Immigration
Korea is divided into two countries: the Communist north and the democratic south. Only a handful of North Koreans have arrived in New Zealand; almost all the Korean immigrants have come from South Korea.
Korean people began coming to New Zealand comparatively recently: the first census record was in 1966. Until the early 1990s few others arrived and the population remained below 1,000.
A change in policy
Following a review of immigration policy in 1986, a new act in 1987 changed the rules about who could enter New Zealand. Rather than discriminating by country of origin, the requirements emphasised economic, social and humanitarian factors. In 1991 the government introduced a points system for professional and business migrants, and set yearly immigration targets. Unlike the old policy, the points system was not based on a list of preferred occupations. These changes allowed thousands of South Koreans to emigrate over the following decade. They mainly arrived in two waves: in the early to mid-1990s and in the early 2000s.
The 1990s boom
In the decade from 1991 New Zealand’s Korean population increased 20-fold, from 930 to 19,026. This rapid growth reflected not only the immigration policy changes, but also a booming Korean economy, which allowed many to accumulate the capital required to emigrate. In 2003, 48 million people were crammed into South Korea, a land area smaller than the North Island of New Zealand. With the pressures of life in the teeming capital of Seoul and other cities, and the competitive nature of the Korean education system, many middle-class people looked overseas for a lifestyle change.
However, arrivals dropped after 1995, when New Zealand introduced an English-language test as a condition for immigration. This discouraged many Koreans from applying. In addition, an economic crisis in Korea in 1997 reduced the relative wealth of many prospective immigrants, making it harder for them to leave.
Where the grass is greener
In 2002 economist Inbom Choi told a Seoul conference what was behind the recent wave of Korean migration:
‘Korea’s highly competitive educational system is driving these people from their homeland. They would rather raise their children in an easy-going, environmentally cleaner, less expensive and English speaking educational system.’ 1
The early 2000s wave
The New Zealand government’s long-term business immigration scheme stimulated a second wave of Korean immigrants in the early 2000s.
Immigration patterns
Some Koreans returned home, while others used New Zealand as a stepping stone, usually to Australia. Still others were dubbed ‘astronaut families’, where the husband returned to work in Korea, remitting money and occasionally visiting his wife and family in New Zealand.
New Zealand’s immigration policy is the main factor influencing the number of arrivals, and therefore the size of the country’s Korean community. On the other hand, a lack of job or business opportunities in New Zealand’s small economy, coupled with some hostility and racism towards Asians, has hampered their adjustment to their new home. Some Koreans were attracted back to their homeland for employment opportunities.
In 2003 there were some 15,000 Koreans studying in New Zealand, and the country was still a popular immigration, tourist and student destination for Koreans.
Footnotes
- Simon Collins, ‘Koreans embrace lifestyle change.’ Weekend Herald, 26–27 October 2002, p. B7. › Back
