KEY POINTS:
New immigrants to New Zealand love the lifestyle - but a third of them say they don't have enough money to make ends meet.
The first results of a Statistics NZ survey of 7000 people who gained permanent residence here in 2004-05 has found that 93 per cent were either satisfied or very satisfied with life here six months after they arrived.
Only 1 per cent were dissatisfied.
They loved New Zealand's climate and natural beauty (77 per cent), friendly people and relaxed pace of life (63 per cent) and their ability to achieve their desired lifestyle here (62 per cent).
But three of their top five dislikes reflected the high cost of living: high taxes (36 per cent), health costs (28 per cent) and poor quality or costly housing (18 per cent).
And a parallel survey of 600 skilled migrants, also published yesterday by the Labour Department, has found that one in every three migrants does not have enough money to meet their everyday needs.
The proportion saying they don't have enough money has risen from 27 per cent in 2005 to 30 per cent in 2006 and 35 per cent in the latest survey, done in the first half of last year.
Migration and Investment Association chairman Richard Howard said migrants were struggling with the same rising living cost as other New Zealanders, making this country less attractive compared with Australia and Canada.
The number of permanent residents approved dropped from 56,467 in 2005-06 to 52,765 in the financial year to last June, and he said numbers might drop below the target of 45,000 this year. "I think it will continue to be a challenging market for the next one to two years," he said.
The Labour Department survey found that migrants actually found it easier to make ends meet in their home countries, where only 15 per cent had not had enough to meet their everyday needs.
The proportions who could not meet their everyday needs doubled from 16 per cent at home to 32 per cent here for migrants from Britain and Ireland, and jumped from 10 per cent to 37 per cent for migrants from the rest of Europe, South Africa and North America. More surprisingly, the proportions who could not meet their needs here increased even from Asia (up from 19 per cent at home to 36 per cent here) and other countries (up from 17 per cent at home to 40 per cent here).
This was even though between 91 and 94 per cent of principal applicants from all continents had found jobs here.
The department said migrants might have stronger informal supports in their home countries.
"For example, it is not known to what degree migrants were able to rely on their extended family and relatives for additional support such as childcare," it said.
"Migrants from Asia would also be likely to have experienced paying lower taxes in their source country, but this would be commensurate with lower levels of government provision of social services. Also, for some migrants, additional financial resources may be required during the establishment of a new home."
Migration from Asia has declined since English language requirements were tightened five years ago, with migrants from China dropping from 17 per cent of the total in 2003 to just 5 per cent in the latest year. Instead, Britain has again become the biggest source of migrants, accounting for about a quarter of the total in each of the past five years.
Almost half the migrants in the latest survey (47 per cent) have settled in Auckland, followed by Canterbury (13 per cent), Wellington (11 per cent), the Bay of Plenty and Waikato (6 per cent each). But the proportion of Asian migrants settling in Auckland dropped from 60 per cent in 2007 to the same as the overall average (47 per cent) in the latest survey.
LIFESTYLE AND SECURITY IN GODZONE A WINNER FOR BRITONS
The Marshall family from England will be staying in New Zealand, even though they are worse off financially.
Software developer Royston Marshall, 37, and his wife Becky, 38, left their home in Chichester, southern England, because they felt Britain was no longer safe for their five children.
Mrs Marshall said the last straw was when their eldest daughter Lucy, now 14, was "chased by a gang of drug addicts who threatened to molest her".
"I think we have probably suffered a little bit financially. We are probably not quite as well off as we were," she said.
"But we have a fantastic outdoor life here. The children just love it. They are out and about, whereas they wouldn't have been in England - they would have been watching TV and on the computer."
Mr Marshall said they researched property prices in New Zealand before coming here and bought a similar house in Birkdale to the one they had in Chichester, with a smaller mortgage.
Other costs were higher than expected.
"Food shopping is what has hit us. If anything, it's slightly more expensive than England," he said.
"It's hard to get used to having to pay to go to the doctor. In England you don't pay at all and your children's prescriptions are all free."
But he said he would still recommend New Zealand to other Britons because of the lifestyle.
"It's just laid-back. The temperature is better than in England," he said.
Mrs Marshall said she had made a lot of friends, partly because she had to.
"I've been very outgoing. I think you kind of have to be. Through the church I have met lots of people, and through the children's schools."
Lucy had a scholarship to a private school in England, but Mrs Marshall said the local Birkenhead College had placed her in an accelerated group and arranged special tuition so she could keep up Latin and German.
"I think it's a better school than she had. They have been totally on the ball without us doing anything," she said.
Mr Marshall said the family were less impressed by the schools of their younger children, 12-year-old twins Alicia and Jacob and 8-year-old twins Beth and Rebekah.
On the other hand, Mrs Marshall said, one of their youngest twins had told her recently that the local teachers made learning fun.
