The Government is approving around 15,000 work visas a month and 5000 residence visas.
The latest figures from the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE) show 15,198 work visas were approved in September, with work visa approvals increasing for three consecutive months, rising steadily from 11,511 in June to 15,198 in September.
However, those figures are still below where they were last year when there was still a shortage of overseas workers in the wake earlier Covid-related travel restrictions.
The latest figures show on average fewer work visas are being approved each month now than they were prior to the pandemic hitting, when around 20,000 approvals a month was the norm. See the graph below.
According to MBIE, there were 188,364 people in New Zealand on work visas at the end of September.
That number has declined slightly for six consecutive months, from the March high of 200,643, and is now well below March 2020's 10-year high of 222,054.
The number of residence visas being approved has settled between 4000 and 5000 a month since the start of this year, with 4956 approved in September.
Those numbers appeared to have settled again after a surge in 2022 and 2023 from the 2021 Resident Visa scheme which fast tracked residence visa approvals for people who had already been in NZ for a significant length of time on work visas.
However, current residence visa approval numbers are running well ahead of where they were pre-Covid when they were averaging around 3000 a month. (See graph below).
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42 Comments
Immigration was a fad from 15 years ago to promote diversity and if you were opposed to it you were labelled a racist.
Today, we need to look at the economics behind it and understand the impact on our standard of living. It would be helpful if MSM actually acknowledged the protests around the world, like in Canada, so those that want to discuss the issue can do so without be villainised.
Immigration makes up for locals that aren't able to afford to have kids. And keep housing pressure up so it's good for landlords and banks. And keeps wages down so it's good for business owners. Are you seeing a pattern? Apparently what's good for the wealthy is good for "the economy". It's almost like the wealthy have co-opted the concept of the economy to mean that anything that's good for them is good for "the economy" regardless of it's actual impact. In reality we all know that more money at the bottom of the economy is better because money flows up, not down.
Without immigration we are completely screwed
That appears to be the mainstream narrative. However, there is very little proper data or research on what migrants contribute as taxes vs what investment is required from the Crown to make up for the increased demand for infrastructure and public services vs what the Crown is actually putting in to play catch up.
Productivity Commission took a look at our immigration settings and published reports in 2021 & 22 stating that the skill level of incoming migrants had been gradually tumbling in the preceding decade. Erica Stanford stated in the beginning of 2024 that more than half of the migrants entering NZ since borders reopened in 2022 were low skilled or unskilled.
My argument is that we need skilled migrants, but the skill-agnostic approach adopted over the last several years is also detrimental to our socioeconomic wellbeing in the medium-to-long run.
so we have someone to pay for all our retirees.
Pay with what - tax from selling coffees to each other? It's exports that pay our way in the world and if you aren't exporting or very closely associated with exporting then how are immigrants helping pay for them? How many immigrants start export businesses vs just add to demand and drive off our young that would have stayed and worked in luxury areas such as healthcare? Why can't we just look after them ourselves to the best of our ability and means?
Without immigration we are completely screwed.
In what way, be specific or are you unable? Then, tell us how immigration fixes that?
With immigration we are less screwed but have other issues.
What areas are we less screwed? What other issues? We are hugely changing our demographics, a little more detail is warranted (not just yourself, but media including this site). The accountant in me is all for a good cost vs benefit analysis.
Looking at NZ in the year to March 2024 - there was a 14% reduction in the number of European babies born, a 4% reduction in the number of Maori and Pacific Islander babies born, and a 12% increase in the number of Asian babies born. For the first time ever, there were more Asian babies born than Maori babies.
Leftie academics, politicians, hand-wringing champagne socialist types etc all love mass immigration because it lets them feel good about trying to solve the big issues of the world and is a convenient means to dismantle the evils of homogenous Western culture. They are also sufficiently privileged to only see the good sides ... the interesting cuisines, cultural events and so on. Just as long as those same immigrants don't happen to live next door (not that they can afford to).
Righty 'business lobby' types, rentiers etc love mass immigration because it artificially stimulates demand, depresses wages, worsens housing shortages etc. They too are also sufficiently privileged to only see the good sides - particularly on the economics side e.g. rising asset prices. Once again, just as long as those same immigrants don't happen to live next door (not that they can afford to).
Little wonder - with all these powerful types benefitting greatly for two distinct reasons - the average joe hasn't been able to question things.
