Skills and International Migration in New Zealand

Abstract

A significant focus of immigration policy in New Zealand is on attracting and retaining skilled migrants by ensuring that they settle well in New Zealand. However, it is well known that immigration is not always a permanent decision and many migrants choose to leave after a period in the host country either returning to their home country or moving onward to another country. For the first time in New Zealand, information on migrants who were approved residence in New Zealand from 1998 to 2011 were matched with arrival and departure information from Statistics New Zealand to provide a more complete picture of their mobility patterns. This paper presents findings from this study with a focus on the skills associated with the subsequent movements of these migrants, in conjunction with the movements of the New Zealand-born population who travelled in the same period.