A record number of work visas have been granted to tourists, exceeding 200,000 for the first time.
The huge influx poses a political challenge for the Albanian government, which has promised to reduce high levels of migration amid a housing shortage, and has expressed concern that the influx is fueling consumer demand and keeping prices high.
The charge is being led by a surge of British backpackers in Australia, whose numbers have almost doubled in the last three years, taking advantage of the looser rules introduced by the previous Morrison government.
Those changes raised the maximum age of visa holders from 30 to 35, allowed three-year stays and no longer required 88 days of regional work, meaning foreign visitors could stay in the cities if they wished.
This has led to 47,000 British work travelers calling Australia home this November, up from 31,000 last December and 21,000 the year before.
The Home Office reported in June that there had been a 300 per cent increase in third-year visa applications.
Australia also welcomed a record number of working holidaymakers from France, 23,700, and Ireland, 21,800, in November.
There were also 14,800 from Japan, 13,400 from Taiwan, 13,200 from Italy and 12,700 from South Korea.
A record number of work visas have been granted to tourists: the figure exceeds 200,000 for the first time
The thousands of revelers, many on work visas, who flooded Sydney’s eastern beaches for the Christmas Day party presented striking visual evidence of the influx.
Former Department of Immigration official Abul Rizvi said changes introduced by Scott Morrison had “hit the accelerator” for work visas, but the strong labor market and other deals had also helped open the floodgates.
“Over the last decade, we have signed a large number of new agreements for workers and tourists with many countries,” he said. nine newspapers.
“What it has done, fundamentally, is structurally increase the level of net migration in a normal labor market.”
Immigration has become a politically sensitive issue as Australia continues to suffer a housing crisis and high numbers of international students are also putting pressure on rents in Australia’s big cities.
Labor had targeted a net overseas migration inflow of 395,000 over the last financial year, down from a record 528,000 previously.
However, Rizvi, former deputy secretary of the Department of Immigration, estimated that between 450,000 and 475,000 people would have likely moved to Australia in 2023-24.
“Especially people from Europe and China and Southeast Asia, where the labor market has weakened more rapidly than in Australia,” he said.
The thousands of revelers, many on work visas, who flooded Sydney’s eastern beaches for the Christmas Day party presented striking visual evidence of the influx (pictured, a group of friends on the beach).
“What we had was a larger-than-expected return of Australian citizens, and we also had a larger-than-expected net arrival of Kiwis.”
The Treasury’s Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook forecast released this month showed 340,000 migrants arriving in Australia in 2024-25.
This is significantly higher than the level of 260,000 forecast for this financial year in the May Budget.
AMP chief economist Shane Oliver said higher-than-expected immigration by 2024-25 meant Australia would struggle to house its growing population despite the Albanian government’s promise to build 1.2 million homes in five years.
“With housing completions still falling well short of the government’s target of 240,000 a year, this means there will be no progress in reducing the housing shortage this year,” he said.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers blamed the higher-than-expected immigration on too few people leaving Australia permanently.
“It’s peaked, it’s going down, it’s going down more slowly than anticipated in the Budget for one main reason and that is because there have been fewer departures,” he said.
‘The Treasury has been more or less active when it comes to arrivals, but departures have been slower.
“People are staying longer and that means the numbers are declining more slowly and that looks updated.”