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 Australian Government Department of Home Affairs (Home Affairs) are used by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) to calculate the official NOM estimates each quarter.

In 2016-17, NOM increased from the previous year, recording an end of financial year estimate of 262,500 persons, which was 27.3% (56,300 persons) more than in 2015-16 and represents the second consecutive increase after three years of decreases.

In 2016-17, NOM contributed the greatest number of people to the most populous states: New South Wales with a net increase of 104,500 persons, followed by Victoria (90,000 persons), Queensland (35,200 persons) and Western Australia (13,400 persons). The Northern Territory had the lowest net increase with 1,700 persons. 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).

2.2 NOM Selected characteristics - State & territory - 2016-17(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	104 478	39.8	196 980	26.4	100.4	92 502	28.9	107.4
Vic.	90 009	34.3	159 148	25.6	100.8	69 139	28.1	106.5
Qld	35 199	13.4	88 269	26.3	97.7	53 070	28.2	109.6
SA	11 668	4.4	23 601	25.9	95.7	11 933	27.7	111.7
WA	13 384	5.1	49 556	27.0	99.4	36 172	29.2	120.9
Tas.	2 029	0.8	4 437	26.8	98.4	2 408	28.7	102.5
NT	1 748	0.7	6 884	27.2	161.1	5 136	29.3	208.7
ACT	3 964	1.5	9 934	25.2	95.4	5 970	28.6	108.7
Australia(c)	262 489	100.0	538 823	26.2	100.2	276 334	28.6	110.7
(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.

Home Affairs 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 Home Affairs, 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 NOM. It shows that temporary visa holders are the main contributors to NOM arrivals in the 2016-17 financial year.

2.3 NOM by major groupings and visa(a) - Australia - 2016-17(b)
		NOM ARRIVAL		NOM DEPARTURE
Major groupings and visa		no.	%	no.	%
Temporary visas
	Vocational education and training sector	15 686	2.9	11 161	4.0
	Higher education sector	100 797	18.7	25 247	9.1
	Student other	33 834	6.3	9 917	3.6
	Temporary work skilled (subclass 457)	32 401	6.0	15 772	5.7
	Visitor(c)	71 873	13.3	18 164	6.6
	Working holiday	50 044	9.3	25 853	9.4
	Other temporary visas	10 776	2.0	23 841	8.6
	Total temporary visas	315 411	58.5	129 957	47.0
Permanent Visas
	Family	29 833	5.5	5 507	2.0
	Skill	45 783	8.5	8 002	2.9
	Special eligibility and humanitarian	23 877	4.4	122	0.0
	Other permanent visas	6 195	1.1	6 810	2.5
	Total permanent visas	105 689	19.6	20 441	7.4
New Zealand citizen (subclass 444)		31 856	5.9	25 869	9.4
Australian citizen		78 890	14.6	93 141	33.7
Other(d)		6 976	1.3	6 927	2.5
Total		538 822	100.0	276 334	100.0
(a) 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 Home Affairs.
(b) Data from March quarter 2017 onwards is preliminary.
(c) Visitor visas include tourists, business visitors, medical treatment and other.
(d) Includes residents returning (i.e. non Australian citizens who have a permanent resident visa) and visa unknown.