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NZ immigration websites have been hit by thousands of visits from US citizens since the Supreme Court’s decision on abortion law.
The Court struck down a 50 year old decision (called Roe v. Wade). That decision legalised abortion on a federal basis. The upshot is individual states can now ban the procedure.
Since the Supreme Court decision, one of New Zealand’s the two main government websites has recorded a 443 percent increase in visits from the United States.
Immigration New Zealand (INZ) said it recorded 45,235 US visits to ‘New Zealand Now’ in the last week.This contrasts significantly to the 8319 visits recorded from April 19 to 25.
The NZ immigration website views combined with those for INZ reached 77,000 last week – almost four times the number in April.
‘New Zealand Now’ is a government website managed by INZ.
“It focuses on providing information for people interested in moving to New Zealand to work or invest”, INZ says.
Analysis through Google shows the search term Immigration New Zealand peaked in America on 25 June. At that time, Americans were digesting the news that the new ruling made access to abortions virtually impossible in at least 18 states.
Radio New Zealand says the recent spike in interest in NZ immigration websites isn’t without precedent. It is still below the tracking numbers of ‘move to New Zealand’ registered when Donald Trump was elected president.
That spike in interest was followed by a jump in US investors and migrants.
Immigration NZ notes the recent increase in website numbers, plus repeat visitors, do not reflect visa applications that have been made. Nor do they reflect people actually moving here.
The Trump and Brexit votes, both in 2016, were however followed by increases in work and residence visa applications.
After the 2016 presidential vote, Britain and the United States accounted for more visits to the Immigration website than the next 13 countries combined – including China and India.
A recruitment agency says it is has been flooded with inquiries from US doctors wanting to come here following the abortion ruling. Many GPs and obstetricians are among those making inquiries.
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