Work journeys and entry barriers

Nancy Swarbrick traces migrants from Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur to steadier arrivals in New Zealand from the 1890s. Many worked cutting flax and scrub or digging drains, often intending to return.[1]

Imperial subjecthood did not prevent exclusion. Swarbrick explains that the 1899 immigration restriction required applicants who were not of British birth and parentage to complete an application in a European language. The 1920 amendment required such people to obtain entry permits and allowed Indian immigration to be restricted. Her account also describes a reciprocity principle under which families of established Indian residents could enter. These historical measures affected family arrangements; they were not directed only at Punjabis and should not be confused with current immigration rules.[1]

Settlement through one family’s memories

A Te Ara family account follows Genda Singh and his son Chanan. Genda’s great-grandson Charin Jeet Singh describes scrub-cutting and farm labour, journeys between New Zealand and Punjab, and Chanan’s arrival in 1938.[2]

The account records Chanan returning with family in 1948 and the father and son buying farmland near Wanganui in 1952. This family history connects paid labour, return travel and settlement, without defining every migrant’s experience.[2]

Temporary migration and a closed border

A more recent study examines uncertainty within another migration pathway. Teena Brown Pulu and Asim Mukhtar’s 2022 paper discusses making the Punjabi-language documentary Allow Us Back in 2021. It centred on an online conversation with three temporary visa holders stranded in Punjab, India, after New Zealand’s 2020 border closure, alongside voices from permanent residents in South Auckland. The paper is a reflection on that research, rather than a population survey.[3]

The authors explain how Mukhtar’s own experience as a Pakistani Punjabi migrant helped him connect with participants and advocacy networks. Their account distinguishes temporary study and work visas from permanent residence, and Indian from Pakistani migration histories, while tracing connections through Punjabi language. Its small, deliberately assembled project makes the effects of interrupted mobility visible without establishing every migrant’s situation or any current entitlement to enter New Zealand.[3]

Sources & notes

Source records include access dates and, where known, limits on what was examined. Checks used AI assistance; independent human or specialist review has not been completed.

  1. Nancy Swarbrick, Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Indians ↗national historical encyclopedia · Source date: 2009-03-04; updated 2024-07-01 · Locator: Early immigration: Increasing numbers, Occupations and destinations, Racism and official opposition; 1920s–1930s: Further restrictions. Accessed 2026-11-04.Rechecked the print entry’s immigration sections and the story page’s publication and update dates. Policy descriptions refer to historical law, not current advice. Punjab-specific work is distinguished from wider Indian migration history; this source remains pooled with the embedded family contribution.Return to Work journeys and entry barriers, paragraph 1 ↑Return to Work journeys and entry barriers, paragraph 2 ↑
  2. Charin Jeet Singh, family contributor; Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Genda and Chanan Singh,1950s ↗primary family-history contribution hosted by national encyclopedia · Source date: publication date not established · Locator: Image caption and descendant contribution: Chanan’s 1938 arrival, 1948 family return and 1952 farm near Wanganui; contributor identified as Genda’s great-grandson. Accessed 2026-11-01.Actual full contribution read; family attribution retained. Ranking as twelfth pioneer, firsts, imagined childhood scenes, trauma details and visa assertions excluded. Despite separate authorship, conservatively pooled with Swarbrick’s whole Indians entry; story-page date is not assumed to be this contribution’s publication date.Return to Settlement through one family’s memories, paragraph 1 ↑Return to Settlement through one family’s memories, paragraph 2 ↑
  3. Teena Brown Pulu and Asim Mukhtar. Stuck in India: Punjabi temporary migrants of New Zealand ↗original participatory documentary-research reflection · Source date: 2022 · Locator: Te Kaharoa 15(1), 2022, DOI 10.24135/tekaharoa.v15i1.401; pp. 1–3 methods/background and pp. 5–7 setting/characters. Accessed 2026-11-01.Actual 19-page PDF retrieved and relevant sections read. Film was not viewed, so its method/participants are reported through the paper. Three temporary migrants and four permanent-resident voices are a bounded 2021 project; current population estimates and present immigration advice excluded.Return to Temporary migration and a closed border, paragraph 1 ↑Return to Temporary migration and a closed border, paragraph 2 ↑
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