Temporary Visa Holders Drive Record 2022-23 Overseas Migration in Australia

Overseas migration added 518,000 people to Australia's population in the 2022-23 financial year, according to data released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Jenny Dobak, ABS head of migration statistics, said: "Although overseas migration was a record high in 2022-23, the cycle of migration has not returned to the pattern seen prior to the COVID-19 pandemic."

"Many potential migrants didn't come to Australia in 2020 and 2021 because of border closures and other pandemic impacts. During this time temporary visa holders recorded the largest declines in arrivals. In 2022-23 the number of migrants arriving on temporary visas has gone up but the number departing has reduced slightly."

"Migrant arrivals went up by 73 per cent compared to a year ago. Migrant departures, on the other hand, fell by 2 per cent and are at the lowest level since 2006-07."

Overseas migration - Australia - year ending(a)

	Migrant arrivals ('000)	Migrant departures ('000)	Net overseas migration(b) ('000)
Jun-13	482.09	-251.76	230.33
Sep-13	484.31	-263.10	221.21
Dec-13	478.68	-270.31	208.38
Mar-14	472.63	-270.44	202.19
Jun-14	464.68	-276.90	187.78
Sep-14	459.84	-276.11	183.74
Dec-14	458.76	-276.41	182.35
Mar-15	460.64	-279.56	181.08
Jun-15	465.25	-281.22	184.03
Sep-15	469.39	-285.16	184.23
Dec-15	473.25	-286.52	186.73
Mar-16	481.33	-285.35	195.98
Jun-16	489.28	-283.04	206.23
Sep-16	507.11	-277.60	229.51
Dec-16	519.65	-275.82	243.83
Mar-17	536.66	-277.08	259.59
Jun-17	540.15	-276.80	263.35
Sep-17	540.06	-280.64	259.43
Dec-17	531.37	-289.71	241.66
Mar-18	527.23	-289.23	238.00
Jun-18	527.52	-289.30	238.22
Sep-18	530.94	-288.62	242.32
Dec-18	534.40	-282.18	252.22
Mar-19	536.60	-285.93	250.67
Jun-19	550.40	-309.06	241.34
Sep-19	566.35	-324.32	242.04
Dec-19	607.87	-360.25	247.62
Mar-20	618.36	-379.11	239.25
Jun-20	506.85	-314.16	192.70
Sep-20	361.95	-286.34	75.61
Dec-20	235.35	-240.32	-4.97
Mar-21	113.00	-207.34	-94.34
Jun-21	146.00	-230.93	-84.94
Sep-21	162.49	-218.63	-56.14
Dec-21	216.11	-209.24	6.87
Mar-22	336.24	-208.35	127.89
Jun-22	426.73	-223.14	203.59
Sep-22	571.41	-229.93	341.48
Dec-22	646.11	-223.88	422.23
Mar-23	694.61	-221.53	473.08
Jun-23	737.17	-219.08	518.09

a. Estimates from September quarter 2022 onwards are preliminary. See revision status on the methodology page.

b. Net overseas migration is calculated by the number of migrant arrivals minus the number of migrant departures.

In 2022-23, 737,000 migrants arrived in Australia. Three out of every four arrivals were on temporary visas (554,000). More than half of the temporary visa holders were international students (283,000), the most common group.

Overseas migrant arrivals by visa and citizenship groups - year ending(a)(b)

	Temporary visas - Student ('000)	Temporary visas - Other(c) ('000)	Permanent visas ('000)	NZ citizens ('000)	Australian citizens ('000)
Jun-13	86.21	157.85	86.76	54.12	77.10
Sep-13	95.29	154.56	91.24	50.08	76.88
Dec-13	99.68	151.71	94.29	45.75	75.81
Mar-14	109.22	143.17	95.68	41.09	74.51
Jun-14	114.33	138.83	94.35	37.77	72.18
Sep-14	119.01	136.86	91.26	35.62	71.65
Dec-14	122.49	136.03	89.29	33.78	71.30
Mar-15	123.53	137.40	90.23	32.57	71.18
Jun-15	122.13	140.80	91.49	31.75	71.68
Sep-15	125.04	142.27	90.67	31.28	72.03
Dec-15	125.98	144.67	89.75	31.47	73.12
Mar-16	129.84	147.69	88.97	32.26	74.23
Jun-16	132.13	149.63	90.59	33.70	75.80
Sep-16	136.59	153.57	97.17	34.88	77.85
Dec-16	137.87	157.90	103.73	34.86	78.67
Mar-17	146.81	161.96	107.41	33.79	79.64
Jun-17	149.41	165.41	106.20	32.33	79.28
Sep-17	152.65	168.58	100.85	31.16	79.20
Dec-17	151.94	169.17	94.47	30.39	78.81
Mar-18	153.79	169.17	90.08	30.37	78.01
Jun-18	157.63	169.68	87.91	30.38	77.16
Sep-18	163.24	169.50	87.10	30.57	76.50
Dec-18	166.64	171.27	85.09	30.84	75.99
Mar-19	167.55	173.96	83.85	30.57	76.02
Jun-19	164.34	186.33	85.39	30.54	78.90
Sep-19	155.54	204.99	86.99	30.36	82.84
Dec-19	150.65	235.20	91.24	30.41	95.02
Mar-20	134.53	253.08	90.84	28.73	106.04
Jun-20	110.44	203.21	70.89	22.22	96.41
Sep-20	64.87	144.46	51.45	15.90	83.39
Dec-20	42.57	75.71	37.35	12.03	66.66
Mar-21	0.78	19.04	27.25	11.15	54.10
Jun-21	1.51	28.06	36.95	16.95	61.37
Sep-21	2.08	34.91	43.18	18.99	61.09
Dec-21	29.21	48.13	55.51	19.16	61.57
Mar-22	102.72	79.71	66.04	21.96	63.03
Jun-22	141.42	124.79	71.10	24.12	62.48
Sep-22	215.62	177.69	78.63	30.02	66.93
Dec-22	237.79	226.55	77.06	35.68	66.36
Mar-23	263.40	250.29	76.04	39.42	62.47
Jun-23	282.57	270.97	79.67	41.32	59.40

