Contemporary family sponsorship and older parent reunification immigration under New Zealand’s neoliberal immigration regime

A neoliberal immigration regime often takes an “economic” lens to frame and reframe immigration regulation based on a rational cost–benefit analysis of what immigration might bring to immigration-receiving countries. Under such a regime, skilled and business immigration is framed as an “economic” immigration category, which can channel in financial and human capital, while family and international humanitarian immigration is regarded as a “social” immigration category assumed to produce immigrants who are more dependent and not able to bring immediate and direct economic gain for immigrant-receiving countries. In New Zealand (NZ), such a neoliberal trend is very much alive within its contemporary immigration policy development. The paper aims to illustrate the neoliberal trend of NZ immigration policy that relates to the entry of immigrants’ family members, especially the older parents. In order to achieve this goal, a detailed review of the evolving NZ family immigration policy over the last three decades and a descriptive analysis of NZ family immigration intake will be presented. By combining the policy review and descriptive analysis together, the paper can inform a better understanding of how the neoliberal immigration regime has had an impact on the patterns of family immigration in NZ

‘Forced’ family separation and inter-generational dynamics: multi-generational new Chinese immigrant families in New Zealand

In New Zealand (NZ), due to the immigration policy change against family reunifications, many ‘forced’ transnational immigrant families emerged between NZ and other immigration sending countries. Closely tied family members across generations now have limited choice but to live across different national, cultural, and linguistic localities. By taking the new Chinese immigrant families from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the case in point, and based on 45 in-depth interviews with their multi-generational family members, this paper examines how immigrant families adapt to the NZ immigration regime which does not easily accommodate their cultural preference to live as multi-generational families. It also demonstrates the importance of family reunification for immigrant families in NZ, and the changing inter-generational power relations caused by the evolving process of migration and settlement of these families

Stigmatising and Racialising COVID-19: Asian People’s Experience in New Zealand

The Asian community — the second largest non-European ethnic community in New Zealand — plays an important role in combatting the COVID-19 pandemic, evidenced by their active advocation for border control and mass masking. Despite the long history of racial discrimination against the Asian population, the Asian community has experienced certain degrees of racial discrimination associated with the stigmatisation as the cause of the COVID-19 outbreak in New Zealand. Based on data from a quantitative online survey with 402 valid responses within the Asian communities across New Zealand and the in-depth interviews with 19 Asian people in Auckland, New Zealand, this paper will illustrate Asian people’s experience of racial discrimination and stigmatisation during the pandemic in the country. The survey shows that since the outbreak of COVID-19, under a quarter of the participants reported experiencing discrimination, and a third reported knowing an immediate contact who had experienced discrimination. However, when looking beyond their immediate social circle, an even higher proportion reported noticing racism and stigmatisation through the traditional or social media due to COVID-19. Major variations of the degree of racial discrimination experienced are determined by three demographic variables: ethnicity, age, and region. The in-depth interviews largely echoed the survey findings and highlighted a strong correlation between the perceived racial discrimination among the local Asian community and the stigmatisation associated with COVID-19. These findings are important for improving the way we manage future pandemics and other disasters within the context of the UN Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction

A cross-sectional online survey of depression symptoms among New Zealand’s Asian community in the first 10 months of the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has elevated levels of distress and resulted in anti-Asian discrimination in many countries. We aimed to determine the 10-month prevalence of depression symptoms in Asian adults in New Zealand during the pandemic and to see if this was related to experience of racism. An online survey was conducted and a stratified sample of 402 respondents completed the brief Centre for Epidemiological Studies-Depression (CES-D) scale. Analyses included: descriptive statistics, depression scores by age/gender, factor analysis of the 10 item CES-D and partial correlation network analysis of CES-D items together with questions about experience of racism. Results show that half of the sample reported clinically significant symptoms of depression. Depression was higher among younger participants but there was no gender difference. Internal consistency was high (α = 0.85) for the CES-D which revealed a clear two-factor structure. Network analysis suggested that sleeping problems might be the bridge between experiences of racism and depression. The prevalence of low mood was high with clinically significant levels of depressive symptoms. Depression was higher in younger people and had a modest positive correlation with personal experience of racism

Measuring the missing: Knowledge, risk perceptions and self-protection practices of COVID-19 among the Asian population in New Zealand: An online survey

