A total of 19,200 people came to New Zealand in February – 17,862 of those being work permit holders and another 13,638 reaching the country for study purposes, the latest figures from the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment show.
According to the authority, the number of workers arriving in the country has been increasing since April last year, surpassing 10,000 a month for the first time in September 2022. Between September and February 2023, the total number of people arriving in the country on work visas reached 86,706, VisaGuide.World reports.
Almost 18,000 workers who arrived in February were slightly below pre-pandemic levels, with 20,514 workers arriving in February 2020 and 20,361 in February 2019, and these numbers are expected to increase as 20,235 work visas were approved last month.
Similarly, international students are marking a comeback to New Zealand, with the numbers dropping between April 2020 and January last year, decreasing from 21,153 in 2019.
The number of international students passed 1,000 per month for the first time in June 2022, also exceeding 10,000 last month, reaching 13,638 arrivals.
Keep in mind that the number of students is concentrated in certain months – usually when the academic year starts, so those can surge in July while completely decreasing in other months.
In general, the number of residence permits issued has also increased in recent months, with the Immigration Minister Michael Woods announcing that 160,000 people have been granted residence visas under the special 2021 Residence Visa Scheme, with a total of 80 percent of applications being processed.
The scheme was introduced in 2021 in an effort to fast-track residence for those that want to obtain work permits in New Zealand and who have already been in the country for years. Minister Woods revealed that the majority of residence visa holders were nurses, software engineers, early childhood education teachers, and primary school teachers.
According to NZ’s International Education report for 2015, the main market sources for international students were China (27 percent) and India (23 percent), altogether representing 50 percent of all international students in New Zealand. Others to follow were Japan (eight percent), South Korea (six percent), and the Philippines, Thailand, and Germany, representing three percent of students, respectively.
While others, including different countries, represented 14 percent of all international students in the country, international students from France, Brazil, the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Vietnam represented two percent of the total, respectively.
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