Brits and Americans flock to NZ post Brexit and Trump

NZ Herald

3 Feb, 2018 01:42 AM2 mins to read

New Zealand has once again been labelled a bolthole for Americans looking to escape the US political climate following the election of Donald Trump.

The idea of this country as a safe haven from political upheaval has grown in recent years, particularly following Trump's ascension to the Oval Office at the end of 2016.

It is often cited whenever a foreign billionaire scoops up properties in places like Queenstown and reared its head again yesterday in a Financial Times article focusing on levels of British and US migration to this country.

"The number of US and UK residents choosing to live in far-flung New Zealand has risen sharply since the election of Donald Trump and the UK's Brexit vote," the London-based media organisation reported.

Annual net migration to New Zealand from all countries was at 70,600 in the 12 months to December, from 71,200 in 2016.

The figures, released by Statistics New Zealand yesterday, show a net 71,100 non-citizens arrived in the year, while a net 1000 New Zealanders left.

New Zealand has been experiencing record levels of net migration in recent years, which made rising immigration a key election issue as it strains the country's infrastructure and is blamed for inflating property markets.

Net migration peaked at 72,400 in the July 2017 year, and the latest figures continue the recent trend of reducing annual net migration levels, Stats NZ said.

Stats NZ's figures, as the FT points out, show that 3614 people migrated from the United Kingdom in 2015 - the year before the country voted to leave the European Union.

In the 2016 calendar year migration from Britain jumped to 5588 and in 2017 it reached 6371.

In the year following Donald Trump's election, 2127 migrated to New Zealand - up from 1286 in 2016.