Sustaining and creating migration chains among skilled immigrant groups: Chinese, Indians and South Africans in New Zealand

The concept of chain migration has played a central role in the study of international migration over several decades. Recent developments in the ease of movement and international transmission of information may have made the social networks that are at the heart of such migration redundant, especially for skilled individuals and their households. To investigate this claim, a small panel study of recent migrants to New Zealand from China, India and South Africa is used to explore both the importance of social networks in promoting their moves and their subsequent involvement in encouraging and assisting family and friends to join them. The findings show that most of their moves did not involve the typical chain migration process, but the participants who remained in the study for the full five years assisted on average 1.25 others to move to New Zealand also.