a. Estimates from September quarter 2022 onwards are preliminary. See revision status on the methodology page.

b. Does not include unknown visas.

c. Temporary visas - Other, includes temporary skilled, working holiday maker, visitor and bridging visas.

The number of migrant departures in 2022-23, dropped to 219,000 people, down from 223,000 the year before.

"Due to the impact of travel restrictions during the pandemic, many temporary migrants currently living in Australia have only arrived relatively recently and are not yet required to leave. This has resulted in the smaller number of migrant departures in 2022-23.

Before the pandemic there was a constant flow of temporary migrants arriving and departing. This cycle hasn't returned to a regular pattern and has had an upward impact on net overseas migration in 2022-23," said Ms Dobak.

Many of those now arriving on temporary visas, such as international students, may start to leave as they finish their studies in the coming years. This would have a downward impact on net overseas migration in the future.

Overseas migrant departures by visa and citizenship groups - year ending(a)(b)

	Temporary visas - Student ('000)	Temporary visas - Other(c) ('000)	Permanent visas ('000)	NZ citizens ('000)	Australian citizens ('000)
Jun-13	44.95	74.09	18.67	20.06	85.69
Sep-13	44.69	77.88	18.77	21.69	88.75
Dec-13	43.82	82.28	19.14	23.35	90.45
Mar-14	43.76	81.44	19.17	24.38	90.13
Jun-14	44.15	83.61	19.69	25.30	92.18
Sep-14	44.10	84.56	20.06	25.85	92.50
Dec-14	44.63	83.56	20.36	26.38	93.72
Mar-15	44.78	83.14	20.90	26.69	96.92
Jun-15	45.05	83.01	21.28	27.08	97.57
Sep-15	44.59	83.63	21.47	27.55	99.34
Dec-15	43.69	85.19	21.52	27.73	99.52
Mar-16	43.65	85.71	21.24	28.07	98.06
Jun-16	44.11	85.17	20.98	27.64	97.29
Sep-16	44.01	84.03	20.66	26.95	95.77
Dec-16	45.39	82.09	20.44	26.69	94.98
Mar-17	45.46	85.00	20.32	25.96	93.91
Jun-17	46.81	84.41	20.49	25.60	92.56
Sep-17	49.21	83.40	20.63	24.78	91.06
Dec-17	51.74	88.31	20.64	24.15	92.46
Mar-18	53.63	87.76	20.73	23.67	90.95
Jun-18	55.42	88.14	20.59	22.91	89.77
Sep-18	57.35	89.30	20.37	22.67	89.30
Dec-18	59.93	84.75	20.41	21.40	85.48
Mar-19	60.30	86.03	20.88	21.10	87.31
Jun-19	67.44	101.09	21.54	22.41	85.89
Sep-19	74.99	106.05	23.76	22.73	83.73
Dec-19	98.81	113.34	26.96	24.07	83.59
Mar-20	112.06	120.82	29.33	24.87	78.55
Jun-20	100.92	95.91	24.41	20.85	60.39
Sep-20	97.18	90.77	21.06	20.44	50.33
Dec-20	75.10	83.47	17.87	17.41	42.49
Mar-21	62.92	76.40	14.57	15.45	34.96
Jun-21	62.19	84.34	17.93	19.05	44.01
Sep-21	50.70	81.12	18.63	16.00	47.49
Dec-21	37.43	78.88	20.25	14.17	53.27
Mar-22	29.81	72.72	21.82	15.10	62.92
Jun-22	26.87	72.59	23.65	15.23	77.67
Sep-22	21.03	71.51	23.96	17.50	87.01
Dec-22	16.14	66.46	22.01	20.06	90.40
Mar-23	14.52	64.13	21.68	19.28	92.84
Jun-23	14.85	61.54	22.10	17.11	94.44

a. Estimates from September quarter 2022 onwards are preliminary. See revision status on the methodology page.

b. Does not include unknown visas.

c. Temporary visas - Other, includes temporary skilled, working holiday maker, visitor and bridging visas.

The top five countries of birth contributing to net overseas migration in 2022-23, were India, China, the Philippines, the United Kingdom and Australia.

In 2022-23, the median age of migrant arrivals was 27 and for migrant departures it was 33.

/ABS Public Release. This material from the originating organization/author(s) might be of the point-in-time nature, and edited for clarity, style and length. Mirage.News does not take institutional positions or sides, and all views, positions, and conclusions expressed herein are solely those of the author(s).View in full here.

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