According to data released by the Australian federal government, India has recently emerged as the top source of immigrants coming to Australia. The country has been a dominant source of immigrants in the recent years despite drop in numbers since 2012-13.
According to Department of Immigration & Border Protection, Australia welcomed nearly 189,000 immigrants in year 2014-15. All these immigrants included people under the family, skill and special eligibility streams. This program did not include refugees, however.
Out of the 189,000 immigrants in 2014-15, there were nearly 35,000 people with their country of origin as India. The next country was China. Though India stands as a clear-cut leader in source of immigrants, the total number has declined from the year 2012-13 when total numbers of Indian immigrants were nearly 40,000.
India was behind China and the United Kingdom for numbers of immigrants in year 2010-11.
Australia’s planned immigration level was set at 190,000 in 2012-13 and the number of immigrants has remained almost steady ever since, until recently when there was a cut of about 10-15% in the total level.
Though India is clearly the top source of immigrants to Australia as of now, we may be up for some surprises in future as the new immigration level has been recently reduced. Let’s wait and watch!
For more information on this, please visit www.sbs.com.au
