Kiwis drive migration gain
New Zealand's net migration gain continues to be driven by more New Zealanders coming home and fewer leaving,
Immigration Minister Lianne Dalziel said today.
"Permanent and long-term migration statistics released by Statistics New Zealand today confirmed a 13 percent increase
in the number of New Zealanders coming home and a 28 percent decrease in the number of Kiwis leaving," Lianne Dalziel
said.
"There was also a 30 percent increase in the arrivals of non-New Zealanders while two percent fewer non-New Zealanders
departed.
"The figures include people entering the country for more than 12 months, and therefore include many students and anyone
coming here on a work permit for 12 months or more. The numbers are not made up solely of people arriving with residence
visas.
"The Department of Statistics does not provide disaggregated figures. New Zealand Immigration Programme residence
approvals have not altered, and remain at 45,000 (+/- 5000) for the 2002/03 year," Lianne Dalziel said.