Posted on 11/09/2004 2:37:03 AM PST by kattracks
Pacific Rim Bureau (CNSNews.com) - New Zealand immigration authorities report a continuing surge of interest among Americans wanting to move to the "progressive" Pacific Rim nation as a reaction to the conservative trend in U.S. politics.
Similar reports have come from Canada, a more traditional haven for disgruntled Americans.
Visits to the New Zealand Immigration Service (NZIS) website, usually averaging 2,500 a day, peaked at 10,300 last Wednesday, the day President Bush's election victory was confirmed.
"It dropped back to about 6,000 per day for two days and now is running at about 5,000 a day," Don Badman, a Los Angeles-based U.S. marketing director for the NZIS, said Tuesday.
Equally noteworthy has been the increase in the number of telephone and email inquiries to another NZIS marketing director, Terry Murphy, who is based in Portland, Oregon.
Murphy estimated that expressions of interest from Americans wanting to move to New Zealand had picked up by between 200 and 300 percent since last Wednesday.
Growing interest was already evident about two months before the election, he said.
"By that I mean more and more people coming and saying: 'If the political situation goes this way or that way, I'm going to be interested.' "
Murphy said many calls were coming from doctors, nurses, teachers and IT professionals, and from locations across the country.
"It's been coming from even areas of the country where Bush won and are very conservative - Oklahoma for instance, or Georgia."
"You get a few people who are just blowing off steam and who probably need to sit down and think about it. But [apart from those] these are all very attractive immigrants from New Zealand's point of view."
Murphy said prospective immigrants often asked about the political situation in New Zealand, while some already "have a sense that it's progressive relative to the U.S."
Prime Minister Helen Clark's Labor government has taken pains to differentiate its foreign policies from those of neighboring Australia, where conservative Prime Minister John Howard recently won a fourth term.
Wellington has since the mid-1980s been edging away from traditionally warm ties with Washington, and an enduring issue between the two is a ban on visits by nuclear-powered ships, legislated by a previous Labor government.
The nuclear ban severely strained Wellington's relationship with Washington, effectively removing New Zealand from the ANZUS (Australia-New Zealand-U.S.) defense alliance and downgrading its status from "ally" to "friend."
Differences became starker during the Bush administration. Clark's government is a strong supporter of the United Nations and international initiatives repudiated by Bush, such as the Kyoto Protocol on climate change and the International Criminal Court.
While supporting the war on terrorists launched after 9/11 and sending special forces to fight in Afghanistan, it firmly opposed the war against Saddam Hussein, identifying itself instead with the anti-war stance taken by France and Germany.
In contrast, Howard's Australia was a key ally in the Iraq war and participates in the coalition securing and rebuilding Iraq. It is also the only industrialized country apart from the U.S. to have rejected the Kyoto Protocol.
Liberal attractions
Another likely attraction for liberal Americans are recent moves in New Zealand to promote civil unions for same-sex couples. The government is considering a law that will give same-sex partners a range of new "rights" when it comes to guardianship of children.
New Zealand also boasts vocal environmental, anti-globalization and anti-war movements.
Its parliamentary website offers just two media links, and one of them takes users to a left-wing "news service" which carries a range of press releases - but also routinely runs anti-U.S. and anti-Israeli commentary (including this week writings suggesting the U.S. election was a rigged "coup.")
Clark told reporters she welcomed the increase in interest from Americans considering migrating to New Zealand, saying it was considered "very desirable."
The prime minister steered clear of linking the development directly to the election or Bush, however.
"We've been looking as a matter of deliberate policy to the U.S., and particularly the West Coast and the high-tech skills in that area - bearing in mind that the U.S. economy was in a dip and people were looking for possibly a change of lifestyle and opportunities in New Zealand," she said.
There are 15,000-20,000 Americans living in New Zealand, a country of just four million people. In 2002-2003, 2.3 percent of successful applications for residence came from Americans.
New Zealand, like Australia and Canada, is a country actively looking for skilled immigrants.
In Canada, the immigration ministry reported a jump from an average of 20,000 website visits from people in the U.S. to just over 115,000 last Wednesday, before settling to a figure of around three times the norm.
The situation in the Antipodes, where New Zealand is dominated economically, physically and on the world stage by its large neighbor and rival, is frequently compared to the relationship between the U.S. and Canada.
After Australian voters re-elected Howard last month, giving him an expanded mandate and control of both houses of parliament, commentators in that country also raised the idea of unhappy Australian liberals fleeing to New Zealand.
In a satirical column in The Bulletin magazine, Tim Blair wrote: "The malaise among this bunch is so profound, many are threatening in various online forums to leave Australia for New Zealand, which is as close as you can get to committing suicide while still registering a pulse."
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Let me just be the first, BON VOYAGE!
-In a satirical column in The Bulletin magazine, Tim Blair wrote: "The malaise among this bunch is so profound, many are threatening in various online forums to leave Australia for New Zealand, which is as close as you can get to committing suicide while still registering a pulse."-
Lots of good things about NZ but the overriding bad is isolation. It is Canada without the ability to cross the southern border to enjoy a free society.
They once were a plum but are slowly shriveling into a prune. Soon there will be nothing but pit.
Why don't they just leave already & quit moaning about it! Also, anyone leaving over protest to our president, should have their citizenship revoked!
It will break the hearts when they find out there is no such thing as Hobbits.
;-)
the = their
NZ will get sick of Americans among their midst. You know what happens when yuppie dogooders move in. Look at Vt. and NH.
I can only wish them, and any Americans that go to permanently live in New Zealand well.
Relations began to break down after Carol Mosely-Braun was named ambassador..
Promises, promises...
You may think so now, but wait until you get a whole bunch of them over there, protesting and demanding gay rights, increased taxes and more "justice" and social welfare.
Children threatening to run away from home to get attention. Grow up, lefties, or leave. Just stop your whining, already!
"Murphy said many calls were coming from doctors, nurses, teachers and IT professionals, and from locations across the country"
I wonder what kind of doctors they are, abortionists?
I can only wish them, and any Americans that go to permanently live in New Zealand well.
yeah, for most of them, it will be permanent. I know of a friend of a friend that moved there after college -- his wages have been so low for so long that basically, he can't afford to move back to the U.S.
Bon Voyage!
And they have to renounce their American citizenship too. None of this "dual citizen" crap.
Door, Butt, don't want to hear a wap!
But ... but ... don't they have a $20 per hour minimum wage? Arent the streets paved with socialism? Don't they all live in government housing in peace and serenity, without any crime?
Bon Voyage is right! ;)
Sorry man.
Yep. Me too one of my friends in grad school was from NZ ..his salary was ridiculously low when he went back and he had a Phd in Entomology.
,,, that's OK. We've got a labour shortage here presently and so many mosques waiting to be built. We'll keep them busy.
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