Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) reveals that over half of Australia’s permanent migrants are now citizens

ABS, migrants, skilled migrants, visas,

March 30, 2023

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New statistics released by ABS show that 59% of Australia’s 3 million recent permanent visa holders are now Australian citizens.

More than half (59%) of Australia’s 3 million recent permanent migrants are Australian citizens. This is according to new statistics released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) about the characteristics of permanent migrants who have arrived in Australia between 1 January 2000 and 10 August 2021.

Jenny Dobak, ABS head of migrant statistics said: “Today’s data release on recent permanent visa holders tells us that the majority are now Australian citizens, with those on a Skilled visa the mostly likely to have become Australian citizens (64 per cent), followed by those on a Humanitarian visa (61 per cent).”

Ms Dobak noted today’s release also offers new insights into permanent migrants’ visa history.

“We can see the majority of permanent migrants were granted a permanent visa as their first visa (1.7 million or 58 per cent),” Ms Dobak said. This was higher for Humanitarian migrants (93%), and those on Family visas (75%).

“1.3 million permanent migrants were first granted a temporary visa before becoming a permanent migrant – most commonly a Temporary Student visa.”

First visa type	Skilled(%)	Family(%)	Humanitarian(%)	All permanent migrants(c) (%)
Temporary Skilled	21.9	1.7	0.3	13.4
Temporary Student	25.8	12.8	3.7	19.6
Temporary Working Holiday Maker	4.4	8.8	0.1	5.4
Temporary Other	2.7	1.6	3.2	2.4
Special Category (New Zealand Citizen)	2.1	0.6	0.0	1.4
Permanent visa	43.2	74.6	92.6	57.9
Total	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0

 

The majority (71%) of permanent migrants were employed. This figure was higher for Skilled migrants (81%).

“In terms of top occupations, 10 per cent of migrants from the Family visa stream and 14 per cent of migrants from the Humanitarian visa stream were employed as Carers and Aides.”

“For migrants from the Skilled visa stream, the most common occupation was as Business, Human Resource and Marketing Professionals at 10 per cent,” Ms Dobak said.

Occupation	Persons	Proportion (%)(b)
Business, Human Resource and Marketing Professionals	158,500	8.2
Specialist Managers	148,100	7.7
Health Professionals	147,400	7.7
Carers and Aides	135,200	7.0
ICT Professionals	107,500	5.6
Design, Engineering, Science and Transport Professionals	85,600	4.5
Sales Assistants and Salespersons	79,500	4.1
Hospitality, Retail and Service Managers	73,900	3.8
Education Professionals	62,000	3.2
Numerical Clerks	58,100	3.0

Source: © Commonwealth of Australia

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