The net immigration in the country of Kiwis plummeted to an eighteen-month low in May, which has led the people think if the country is less preferred destination for immigration to live in! Over the last month, a total of 250 permanent and long-term migrants entered the country, says the Statistics New Zealand. The figure marked the lowest arrivals since November 2008.

Similarly, the country’s yearly immigration also declined immensely. Reason behind the decline is fewer people arriving from the UK and Europe, which usually happen to be the major sources of migrants for New Zealand. The number of people leaving New Zealand for Australia had grown to 1,693 last month, from 1,241 in the same month of 2009.

Besides, the number of tourists to New Zealand also went down 0.4 percent to 141,300 in May, as compared to the same month of 2009. Along, visitors from Australia, New Zealand’s major source of tourists, dropped 5 percent, while the number of visitors from the UK went down 15 percent. Visitors from China, Japan and South Korea surged 45 percent, thanks to the HINI flu pandemic that occurred last year, which had wrecked the travel demand world, said country’s government statistics officials.

However, it is also observed that while migrants are no more preferring Australia as one their favorite destinations, owning to many reasons, including racial discrimination, New Zealand, being Australia neighboring country is gaining the former’s prospective migrants of late. If you are considering immigrating to the Kiwi land, you can seek the professional help of an Immigration and Visa consultant!