoch wurden grundsätzlich Vorteile und Risiken eines Punktesystems aus der Darstellung der verschiedenen Fälle deutlich, die bei der Gestaltung eines Punktesystems für Deutschland berücksichtigt werden sollten.
The growth in the number of people holding temporary work and study visas in New Zealand and in particular in Auckland has been significant in recent years. Immigration New Zealand now approves more than 250,000 temporary work and study visas annually, more than five times the number of permanent residence approvals. The project on Temporary Migration and Urban Incorporation in Auckland offers a first in-depth look at the lives of people holding temporary visas, with a particular emphasis on their living arrangements, work situation, financing and aspirations for the future. The report highlights several significant issues that have emerged from current approaches to managing the presence of temporary migrants. These include:
Evidence that contrary to media and public discourse, recent temporary migrants are almost universally in the housing rental market rather than purchasing property and are concentrated in the CBD more than any other area
Indications that a notable minority of people holding temporary visas are being exploited in the labour market through below minimum wage pay or working more hours than they are being paid for
Evidence of the extent of debt-financed migration amongst some groups of migrants, particularly those intending to apply for permanent residency and amongst some nationalities
That the mismatch between expectations for permanent residence, which are created in part by current policy settings, and actual rates of transition are creating social and economic vulnerability for some people on temporary visas
The report provides in depth coverage of these and other findings from the research project on Temporary Migration and Urban Incorporation. It also highlights the extent to which current migration policy is a key factor in shaping the difficult situation that some people on temporary visas find themselves in. The report concludes that a more humane and less revenue-centred approach to migration is needed to address these emerging issues in Auckland and New Zealand.
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