South Korean Meehee Lee says she struggles with English but will stay in Tauranga two years so her two daughters (aged 12 and 14) can attend school in Otumoetai.
"They're happy with the education system here. The Korean education system is very strict and they like to walk around with bare feet."
Mrs Lee says the Newcomers Network allows her to meet people from all over the world and make new friends.
Multicultural Tauranga office co-ordinator Janet Smith (from the UK), says the Newcomers Network has expanded this year, as recent arrivals join established migrants.
"They have a wealth of knowledge to pass onto newcomers. They will have been through the same sort of problems and be able to say, 'I know how you feel. I've been there, too'."
Multicultural Tauranga was founded in 1994 as Bay of Plenty Ethnic Council. During the past two decades, the region's foreign-born population has increased from 12.5 per cent, according to 1996 census data for Tauranga and the Western Bay of Plenty, to around 19 per cent, according to the 2013 census. The number of foreign-born residents in our region has more than doubled - from around 14,000 in 1996, to nearly 29,000 in 2013.
Ewa Fenn, who migrated from Poland in 1982, served as president of Tauranga Regional Multicultural Council for eight years.
Ms Fenn says, "The Indian community has increased very much. So has the Kiribati community. They didn't exist 10 years ago, and now it's a big community and quite visible in Te Puke."
Ms Fenn says access to jobs remains a hurdle. She says some people who held qualifications such as attorneys and accountants back home find it too difficult and expensive to have those qualifications recognised in New Zealand, so they work in fields such as administration and retail. Still, she says much has changed the past decade.
"Now, you go to offices, banks, lawyers, the hospital and find people working there from other countries."
Ms Fenn says the dis-establishment of a government programme poses another challenge. "For the last few years, we had NZ Settlement Support, which helped people face-to-face to navigate within the work area. This doesn't exist anymore. The Citizens Advice Bureau took over that service, but I'm not sure how many people know this."
The Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) in Tauranga started walk-in clinics for migrants in January. The service is available to any newcomer from 1-4pm, Tuesday through Friday at 38 Hamilton Street.
Tauranga CAB manager Kim Saunders referred a call for information about the migrant service to CAB's Auckland office.
Multicultural Tauranga leaders say they'd like to fill gaps in jobs programmes to help migrants identify and navigate Kiwi work culture. They're also promoting a more inclusive society. Ms Fenn says, "We haven't had huge problems visible in Tauranga, but occasionally someone says a comment about Asians, which shows there's an undercurrent of racism. Attitudes of people are not quite there yet to be multicultural. But we're working towards it."