New Zealanders are quitting the country in record numbers at the same time as a Government drive to attract more skilled migrants is stumbling.
In the year to March 30, the country experienced its first net annual loss of migrants in nine years.
Now residency approval numbers are set tofall for the third year running.
And a Massey University researcher believes a perception of racism among immigrants unable to get a job may be one cause of the country's flagging ability to boost the population.
Associate Professor Chris Selvarajah, who has carried out studies among Auckland migrants, said high rates of unemployment were causing foreigners to ask why they bothered coming to New Zealand at all.
"When you find you have got no job, no income, the frustration sets in ... and people have to pinpoint something," he said.
"That is when you start picking on an issue - and often it's racism."
The number of immigrants to New Zealand is expected to fall well short of the 38,000 target announced last June, when the Government embarked on its most aggressive bid to attract people since the early 1990s.
In the nine months to March, only 22,101 people had been approved for permanent residency.
If the rate remains steady, the number is unlikely to reach even the 30,678 applications for the year to June 30, 1998.
Latest figures show a drop-off in interest from European and Asian countries.
More than 4800 people moved from Great Britain in 1997-98, but so far this year, only 3110 have come. Chinese immigrants, who numbered 4220 last year, make up 2454 this year.
Announcing the 38,000 target last June, the then Immigration Minister, Max Bradford, said the Government was aiming to boost the number of skilled migrants, and achieve a net gain of 10,000 people a year from permanent and long-term migration.
The latest figures show a net loss of 10,200 people over the 12 months to March.
Long-term arrivals numbered 56,580 while 66,780 departed in the first net loss of migrants since 1990, when there was an annual net loss of 4020.
