OPINION: Labour leader Andrew Little has promised to cut up to 50,000 immigrants a year by "going after work visas".

The problem is - there were only 43,025 work visas issued last year. The promise to turn away "tens of thousands" of immigrants is in a bid to ease pressure on housing and infrastructure, and free up jobs for Kiwis.

It’s tough talk - but delve into the immigration figures and it gets a lot more complex. It is not as easy as simply turning off the tap.

In fact, it may not be possible without having a major diplomatic and economic impact.

What Andrew Little is proposing



He told The AM Show’s Duncan Garner that he wants annual net migration to be between 20-25,000 people. In the year to February 2017, net migration was 71,333, so to achieve his target he needs to cut back the number of immigrants by between 46,333 - 51,333. He says the bulk of those cutbacks will come from the work visa category.

Breaking down the latest immigration figures

The key figure to show immigration inflow is what’s called "net migration".

In the year to February 2017 it was 71,333 people - roughly the same size as the population of New Plymouth.

This figure is calculated by subtracting the number of permanent and long term departures (57,483) from the number of permanent and long-term arrivals (128,816).

A breakdown of the visas: