Longitudinal Immigration Study of New Zealand - Wave 2 (2008)

Survey population and scope The target population for the LisNZ consists of all migrants (excluding refugees) who were at least 16 years old and were approved for residence in New Zealand from 1 November 2004 to 31 October 2005. These migrants could have already been in New Zealand at the time of residence approval or arrived in New Zealand within 12 months of their residence approval. The target population excluded temporary visitors and all people from Australia, Niue, Cook Islands, and Tokelau. Migrants from Australia were excluded because they are entitled to enter New Zealand without applying for a residence permit or visa. In addition, migrants from Niue, Cook Islands, and Tokelau were excluded, as people from these countries have automatic rights to New Zealand citizenship. Refugees were also excluded from the target population because their routes to permanent residence, as well as their settlement experiences, are very different from those of migrant. For practical and operational reasons, the survey population for the LisNZ was restricted to migrants in the target population who were living in the North Island, South Island, or Waiheke Island at the first interview (wave 1), and those who could understand at least one of the designated survey languages (English, Mandarin, Cantonese, Samoan, Korean, Hindi, and Punjabi). Survey methodology The survey involves a longitudinal design where the same migrants are interviewed three times over a period of three years. Individual migrants (as opposed to household units), are used for the selection of the LisNZ sample, the collection of data, and the analysis of the results from the survey. The survey was designed to produce estimates for several subpopulations defined by immigration approval category and region of origin. It was estimated that 5,000 completed interviews in wave 3 would produce estimates of the required accuracy. A large initial sample was required to achieve this target and a stratified systematic random design was used to achieve this. A sample of 12,202 migrants was randomly selected to participate in the survey. The migrants that were interviewed at wave 1 were then followed up for interview in wave 2. Response rate Despite all efforts to locate migrants selected for the survey, a number of migrants could not be interviewed. From the 12,202 migrants selected for the first wave, 217 were not eligible to take part in the survey, 145 did not arrive in New Zealand in time and 984 had no initial contact address in New Zealand. Of the remaining 10,856 migrants, 7,137 were interviewed at wave 1. This corresponds to a 66 percent response rate. Most of the ‘non-response’ at wave 1 was due to non-contact (84 percent) rather than refusal by respondents (note that the LisNZ is a voluntary survey). Non-contact was particularly high for migrants who were approved offshore, where the response rate was 57 percent, compared with 70 percent for those approved onshore. Of the 7,137 migrants interviewed for the first wave, 6,156 were interviewed at wave 2. This corresponds to an 86.3 percent response rate. Of the 981 non-responses at wave 2, 79.0 percent were due to non-contact, 17.6 percent to refusal, and the remaining 3.4 percent to other reasons. en-NZ