28 Jun 2010

UK immigration limit should not affect many NZers

4:46 pm on 28 June 2010

New Zealanders are likely to be largely unaffected by a crackdown on immigration into Britain.

Britain is proposing a temporary limit on the number of non-European Union migrants ahead of a permanent cap being introduced next April.

The aim is to block an influx ahead of the cap, and is expected to cut immigration numbers by 5%.

Details have not yet been finalised, but the crackdown is not expected to affect New Zealanders because it not aimed at people on working holidays nor those with an ancestral right to move to the UK.

The British High Commission in Wellington says the proposal will apply only to people formally emigrating to the UK. The office handled 771 such applications last year.

Further information will be released shortly.