Some new immigrants say employers in New Zealand are discriminating against them with regard to:

• work credentials
• language skills
• religion - if they are assumed to be Muslim

Obtaining jobs that reflected their qualifications and experience was one of the biggest hurdles faced by newly arrived migrants, says Professor Paul Spoonley of Massey University’s New Settlers’ Research Programme.

The researchers obtained their information from focus group discussions in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, with participation by immigrants and refugees from South African, Asian and other ethnic communities.

Many of the migrants in the study said they had expected to find work in this country much more easily than they did.

A frustrated Asian immigrant says he repeatedly received “very nice” replies to his job applications with comments such as “Your CV is interesting, but others who have applied are better than you”. His reaction: “It happens once, it can happen twice, but it cannot happen 100 times !”

Others expressed annoyance that their overseas qualifications were not recognised here and that they had to retrain or undergo further study in New Zealand to gain local qualifications before they were accepted.

The cost of gaining New Zealand qualifications was often prohibitive. An Iraqi refugee and medical doctor said he was not informed when he applied to come here that he would have to sit a New Zealand exam at a cost of $5000 in order to practise medicine.

Others were denied jobs on the grounds they had no New Zealand work experience – a requirement that too often turned into a Catch 22 nightmare.

As one South African immigrant says: “When you have been here for six days and you walk in for a job application and you are asked, ‘Do you have Kiwi experience?’ you are understandably surprised and reply ‘No, because we have been here only six days, but I do have 15 years’ experience in my field’.

“A lot of professions worldwide are the same: if you are a plumber here then you are a plumber anywhere in the world; if you are a pharmacist, you are a pharmacist anywhere in the world. But you are sort of prejudiced against, because you don’t have the experience [in New Zealand] and the only way are going to get that is if you are given the opportunity to do that…I found that to be a huge stumbling block and to this day a lot of migrants coming in get told the same thing.”

While some felt under-valued, under-utilised or ignored when they could have been appointed to positions of responsibility they felt they deserved, others – both professional and tradespeople – reported being perceived as outsiders and excluded from the social networks in their workplace.

Muslims and people of Middle Eastern origin who are not Muslim felt particularly discriminated against in the aftermath of the 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States.

“Some people are making fun of us and saying you are a terrorist or perhaps you are from bin Laden family and you are a Muslim so that makes you a terrorist,” one Muslim refugee said.

Some, including an Afghani refugee, say they try to avoid discrimination by hiding their ethnic identity.

Immigrants also spoke of being discriminated against in terms of access to goods and services, especially housing and education.

The researchers’ suggestions for tackling discriminatory behaviour include:

• Promoting better knowledge and understanding in the host population of new settlers’ backgrounds and culture.
• Promoting equality in access to goods and services through education via the Human Rights and Race Relations Acts.
• Improving communication between New Zealanders and new settlers.

Some experiences encountered by ENZ readers are recounted in Migrants’ Stories.