Migrants' settlement experiences and community attitudes toward migrants and immigration
We survey recent migrants about their experiences of life in New Zealand and report on their settlement outcomes. We also survey New Zealanders about their perceptions of migrants and immigration to better understand community attitudes.
On this page
Migrant Survey
The purpose of the annual Migrant Survey is to better understand migrants’ settlement experiences, sense of belonging, and satisfaction with life in New Zealand. The survey also monitors labour market outcomes, including experiences of unfair treatment at work and adverse employment conditions.
The page at the link below presents some key results from MBIE’s 2021 and 2022 Migrant Surveys.
Summary results from the 2021 & 2022 Migrant Surveys
Settling in New Zealand summarises survey findings from 2015 to 2019.
Settling in New Zealand: Migrant survey trends from 2015 to 2019 [PDF 578KB]
Community Survey
The primary objective of the Community Survey is to understand and monitor New Zealanders’ attitudes towards, and their perceptions of, migrants and immigration, including:
- overall attitudes towards migrants in New Zealand
- perceptions of the contribution migrants make to New Zealand’s economy, productivity, culture, and society
- attitudes towards immigration in general, and specifically its effect on New Zealand’s culture, crime, and employment.
The research reports below present findings from the 2019 and 2021 Community Surveys and include some trend data from the previous surveys.
Settlement experience of Pacific migrants in New Zealand
Motu Economic and Public Policy Research was commissioned to deliver research on the long-term settlement outcomes for Pacific migrants in New Zealand.
The study addressed 3 main topics:
- what settlement outcomes have Pacific migrants experienced in New Zealand
- what types of Pacific migrants have had more desirable settlement outcomes
- what personal characteristics and early experiences in New Zealand are associated with successful labour market integration in the long term.
The research uses the Longitudinal Immigration Survey New Zealand (LISNZ) and Statistics NZ’s Integrated Data Infrastructure to focus on differences in outcomes between migrants from different Pacific countries who gained residence approval under different visa types.
Key findings
Pacific migrants interviewed in LISNZ faced a number of challenges to becoming successful and settled in New Zealand, including limited English and low education, which may have caught many in low-paying or part-time work and made them particularly vulnerable to economic conditions.
Although most reported good health and generally positive non-economic outcomes in New Zealand, a number of their outcomes on these dimensions grew worse over their first 3 years after residence approval. The reasons for these declines are not wholly clear and could be investigated in future research.
Findings from this research will contribute to building a picture of Pacific migrant settlement outcomes in New Zealand and challenges faced by these migrants.