I don't blame immigrants for wanting to seek a better life. But we shouldn't blame people already in NZ for questioning whether they are getting a "good deal" or not ... and those born/already here should be at the front of the queue.
At the very least we should be asking why - when so many are without jobs in NZ at the moment - we are bringing anybody in who effectively provides a competing unit of labour unless it is some job for which we cannot train a Kiwi (and which is critical to the day-to-day running of the country e.g. healthcare)
Nice summary dt.
just as long as those same immigrants don't happen to live next door
I'm not sure that is an issue either for most to be honest - they're usually quiet and respectful of others. Even though I frequently post against immigration, it's important to note, as you do, that it's not the same as being anti-immigrant (racist, xenophobic etc.). It's being pro looking after those already here going forward. Population growth needs to be a considered choice given the constraints we seem to be running into.
DEI is now rife in the corporate world. To the extent where citizens are ironically being discriminated against in order to satisfy quotas.
It's even reached the RB monetary policy committee.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/top/530973/ex-staffer-wants-reserve-bank-to-…
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Co-operative bank too. They are seeking a new director and "We will also look for diversity in the search for candidates, whether that comes in the form of gender, ethnicity or other areas."
https://www.co-operativebank.co.nz/about-us/our-governance/call-for-dir…
You should want the best qualified for the job but that attitude doesn't seem to fit the agenda.
DEI in corporates is overstated, they’re not moral entities. Corporates use DEI the same way as they did Politically Correct, Affirmative Action, and the rest of the cultural movements that came before them; they use it to make money off of cheaper wages. The same is even true of modern militaries, they realised that they could either pay their soldiers way more or they could appeal to the sensibilities of the younger generation they want to attract and keep the wages the same. They will drop it the moment that it becomes effective to do so.
SKF
The narrow-mindedness of those who are anti-immigration always surprises me. It's as if when looking at the economics behind immigration (into the country) they concentrate only on the negatives and ignore the positives such as the fact that immigrants help to grow the economy which benefits most locals in the process, especially the ageing locals whose Super is more secure with governments that are able to collect more taxes, etc.
Feels like the anti-immigration crowd is just a bunch of NIMBYs on a grand scale.
the fact that immigrants help to grow the economy which benefits most locals
Living standards per capita are in decline though. Zooming out and seeing growth doesn't mean there actually is real value growth. You'll find it's not so much NIMBYs as they benefit from this, it's more younger people.
Employment number is in free fall and we are bringing in fresh meat, how is this benefiting most locals? Applicants per job ad has surpassed 300 vs 100 in 2008/2009. https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:725237398804619673…
Need I say more?
A bigger proportion of migrants were issued open work visas (students, working holidaymakers, family members of existing migrants, certain work categories, humanitarian causes, etc.) in 2023 than pre-Covid.
So, short answer to your question on where those people work - who the hell knows and who the f*ck cares?! MBIE or the gov doesn't.
All the farmer needs to do is keep borrowing money to feed and shelter the sheep;expand their home paddock (using the existing fencing materials, of course. Additional posts and wire aren't affordable in addition to the extra feed) and rinse-and-repeat, and all will be well.
As a descendant of recent immigrants ( the Gummster clan arrived variously around the 1860's & 1880's ) I feel it's quite selfish to deny others the opportunity of a better life which has been granted to us ...
... notwithstanding our need to rejuvenate our population base with younger immigrants , our nation is severely underpopulated ... and hamstrung on many fronts because of this ...
I feel it's quite selfish to deny others the opportunity of a better life which has been granted to
I feel it's quite selfish to deny our own kiwis and next generation the opportunity for health care without dying in the ambulance in the line outside the hopistal. It's quite selfish to deny the kiwi dream of a home and family opportunity. It's quite selfish to supress wages to keep unproductive wealth generation tax free.
Wages suppressed, rental and housing demand always at brink, young people don't have kids because of affordability, they also leave NZ for better pastures.
So we import more people to keep the initial root issue continuing. We wonder why more and more young kiwis are leaving and less that stay are having kids. You can play boomer games about birth rates but the large majority of online commentary from the age groups not having kids are always mostly voted on the ones referencing cost of housing and living in general.
... absolute nonsense ... we produce and earn well enough to support a lifestyle far above what we currently have .... .... the root issue is our abysmal lack of improving productivity through innovation and competition ...
Nothing to do with immigration whatsoever ...
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