Migrants generally happy with lot

By ANGELA GREGORY

Most migrants to New Zealand feel settled and satisfied with their new life 18 months after gaining residency, according to a preliminary report into their experiences in a new country.

The report was released yesterday by Immigration Minister Paul Swain.

It was prepared by the Immigration Service, looking at the experiences of about 500 migrants, and was a test run of a much larger longitudinal study to be undertaken over the next five years.

Mr Swain said the report confirmed migrants needed help to settle, although most had felt satisfied with their situation 18 months after residency.

He said it was important they settled well as they would help lift the country's economic performance and strengthen New Zealand's connection to the world.

Immigration Service programme manager Stephen Dunstan said the pilot report presented a "quite positive" picture of immigrants' life that was not always portrayed.

It involved interviewing 690 migrants in 2001, six months after residency, and following up with the 540 who still wanted to participate a year later to assess their progress.

Mr Dunstan accepted the findings were somewhat limited as the pilot surveys were restricted to the urban areas of Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington and Christchurch and the Waikato region.

The surveys excluded refugees, temporary visitors and migrants who did not speak one of the survey languages (English, Tongan, Samoan, Mandarin and Cantonese). They also excluded people from Australia, Niue, the Cook Islands and Tokelau.

However, Mr Dunstan said the results were useful in helping select people who would better settle here, to be balanced with the legacy of those migrants who had not been as successful under former selection criteria.

The report found parents were satisfied with their children's schooling and most migrants were satisfied with their housing. They liked the physical environment and found New Zealanders friendly.

The lack of, or poor, employment opportunities was the aspect they most disliked.

Migrants cited problems with employers not accepting their skills or experience, a lack of suitable work, difficulties with English and discrimination because of their accents.

After 18 months two-thirds had found work and only 8 per cent of the unemployed applied for income support benefits.

One in 10 migrants said he or she did not intend to stay more than three years, and one in five reported discrimination.

Those most likely to be employed had got residency through skills or business criteria, had English as their best spoken language, had worked in New Zealand, had post-school qualifications, were aged 25-34, and came from Europe, South Africa, or North America.