Immigration Laws: November, 1995 - Number #21

New Zealand, a country of 3.5 million, announced revisions to its immigration policies that will reduce the influx of immigrants, leading to charges that the country is turning its back on Asians. The official target for immigrants is 25,000 annually, but 50,000 immigrants arrived in the 12 months up to June 1995.

Most New Zealand immigrants came from the UK and Australia until the 1990s. Since 1990, South Africans and immigrants from Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia and Singapore have arrived. New Zealand is trying to forge a bicultural system which recognizes the rights of the indigenous Maori, who fear being swamped by Asian immigrants.

Asian immigrants are criticized for using New Zealand to obtain cheap English-language education's for their children. According to critics, Asians with established businesses deposit funds in New Zealand banks, move their families to New Zealand, and then commute to Hong Kong or Singapore, using New Zealand as a "bolt hole." New Zealand, it is alleged, is stuck with educating the children of immigrants who do not intend to integrate.

A recent survey found that more than half of the New Zealanders do not want more Asian and Pacific Island immigrants. Opposition to those from Australia, Britain and South Africa is less, ranging from 15 to 24 percent. The survey found that the elderly and low-income New Zealanders are the least tolerant toward immigrants.

Beginning October 1, 1995, immigrants to New Zealand must post a bond of US$13,000 that is forfeited if the principal immigrant cannot pass an English test, and immigrants entering under the business investment program will have to put at least one-fourth of their funds in a local enterprise, rather than leaving it in certificates of deposit.

"New Zealanders do not want more Asians," Xinhua News Agency, October 28, 1995. Deborah Telford, " NZ stems immigration tide, accused of racism," Reuters World Service, October 12, 1995.

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