The LisNZ was designed to collect longitudinal data in order to understand how well migrants settle over their first three years as residents in New Zealand, and the ways they contribute to New Zealand society and its economy.
The findings from the LisNZ will be used to inform broad immigration policy, particularly in the areas of immigration selection and settlement policies. In addition, the findings will assist a variety of agencies and community groups in developing services for migrants.
The survey interviews migrants at around six months (wave 1), 18 months (wave 2) and 36 months (wave 3) after their residence uptake. The aim is to achieve a sample of around 5,000 migrants at the third interview, allowing for non-response rates and attrition rates.
All the results in the tables represent weighted estimates of migrants or percentages and proportions derived from these.
Survey population and scope
The target population for the LisNZ consists of all migrants (excluding refugees) who were at least 16 years old and were approved for residence in New Zealand from 1 November 2004 to 31 October 2005. These migrants could have already been in New Zealand at the time of residence approval or arrived in New Zealand within 12 months of their residence approval.
The target population excluded temporary visitors and all people from Australia, Niue, Cook Islands, and Tokelau. Migrants from Australia were excluded because they are entitled to enter New Zealand without applying for a residence permit or visa. In addition, migrants from Niue, Cook Islands, and Tokelau were excluded, as people from these countries have automatic rights to New Zealand citizenship. Refugees were also excluded from the target population because their routes to permanent residence, as well as their settlement experiences, are very different from those of migrants.
For practical and operational reasons, the survey population for the LisNZ was restricted to migrants in the target population who were living in the North Island, South Island, or Waiheke Island at the first interview (wave 1), and those who could understand at least one of the designated survey languages (English, Mandarin, Cantonese, Samoan, Korean, Hindi, and Punjabi).
Survey methodology
The survey involves a longitudinal design where the same migrants are interviewed three times over a period of three years.
At wave 1 (six months after residence uptake), a sample of 12,202 migrants was randomly selected to participate in the survey. These migrants are then followed up for interview in waves two and three. Migrants who do not complete an interview in any wave are not followed up in subsequent waves.
Data collection method
The sample of migrants (both onshore and offshore) was selected from 1 November 2004 to 31 October 2005. As offshore migrants can arrive in New Zealand at any time up to 12 months after residence approval, the offshore arrival period is from 1 November 2004 to 31 October 2006. Consequently, the wave 1 interviews occurred between 1 May 2005 and 30 April 2007.
Data for the LisNZ was collected through computer-assisted face-to-face interviews in the respondent’s home. The questionnaire was translated into each of the designated survey languages.
Response rate
Despite all efforts to locate migrants selected for the survey, a number of migrants could not be interviewed. From the 12,202 migrants selected in wave 1, 217 were not eligible to take part in the survey, 145 did not arrive in New Zealand in time and 984 had no initial contact address in New Zealand. Of the remaining 10,856 migrants, 7,137 were interviewed. This corresponds to a 66 percent response rate (formula below).
Most of the ‘non-response’ is due to non-contact (84 %) rather than refusal by respondents (note that the LisNZ is a voluntary survey). Non-contact was particularly high for migrants who were approved offshore, where the response rate was 57 percent, compared with 70 percent for those approved onshore.
Estimation
A basic sampling weight is attached to each migrant to reflect the probability of that migrant being selected in the sample. An initial adjustment is made to the basic sampling weight to account for the retention of a maximum of two migrants per application. Two further adjustments are then applied to account for unit non-response and to benchmark to known population totals.
The weighting classes used for non-response adjustments are based on the strata and type of application. The population totals used for benchmarking are the actual number of migrants for the survey period by sex and age group, obtained from other administrative sources.
Imputation
Imputation was not applied in wave 1 of the LisNZ as the item non-response rate was less than 1 percent for most variables. Item non-response causes incomplete information when answers are not provided to some questions. This will be reviewed in later waves.
Reliability of survey estimates
Two types of error are possible in estimates based on a sample survey: sampling error and non-sampling error. Sampling error is a measure of the variability that occurs because information has been collected from a sample of migrants rather than the entire population of migrants in a given reference period.
Sampling errors have been determined at the residence approval categories. For skilled migrants and family partner migrants the acceptable sampling errors have also been determined at the region of origin. In all cases, the acceptable sampling errors ranged from 1 percent to 8 percent. Specific sampling errors for tables in the report are available on request.
Non-sampling errors include inaccuracies and bias in migrants’ responses during interviews, and errors made during data processing. Statistics NZ applies survey monitoring procedures, such as editing of the data collected from the interviews, to minimise these types of errors but they may still occur and are very difficult to measure.
Rounding
All estimates provided in this release have been randomly rounded to 10 and percentages have been calculated using the rounded figures. Because of rounding the estimated totals may differ from the sum of the individual cells.
Definitions
Application: An individual or group of individuals applying for permanent residence in New Zealand. These individuals (often called migrants or applicants) will typically be members of the same family.
