1.   Total residence approvals for 2000/01 = 44,598 people

2.   Residence Approvals by Category 2000/01

3.   Residence Approvals By Top Ten Nationalities For 2000/2001

4.   Temporary to Permanent Migration

Fifty-three percent of applications approved for residence in 2000/01 had previously held a student, work or visitor permit at some stage since July 1997.

Residence Policy

People wishing to migrate to New Zealand may gain residence under one of the categories listed in the table below. Residence applications are considered on the basis of whether the “Principal Applicant” meets the policy criteria. The Principal Applicant may include their partner and dependent children in their application. All applicants must meet standard health and character requirements.

Category	Explanation
General skills	A points system linked to a quarterly passmark. To be approved, applicants must gain points for qualifications. Where a person has a job offer, points can be awarded for work experience that has had no relevance to the applicant's qualifications. Where an applicant does not have a job offer, work experience must be relevant to the applicant’s qualifications to gain points. The registration requirement remains for certain professions (e.g. doctors, nurses, teachers). Principal Applicants must be aged between 18 and 55 and meet a minimum standard of English to ensure their English language ability is sufficient to assist them to settle in New Zealand. From 1 March 2000, General Skills category applicants who meet the category requirements in every respect, but need a job offer to reach the passmark, have been allowed to enter New Zealand on a sixmonth Work Permit to search for a job, and start work, pending approval of their residence application.
Investor	This is also a passmark points system, based on age (25-84), business experience, and investment capital. It replaced the Business Investor Category from 29 March 1999. Minimum requirements include an investment of NZ$1,000,000 in New Zealand.
Entrepreneur	Linked to the Long Term Business Visa, this category provides the opportunity of residence for people who have successfully established a business in New Zealand. (The Long Term Business Visa is a multiple-entry Work Visa valid for up to three years, and renewable after that. It is intended for people interested in establishing a business in New Zealand but who may not want to live in New Zealand permanently, and for those who might later apply for residence under the Entrepreneur Category.)
Business Employees	Employees of relocated businesses who do not qualify under other categories can be granted residence on a case-by-case basis.
Family	This category provides an opportunity for people to live in New Zealand if they are married to, or in a de facto or same-sex relationship, with a New Zealander, and, in some cases, for the parents, children, and adult siblings of New Zealanders.
Samoan Quota	Up to 1100 Samoan citizens who have a job offer in New Zealand and who are aged between 18-45 years, may be granted residence each year. From 11 March 1998 applications under this category have been restricted to Samoan citizens born in Samoa, or the children of Samoan citizens born in Samoa.
Refugee	Up to 750 refugees (nominated by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) may resettle in New Zealand in the 1998/99 Financial Year.

Some Residence Requirements Explained

English Language Requirement

Principal Applicants under the General Skills category must meet a specified standard of English to be granted residence. However, from 30 November 1998, the pre-purchase of English Language tuition was introduced as a way for Non-Principal Applicants under the General Skills category, and both Principal and Non-Principal Applicants under the Business categories, to meet the English language requirement. The $20,000 English Language Bond was abolished. The English language requirement for Non-Principal Applicants applies only to those aged 16 and over.

Centre of Gravity Principle

Parents of New Zealand citizens or residents meet Parent policy criteria if a family’s centre of gravity is in New Zealand.
Centre of gravity applies where:

• the principal applicant parent has no dependent children and the number of their adult children resident in New Zealand is equal or greater to those lawfully and permanently in any other single country; or

• the principal applicant has dependent children and the number of their adult children resident in New Zealand is equal or greater to those lawfully and permanently in any other single country and the number of dependent children is equal or fewer than the number of their adult children who are resident in New Zealand.

Alone in Home Country

Parents also qualify for residence if they are alone in their home country. This means that they have no dependent children and all of their adult children are lawfully and permanently outside the country which is the parent’s home country.