Australia Immigration

You can apply to immigrate to Australia as a skilled person or business person, but this process will take longer than receiving a work visa. You can also apply for permanent residency as the holder of a work or study visa, but your application will not be automatically accepted.

Once you have immigrated to Australia, it takes just three years of permanent residency before you are eligible for Australian citizenship.

The overall level of immigration to Australia has grown substantially during the last decade and a half. Net overseas migration increased from 30,042 in 1992-93 to 177,600 in 2006-07.This is the highest level on record.

The largest components of immigration to Australia are the skilled migration and family re-union programs. In recent years the mandatory detention of unauthorised arrivals by boat has generated great levels of controversy.

During 2004-05, a total of 123,424 people immigrated to Australia. Of them, 17,736 were from Africa, 54,804 from Asia, 21,131 from Oceania, 18,220 from United Kingdom, 1,506 from South America, and 2,369 from Eastern Europe.

131,000 people migrated to Australia in 2005-06 and migration target for 2006-07 was 143,000.The planning level for the 2007-08 Migration Programme has been set in the range of 142 800 to 152 800 places, plus 13 000 in the Humanitarian Programme.

Migration Agents

When migrating to Australia it is possible to employ migration agents or lawyers to assist with a visa application to Australia.

These Australian immigration agents provide immigration assistance are regulated by a governing Authority called the Migration Agents Registration Authority. Although there is a significant difference in education and training between migration agents and lawyers, migration agents must complete a Graduate Certificate in Migration Law and Practice.

Migration and settlement services

There are a variety of community-based services that cater to the needs of newly-arrived migrants, refugees, asylum seekers, some of which receive funding from the Commonwealth Government, such as Migrant Resource Centres. Asylum seekers, however, are denied access to such services and there are only a very small number of specific asylum seeker services catering to their needs.