New Zealand has gained over 20,000 permanent and long term (PLT) migrants during 2009, resulting in the biggest influx of migrants since 2004.
A net 2,501 PLT migrants arrived in the country during the month of November, while departures fell 27% during the same month. Arrivals fell a mere 2.4%, not enough to bring down the final net figures for the year.
In total, there were 20,021 arrivals in the 12 months to November, a number that is up from 3,569 in the year to November 2008.
New Zealand hadn’t experienced such a significant influx of PLT migrants since July 2004, according to figures from Statistics New Zealand.