Lawyers say Chinese families will be particularly affected by the Government's new immigration policy.
The new resident setting is being reduced to a limit of 95,000, down from the current 100,000.
The threshold for skilled migrants has been raised by increasing the number of points they must have from 140 to 160, and a temporary cap is being put on new applications under the parent category.
Law Society spokesman Marcus Beveridge says the changes could cull the influx by 10-15,000 people.
He told Andrew Dickens Chinese families could be particularly affected.
He said there's a generation in New Zealand of only-child immigrants, each wanting to bring over both their parents.
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