NET OVERSEAS MIGRATION

Net overseas migration (NOM) is the net gain or loss of population through immigration to Australia and emigration from Australia. Data provided by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) are used by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) to calculate the official NOM estimates each quarter.

In 2015-16, NOM increased from the previous year, recording an end of financial year estimate of 182,200 persons, which was 3.0% (5,300 persons) more than in 2014-15 and 1.0% (1,800 persons) more than the dip experienced in 2010-11 when NOM added 180,400 persons to Australia for the year.In 2015-16, NOM contributed the greatest number of people to the most populous states: New South Wales with a net increase of 71,200 persons, followed by Victoria (65,000 persons), Queensland (20,000 persons) and Western Australia (13,600 persons). Northern Territory had the lowest net increase with 400 persons (see Table 2.2). For the most up-to-date official estimates of NOM by state and territory produced by the ABS see Australian Demographic Statistics (cat. no. 3101.0). For the most up-to-date forecasts of NOM produced by DIBP see The Outlook for Net Overseas Migration at: http://www.border.gov.au/about/reports-publications/research-statistics/statistics

2.2 NOM Selected characteristics - State & territory - 2015-16(a)
	NOM		NOM ARRIVALS			NOM DEPARTURES
			Overseas arrivals	Median age	Sex ratio(b)	Overseas departures	Median age	Sex ratio(b)
State or territory	no.	%	no.	years	ratio	no.	years	ratio
NSW	71 161	39.1	170 959	26.6	96.6	99 798	29.3	100.1
Vic.	65 007	35.7	138 000	25.5	95.6	72 993	28.7	99.9
Qld	20 019	11.0	81 994	26.1	93.6	61 975	28.3	99.6
SA	9 163	5.0	21 573	25.7	96.2	12 410	28.1	102.9
WA	13 640	7.5	52 694	26.8	99.8	39 054	29.2	109.4
Tas.	1 143	0.6	3 885	26.8	98.5	2 742	29.0	102.4
NT	420	0.2	5 560	27.6	112.4	5 140	28.9	153.7
ACT	1 607	0.9	7 993	26.1	98.2	6 386	29.3	102.3
Australia(c)	182 165	100.0	482 665	26.2	96.3	300 500	28.9	102.0
(a) Estimates are preliminary - see paragraph 9 of the Explanatory Notes.
(b) Males per 100 females.
(c) Includes Other Territories.

An individual's actual travel behaviour and associated characteristics including visa type are only available from final NOM data as these can only be accurately determined at the end of the 16 month reference period following a traveller's initial border crossing.

The DIBP manages and grants visas each year in accordance with relevant legislation government planning and policy. It is important to note that there is a difference between when and how many visas are granted by DIBP; and when and how they may impact on NOM and therefore Australia's estimated resident population (ERP). For example for many visas there can be a lag between a visa being granted and the actual use of that visa by the applicant on entering Australia. Also some travellers who have been granted permanent or long-term temporary visas may end up staying in Australia for a short period of stay or not at all. In addition travellers may also apply for and be granted a different visa whilst in Australia or overseas. However without an additional border crossing within the reference quarter to capture a traveller's change of visa the NOM system is unable to show these occurrences.

Table 2.3 shows a breakdown of the types of visa groups which have contributed to final NOM. It shows that temporary visa holders are the main contributors to NOM in the 2014-15 financial year.

2.3 NOM by major groupings and visa(a) - Australia - 2014-15
		NOM ARRIVAL		NOM DEPARTURE		NOM
Major groupings and visa		no.	%	no.	%	no.	%
Temporary visas		266 715	56.5	134 896	46.0	131 819	73.8
	Vocational education and training sector	11 225	2.4	8 750	3.0	2 475	1.4
	Higher education sector	85 179	18.0	25 371	8.6	59 808	33.5
	Student other	25 950	5.5	11 025	3.8	14 925	8.4
	Temporary work skilled (subclass 457)	31 837	6.7	21 582	7.4	10 255	5.7
	Visitor(b)	52 855	11.2	15 414	5.3	37 441	21.0
	Working holiday	51 885	11.0	28 582	9.7	23 303	13.0
	Other temporary visas	7 784	1.6	24 172	8.2	-16 388	-9.2
Permanent Visas		92 044	19.5	21 545	7.3	70 499	39.5
	Family	32 367	6.9	6 231	2.1	26 136	14.6
	Skill	42 344	9.0	8 758	3.0	33 586	18.8
	Special eligibility and humanitarian	11 740	2.5	152	0.1	11 588	6.5
	Other permanent visas	5 593	1.2	6 404	2.2	-811	-0.5
New Zealand citizen (subclass 444)		31 874	6.8	27 652	9.4	4 222	2.4
Australian citizen		72 646	15.4	98 825	33.7	-26 179	-14.7
Other(c)		8 694	1.8	10 473	3.6	-1 779	-1.0
Total		471 973	100.0	293 391	100.0	178 582	100.0
(a) The visa category information in this table represents the number of visas based on the visa type at the time of a traveller's specific movement. It is this specific movement that has been used to calculate NOM. Therefore the number of visas in this table should not be confused with information on the number of visas granted by DIBP.
(b) Visitor visas include tourists business visitors medical treatment and other.
(c) Includes residents returning (i.e. non Australian citizens who have a permanent resident visa) and visa unknown.