Statistics

We gather statistics on how many people leave New Zealand, and on those who come, the reason for their visits, and if they come as residents and how well they settle in New Zealand.

You can get immigration data using our Migration Data Explorer or by downloading the statistics files.

Migration Data Explorer

The Migration Data Explorer is a tool that lets you explore immigration data. It replaced the annual Migration Trends report.

Migration Data Explorer — Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment

To protect personal information, we use random rounding to base 3. This is best practice from StatsNZ. It means figures can be different to previously published data.

Data confidentiality principles and methods report — Stats NZ

Statistics files for download

Note

You can get detailed statistics using the Migration Data Explorer.

Applications recorded as declined

Most of the applications we declined did not meet the requirements of the visa.

We also declined some applications for administrative reasons, including:

  • the applicant withdrew the application
  • we replaced the application with a new application
  • we made a data error and an application record was created by mistake.

In the 2022/23 financial year, we assessed about 3,200 applications for parent and grandparent visitor visas under the general visitor criteria. This is because of issues with processing the original applications. These applications are recorded as declined under the parent and grandparent visa but were processed as general visitor visas.

Only about 70 applications for parent and grandparent visitor visas were declined between 1 July 2022 and 31 January 2023 because they did not meet the requirements of the visa.

Commonly requested statistics in Excel files

We are providing the most requested statistics in Excel files, to help you find this information quickly.

Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV) XLS 874KB

Arrivals and departures

Arrivals by month PDF 247KB

All departures by month PDF 215KB

Limited purpose

Limited purpose applications decided by financial year PDF 803KB

Refugee

Refugee and protection statistics PDF 421KB

  • Refugee and protection claims
  • Refugee quota and settlement
  • Refugee family support category

Resident

Resident decisions by financial year PDF 2MB

Occupation and region for SMC/General Skills principal applicants PDF 1MB

Resident applications accepted by financial year PDF 566KB

Resident applications on hand by month PDF 1MB

Returning resident visas PDF 913KB

Student and work

Student applications decided PDF 1MB

First-time students PDF 350KB

Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme arrivals PDF 280KB

Work applications decided PDF 2MB

Note

8 November 2023: ‘Work applications approved by occupation’ has been removed while we review the accuracy of the data. 

Visitor

Visitor applications decided PDF 2MB