A small drop in residency approvals

The Herald reports:

It will now be tougher for would-be migrants to gain residency under the skilled migrant and family sponsored categories.

Immigration Minister Michael Woodhouse today announced that there would be fewer residence approvals planned for the next two years to 85,000-95,000, down from 90,000-100,000.

The number of points required for residence will also be raised from 140 to 160 points under the Skilled Migrant Category and the number of places for the capped family categories would be reduced to 2000 per year from 5500.

This is sensible, and even overdue. I’ve been saying for a while that I am very pro-immigration but the numbers we have are putting a strain on infrastructure. This will take the pressure off a bit.

It won’t have a huge impact as the overall net migration is influenced more by the fact fewer NZers are leaving, more Kiwis are returning and more Aussies are moving here. But it will help a bit.