3,000 immigrant parents left behind in NZ  

报告称近3000移民将父母独自留新西兰 多来自中国

新西兰移民局公布的最新数据显示，如今，已有近3000名通过“父母移民”类别担保父母取得新西兰身份的外族移民选择了离开新西兰。其中，31%来自中国，13.7%来自印度，4.9%来自南非，4.4%来自英国。

(ECNS) -- Statistics showed that increasing numbers of elderly immigrant parents sponsored by their children under a family reunification program are being left to fend for themselves in New Zealand, NZ Herald reported.

Nearly 3,000 people who brought their parents to New Zealand under the parent category are no longer in the country. About a third of the sponsors are from China (31 percent), followed by migrants who obtained New Zealand citizenship (20.3 percent), and those from India (13.7 percent). Other significant groups include South Africans (4.9 percent) and Britons (4.4 percent), according to Immigration New Zealand.

China has been the largest source country for immigrants approved through the parent category, making up 47 percent last year.

Four in 10 Chinese who gained permanent residency in 2011-12 were 50 or older.

According to NZ Immigration's "centre of gravity" rule, parents could be sponsored if the number of adult children living in New Zealand is equal to or exceed those in any single country.

It was not uncommon for immigrants to seek the best options and "make the most" of what a country offered, said Paul Spoonley, a sociologist at Massey University.

"Brits would consider things like the ease of transfer of their UK pension, and for the Chinese, availability of care for the elderly is important," Spoonley said.

New Zealand's Immigration Minister Michael Woodhouse said he did not believe it was a widespread trend for sponsors to leave their parents behind.

"In the minority of cases where a parent decides to stay behind, there could be very good reasons," Woodhouse said. "They may have other children and family in New Zealand, their sponsor may only be away temporarily and planning to return, [or] the parent could even have found a New Zealand partner."

Woodhouse said the policy goal for the parent category was to entice more skilled immigrants and entrepreneurs "by providing a pathway for family reunification."