Record immigration draws criticism from New Zealand lawmakers

Migrants continue to come to New Zealand at a record rate in the year to the end of March, stoking calls that the country was unable to cope with the number of arrivals.

Migrant arrivals numbered 129,500 in the year to March 31, setting a new annual record, said the government statistics agency Wednesday.

Migrant departures were 57,600 in the 12 months to March, leading to a record annual net gain in migration of 71,900, which surpassed the previous annual record net gain of 71,300 migrants in the year to February 28, according to Statistics New Zealand.

Annual net migration has been steadily increasing since 2012.

"This was mainly due to the rising number of migrant arrivals to New Zealand," population statistics senior manager Peter Dolan said in a statement.

"Fewer migrant departures also contributed to the increase in net migration."

Almost three-quarters of all migrant arrivals in the past five years were citizens from other countries, led by Britain and India, which each accounted for 10 percent, and China, which accounted for 9 percent.

The remaining 26 percent of all migrant arrivals in the last five years were New Zealand citizens.

Just over one in three migrant arrivals in the past 12 months came to New Zealand on a work visa.

Opposition lawmakers said infrastructure was struggling to cope with the numbers and job prospects and wages for New Zealanders were also suffering.

The largest city of Auckland, some to a third of the population, was particularly hard hit as almost half of new arrivals of 35,772, decided to settle there, said Andrew Little, leader of the main opposition Labor Party.

"That's 4,500 more people than for the same period the year before and equates to demand for about 12,000 homes alone. Auckland only built around 7,000 homes last year," Little said in a statement.

"We can't continue to bring so many people into our biggest city which is already suffering from traffic congestion, overcrowded schools and soaring house prices."

The government was using immigration to prop up economic growth, while doing little to help 139,000 unemployed people into work, said Winston Peters, leader of the opposition New Zealand First party.

"Instead of sorting out work problems for thousands of Kiwis the government is using migrants to drive down working conditions and artificially inflate GDP (gross domestic product) growth figures," Peters said in a statement.

"The government perpetuates the myth the country needs skilled labor, but most of the new arrivals work in low-skilled, low-paid occupations."

Last week, the government announced higher requirements for residency permits, but opposition lawmakers said the changes were tinkering ahead of the general election in September. Endit