OVERVIEW


OVERVIEW

In November 2010, the in scope Australian population aged 15 years and over was 17.7 million people. Of these people 5.2 million (29%) were born overseas (Table 1).

There were 1.4 million people who were born overseas, arrived in Australia after 2000, and were aged 15 years and over on arrival. This represents 8% of the total population aged 15 years and over. Of these, 196,500 were an Australian citizen or New Zealand citizen before arrival or currently hold New Zealand citizenship and 10,400 were planning to stay less than 12 months. The remaining 1.2 million people were recent migrants and temporary residents. Of these:

• 60% were recent migrants (permanent visa 410,900 and obtained Australian citizenship 308,700);
• 40% were temporary residents (temporary visa 477,800) (Table 1).

In November 2010 there were 719,600 recent migrants. The majority (76%) were born in other than main English-speaking countries and 91% were aged 15-44 years on arrival. There were also 477,800 temporary residents, of whom 80% were born in other than main English-speaking countries and 95% were aged 15-44 years on arrival (Table 3).

Of the recent migrants and temporary residents, 79% were the main applicant on their visa application form when they first arrived in Australia (Table 5).

There were 239,000 people who had a temporary visa on arrival to live in Australia and had since obtained a permanent visa or Australian citizenship. Of these, 52% had obtained a permanent visa while the remaining 48% had obtained Australian citizenship by November 2010. Of those who were temporary residents on arrival and had obtained a permanent visa, 49% held a skilled visa and 32% held a family visa (Table 8).