English language ability: English language ability is derived from responses to questions about migrants' language usage and their ability to read, write, speak, and understand English. English was either recorded as a language spoken best, otherwise various questions assessed migrants’ ability to read, write, speak, and understand English (each on a five-point scale). An overall score was derived from the average of the four scores.
Immigration approval category: This refers to the specific immigration policy an applicant is assessed against. People who wish to migrate permanently to New Zealand must apply through one of the following residence streams of the New Zealand Residence Programme (NZRP): the Skilled/Business, Family Sponsored, or International/Humanitarian streams. An application for permanent residence includes the principal applicant and any secondary applicants (for example, a partner and children). All people in the application are approved through the same policy, such as the Skilled Migrant Category (SMC). Each stream has a number of categories (or policies) with specific approval criteria.
The Skilled/Business Stream includes the Skilled Migrant Category (SMC), the Residence from Work categories and the business categories. The main category in this stream is the SMC, which is based on a points-based policy that allows people to gain permanent residence in New Zealand if they have the skills, qualifications and experience to contribute to New Zealand economically and socially. The business categories include the Investor, Entrepreneur and Employees of Relocating Businesses categories.
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The Family Sponsored stream allows New Zealand citizens and residents to sponsor their spouses and partners, dependent children, parents, adult siblings and adult children under certain circumstances. The main category in this stream is the Family Partner category, where applicants must have been living in a genuine and stable partnership for 12 months or more at the time they lodge their application. Sponsors of less dependent relatives (parents, siblings and adult children) must have held New Zealand residence for at least three years.
The International/Humanitarian stream enables New Zealand to fulfil its international obligations and commitments regarding refugees and its special relationship with some Pacific nations, as expressed by the Pacific Access Category and the Samoan Quota.
In the analysis of the LisNZ survey data, migrants applying under various related policies have been grouped together. For example, the Pacific Access Category and the Samoan Quota are referred to as Pacific migrants.
Labour market activity: Labour market activity is measured by categorising migrants as employed, not employed but seeking work, or not employed and not seeking work. The definitions for involvement in the labour force are aligned with, but not identical to, the concepts and definitions used in the Household Labour Force Survey. The LisNZ does not ask standard job search questions or questions about current availability to start work. Therefore, the definitions for labour force activity rates and seeking-work rates used in this report differ from the standard International Labour Organisation definitions for labour force participation and unemployment rates.
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Employed: All individuals in the working-age population who worked for one hour or more per week, either as an employee or in self-employment; or worked without pay for one hour or more in work which contributed directly to the operation of a farm, business or practice owned or operated by a relative; or had a job but were not at work due to own illness or injury, personal or family responsibilities, bad weather or mechanical breakdown, direct involvement in industrial dispute, or leave or holiday.
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Not employed but seeking work: All individuals in the working-age population who were without a paid job and seeking work. Note that this is not the same as the official measure of unemployment derived from the Household Labour Force Survey.
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Labour force: All individuals in the working-age population who were employed or not employed but seeking work.
Not employed and not seeking work: All individuals in the working- age population who were neither employed or actively seeking employment. For example, people who were retired, or had personal or family responsibilities; people attending educational institutions; and people permanently unable to work due to disabilities.
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Working-age population: All individuals aged 16 years and over. This definition differs from the standard International Labour Organisation (population aged 15 years and over).
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Labour force participation rate: Proportion of the working-age migrant population who were working or looking for work, excluding unspecified responses.
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Employment rate: Proportion of the working-age migrant population who were employed or self-employed.
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Seeking-work rate: Proportion of migrants who were looking for work (and who were currently not working) out of all those migrants in the labour force.
Occupation: Responses to the occupation question in the LisNZ have been coded to a 1-digit code using the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO, 2006).
Principal or secondary applicant: The principal applicant is the key person assessed against the policy criteria. Other people in an application (secondary applicants) are also assessed against various criteria. All applicants must meet health and character requirements.
Region of origin: Region of origin is derived from country of nationality/citizenship. For an applicant with dual citizenship, citizenship refers to nationality recorded on the passport used for their residence application. The following regions of origin were derived based on these criteria:
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UK/Ireland: Great Britain, Ireland
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South Africa: South Africa
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North America: Canada, United States of America, US Outlying Islands
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Rest of Europe (includes Russia): European Union 25, Albania, Andorra, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Gibraltar, Iceland, Kosovo, Liechtenstein, Macedonia, Moldova, Monaco, Norway, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Serbia and Montenegro, Switzerland, Ukraine, Vatican City
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North Asia: China, Hong Kong, Japan, Macau, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan
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South Asia: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka
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South-East Asia: Brunei Darussalam, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor Leste, Viet Nam
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Pacific: American Samoa, Fiji, French Polynesia, Guam, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Caledonia, Norfolk Island, Pacific Island Trust Territory, Palau, Pitcairn Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, US Pacific Islands, Vanuatu, Wallis and Futuna
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Other: Countries not stated above.
Sampling unit: An individual migrant, either a principal applicant or secondary applicant, is used for the selection of the LisNZ sample, the collection of data and the analysis of the results from the survey.