AimAsians are the second largest and fastest growing non-European population in New Zealand but are under-researched in terms of their COVID-19 pandemic response. The paper aims to illustrates Asians’ risk perceptions and knowledge of COVID-19, and self-protection practices to avoid infection and prevent community transmission.Subject and methodsAn online survey was used to collect data and received 402 valid responses. Data analyses included: 1) a descriptive analysis by using Chi-square tests and a Kruskal-Wallis rank sum tests to explore associations between responses and the four demographic variables (i.e. age, gender, country of origin/ethnicity, and region); and 2) a correlation analysis between different survey objectives.ResultsThe descriptive analysis of the survey found that while ethnicity (within the Asian category) was the most influential variable that resulted in varying responses to many questions, gender and age were other two important variables in influencing the answering patterns. The correlation analysis found a positive correlation between the perceived ‘dangerousness’ of COVID-19 and respondents’ overall compliance behaviour to New Zealand authorities’ recommendations to prevent spread of COVID-19.ConclusionThe majority of the respondents provided correct answers to the questions about the vulnerable populations, symptoms, asymptomatic transmission and potential sequelae of COVID-19; however, their understanding of the availability of a cure for, and the incubation period of COVID-19 was not consistent with the official information. The research also found that the higher perceived dangerousness of COVID-19, the better compliance to self-protection practices among the surveyed population

Bold words, a hero or a traitor? – Fang Fang’s diaries of the Wuhan lockdown on Chinese social media

The central Chinese city of Wuhan was the initial epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic and the first city to experience lockdown. The 11 million residents of Wuhan were locked down for seventy-six consecutive days, beginning in late January 2020. Fang Fang, a well-known Chinese writer, as well as a resident of the city published her personal accounts of the lockdown experience in the form of diaries on Weibo and WeChat, two of the most popular Chinese social media platforms. At the beginning, the diaries were well-received by Chinese netizens because of their bold critique of social injustice, corruption, abuse of power, and other sensitive issues in China that deterred the efficient government response to the pandemic. However, soon after the diaries were translated in English and German and published with a fast-track process overseas, Chinese public views towards the diaries drastically swung against it. Many initial supporters turned to express their concerns and suspicions of the intention of the publication. The prevailing opinion was that the writing sabotaged China’s efforts to fight the pandemic and fed into conspiracy theories and wider anti-China political sentiment. The author was criticised as an opportunist and traitor who capitalised on the health crisis to enhance her own credentials. In Chinese social media, a polarised reception of the diaries emerged. This chapter explores how the diaries have provided a rare discursive site for the Chinese public to engage in political deliberations and ideological debate on democratic liberalism and populist patriotism which co-exist in contemporary China. Empirical data includes some key commentary articles1 about the diaries from both sides of arguments that circulated on WeChat and the responses these articles attracted. The chapter also explores some of the lived experiences during lockdown, as described in Fang Fang’s diaries

Ethnic Solidarity in Combating the COVID-19 Threat in New Zealand

In early 2020, when COVID-19 was tearing through China, it was hard to imagine that it would develop into a global pandemic so rapidly and reach New Zealand, a country geographically isolated from most of the world. After the first confirmed case on February 28, 2020, the spread of COVID-19 escalated rapidly with confirmed cases surpassing 1,000 in five weeks, most of them related to international travel. Nevertheless, with a progressive government response, the country took less than one-and-half months to halt COVID-19’s spread. On May 11, a seven-week nationwide lockdown was lifted following two consecutive days of zero new cases. To date, most domestic economic activities have resumed. As of May 25, 2020, statistics suggest that New Zealand’s response to the pandemic is largely successful, as shown by the low confirmed and probable case numbers (1,504) and deaths (21), and the high rate of recovery (1,456) and testing (261,315).1 However, this positive result did not come easily. At the outset, the government’s response to this emerging public health crisis was relaxed and reluctant. This situation started to change during March as evidenced by the enforcement of much tougher border control measures and domestic orders. The specific turning point was 14 March, when the compulsory self-isolation policy for all international arrivals began to be enforced. Since then, New Zealand has been leading the COVID-19 response in Oceania. “Unite against COVID-19” was adopted as a widely used official slogan to combat the pandemic. The slogan implies the determination to unite people across the nation, including ethnic minorities, to eliminate the virus (Cousins, 2020). This essay discusses the driving force behind the changing discourse of the government’s response to the pandemic and the factors that led to its success

A conceptual framework studying transnational immigrant family experiences: The phenomenon of Chinese seasonal parents/grandparents in New Zealand

Despite heightened scholarly attention paid to transnational immigrant families since the 1990s, a systematic analysis framework explaining the formation of these family experiences has been absent. Building on a 3-year qualitative research project (2017–2020) investigating the multigenerational dynamics of new Chinese immigrant families from the People's Republic of China living in New Zealand, through exploring the formation of the seasonal parents/grandparents phenomenon within those families, this paper introduces an analysis framework to systematically interrogate the factors shaping diverse transnational family experiences. The proposed analysis framework builds upon an inclusive paradigm, which allows the future investigation of transnational family experience to trace multilevel impact factors behind its formation (i.e., microlevel family dynamics, mesolevel living environment and macrolevel institutional foundations). Additionally, it also highlights the interactivity of those diverse impact factors within and across different levels, as well as the spatial and temporal dimensions of transnational family lives