Fact Sheet 2 - Key Facts in Immigration
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2008-09 Humanitarian Program
As a member of the international community, Australia is committed to sharing the responsibility for protecting refugees worldwide and resolving refugee situations through the system of international protection. A key element of this commitment is Australia’s Humanitarian Program, which provides resettlement to people overseas in humanitarian need and protection to people who arrive in Australia and are determined to be refugees.
See: Fact Sheet 60 Australia’s Refugee and Humanitarian Program
In 2008-09 the Humanitarian Program has increased to 13 500 places, which comprises two main categories:
- A total of 6500 places have been allocated to the Refugee category, which is for people who are subject to persecution in their home country and who are in need of resettlement. This includes 500 places which have been set aside specifically for Iraqi refugees.
- A total of 7000 places have been allocated to the Special Humanitarian Program (SHP) category, for people outside their home country who are subject to substantial discrimination amounting to gross violation of human rights in their home country; and to meet Onshore Protection needs. Onshore Protection visas are granted to those assessed as refugees within Australia.
The focus for the 2008-09 Humanitarian Program will be people from Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
In 2007-08, a total of 13 014 visas were granted under the Humanitarian Program. 6004 visas were granted to people in the Refugee category, including 819 Woman at Risk visas. In addition, 4795 SHP visas were granted to people offshore. A total of 2215 visas were granted to people onshore, including 1900 initial Protection visa grants.
Visitors
Between July 2007 and June 2008 a total of 3 609 928 Visitor visas were granted offshore.
In 2006-07, 3 627 803 were granted.
In 2006-07 international visitors to Australia generated tourism export earnings of $22.4 billion, amounting to 10.4 per cent of Australia’s total export earnings (Tourism Industry Facts and Figures at a Glance June 2008; published by the Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism).
Statistics on the number of Visitor visas granted to the major nationalities of visitors to Australia from 2003-04 to 2007-08 are available.
See: Visitor visa statistics
Working Holiday
The Working Holiday program allows young people to experience Australian culture and lifestyle through an extended holiday and incidental employment, with special focus on regional Australia.
The program is an integral part of Australia's tourism industry and also supports the Australian economy by providing supplementary labour for industries requiring short-term casual workers.
See: Fact Sheet 49 Working Holiday Program
Working and Holiday
The Work and Holiday program is similar to the Working Holiday program, except that Work and Holiday visa applicants must provide a letter of approval from their government agreeing to their stay in Australia, hold tertiary education qualifications and functional english.
See: Fact Sheet 49a Work and Holiday Program
Temporary Residence
The Temporary Residence program is designed to help Australian employers recruit skilled workers from overseas on a temporary basis. It also provides for the entry of people who can contribute to our cultural or international relations, such as working holiday, entertainers and sportspeople.
See: Fact Sheet 47 Temporary Residence in Australia
Overseas Students
The student visa program enables overseas students to come to Australia to undertake full-time study in registered courses. A total of 278 184 student visas were granted in 2007-08.
See: Fact Sheet 50 Overseas Students in Australia
Professional Development Visa Program
The Professional Development visa allows overseas professionals, managers, and government officials to enter Australia to undertake tailored professional development training programs that are primarily classroom-based.
In 2007-08, 11 sponsorship applications and 604 visa applications were granted.
See: Fact Sheet 51 Professional Development visa
Occupational Trainee visa program
Occupational training is a supervised training program that is workplace based rather than classroom based and is designed specifically to increase the visa holder's skill level in their occupation, field of study or expertise.
In 2007-08, 5437 occupational trainee visas were granted.
See: Fact Sheet 52a Occupational Trainee Program Visa
Settlement programs
The department funds a range of settlement services aimed at assisting approved migrants and humanitarian entrants. These services focus on building self–reliance, developing English language skills and fostering connections with mainstream services as soon as possible after arrival in Australia.
See: Fact Sheet 96 Eligibility for Settlement Services
Boat people
Unauthorised boat arrivals are those people who arrive in Australia by sea without the correct documentation. In 2004-05 there were no unauthorised boat arrivals. This compares to 82 unauthorised boat arrivals on three boats in 2003-04.
Overstayers
The number of visa overstayers in Australia at 30 June 2008 was estimated to be around 48 500 (0.89 per cent of all visa arrivals for the same period). This is a slight increase on previous estimates of 46 500 at 30 June 2007 (0.94 per cent of all visa arrivals for the same period), 46 400 at 30 June 2006 (0.98 per cent of all visa arrivals for the same period) and 47 800 at 30 June 2005 (1 per cent of all visa arrivals for the same period).
As at 30 June 2008, visitor visa holders comprised the greatest number of overstayers at approximately 40 800, followed by student visa overstayers at approximately 3500 and temporary resident visa overstayers around 2400.
Approximately 62 per cent of recorded overstayers are male and 38 per cent are female. The largest age group of overstayers are 41-50 years of age, followed by 31-40 years of age.
At 30 June 2008, the largest number of overstayers were from the United States of America (approximately 4900), Peoples Republic of China (approximately 4900), United Kingdom (approximately 4200) and Malaysia (approximately 3200).
To a certain extent, this ranking reflects the fact that many of these countries are also the source of the biggest numbers of arrivals to Australia.
Further information is available on the department's web site.
See: www.immi.gov.au
The department also operates a national telephone service inquiry line.
Telephone: 131 881
Hours of operation: Monday to Friday from 9am to 4pm (recorded information available outside these hours) for the cost of a local call anywhere in Australia.
Fact Sheet 2. Produced by the National Communications Branch, Department of Immigration and Citizenship, Canberra.
Revised September 2008.
© Commonwealth of Australia 2008.