General Procedures

Visas Granted 2018-2019
October 13, 2019

Visas Granted 2018-2019

The total number of Australian visas granted in 2018–2019 under the permanent migration program was 160,323. Overall, this program includes skilled, family and special eligibility streams that are capped by a ceiling, and a Child stream, that does not have a ceiling. This outcome was within the planning level of 190,000 places which was set in the federal budget. Despite being already the lowest outcome in a decade, it is expected to decrease even further in the next four years due to the new reduced planning levels of 160,000 places per year.
Australia Visas Granted 2018-2019

Previous Year Statistics

In 2017-2018 the number of finalised applications under the permanent migration program was 162,417 which was a reduction by 11.5 per cent when compared with the 2016–2017 program year. The top three source countries were:

  • India – 33,310 places
  • China – 25,145 places
  • United Kingdom – 13,654 places
Interestingly, 46.6 per cent of visas were granted to people that were already in Australia on a temporary visa, and the remaining 53.4 per cent went to new arrivals to Australia. This shows that many migrants are using temporary visas as a stepping stone to permanent residency. 61.0 per cent of those temporary visa holders were coming from a Temporary Work visa and 73.9 per cent of temporary visa holders were granted a Skilled stream visa.

The Skill stream accounted for 68.4 per cent of the total 2017–2018 outcome and the top three major ANZSCO occupation groups for visa grants were:

  • Professionals – 66.1 per cent
  • Technicians and Trades Workers – 13.3 per cent
  • Managers – 8.8 per cent
State/Territory Distribution
  • New South Wales – 52,251 places or 32.2%
  • Victoria – 41,005 places or 25.2%
  • Queensland – 17,870 places or 11.0%
  • Western Australia – 13,480 places or 8.3%
  • South Australia – 12,017 places or 7.4%
  • Australian Capital Territory – 3,277 places or 2.0%
  • Tasmania – 2,775 places or 1.7%
  • Northern Territory – 2,483 places or 1.5%

About 8.7 million temporary visas were granted in 2017-2018, which is an increase of 3.4 per cent over the 8.4 million visas granted in 2016-2017 program year. The two main categories of temporary visas were:

  • Visitor visa – 64.9 per cent
  • New Zealand citizens Special Category visa – 21.4 per cent

Permanent Visas Statistics

Despite varying numbers, the percentages remained largely the same with the Skilled stream taking the largest share and contributing 68.4 per cent to the 2017–2018 and 68.43 per cent to the 2018–2019 Migration Program outcomes. The comparison of stream specific numbers within the permanent migration programs in 2017-2018 and in 2018-2019 years are as follows.

Skilled
  • Employer Sponsored
  • Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme
  • Skilled Independent
  • Skilled State Nominated
  • Business Innovation and Investment program
  • Distinguished Talent
2017-2018
  • 29,307
  • 6,221
  • 39,137
  • 27,400
  • 7,260
  • 200
2018-2019
  • 33,025
  • 8,987
  • 34,247
  • 25,993
  • 7,261
  • 200
The Family stream accounted for 31.5 per cent of the 2017–2018 and 31.57 per cent of the 2017–2019 of Migration Program outcomes.
Family
  • Partner
  • Parent
  • Other family
2017-2018
  • 39,799
  • 7,371
  • 562
2018-2019
  • 39,918
  • 6,805
  • 524
Other
  • Special Eligibility
  • Child
2017-2018
  • 236
  • 3,350
2018-2019
  • 115
  • 3,248

Regional Focus

The 2018-2019 program delivered 44 per cent more places under the Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme when compared with 2017-2018 program year. Coupled together with the new regional visas and the allocation of 25,000 places for regional skilled migrants in 2019-2020, the focus on regional migration is set to continue. As the federal government plans to shift migration flows from major big cities to smaller cities and regional areas, regional visas are expected to overtake state/territory nominated skilled by 2020. This focus has already started having an effect with 6350 regional visas granted in the first quarter of 2019-2020 program year. As Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme has increased by 179 per cent and the Regional Skilled Sponsored visas have increased by 79 per cent, the federal government is likely to meet its ambitious target of 25,000 regional visas by the end of this financial year.

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