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Experiences of Highly Skilled Migrants in New Zealand: Challenges for Professional Integration

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Abstract

Extensive studies have been conducted on skilled and low-skilled workers to estimate the overall impact of immigration on economic growth and competitiveness. Previous researches suggest that immigration of skilled people is more than 10 times as valuable to the economy as the entry of unskilled workers. Despite the positive impression that skilled migrants provide, the academic literature suggests that the experiences of skilled migrants can often be problematic. The main purpose of this paper is to understand the experiences of skilled migrants in New Zealand. The qualitative research explored settlement experiences from the perspectives of migrants to identify the factors that influence settlement outcomes for migrants located in NZ. This study reveals mixed experiences of skilled migrants at their workplaces. Some of the respondents shared positive experiences such as friendly environment and support system while other mentioned about the negatives experiences such as language barriers, overseas qualifications and no recognition of overseas work experiences.

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Correspondence to Adnan Iqbal.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Iqbal, A. Experiences of Highly Skilled Migrants in New Zealand: Challenges for Professional Integration. Glob Soc Welf 4, 191–197 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40609-017-0082-8

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