DIAC released its statistics/reports on last year’s migration program. The surprising statement in that report -
For 2008-09, the government announced that the Migration Program would be set at 190 300 places. This represents an increase of 20.0 per cent over the 2007-08 Program year.
The 2008-09 Migration Program will comprise:
• 133 500 places for Skill Stream
• 56 500 places for Family Stream
• 300 places for Special Eligibility Stream
Statistics on last year’s migration
The outcome for the 2007-08 Migration Program was 158 630, the largest since the late 1980s. It represented a 7.0 per cent increase on the 2006-07 outcome of 148 200. The planning level for 2008-09 is 190 300.
• Over one-third of the Migration Program in 2007-08 was made up of persons granted permanent residence after initial entry to Australia on a temporary basis.
• In 2007-08, there were 108 540 people granted Skill Stream places, an increase of 10.8 per cent on 2006-07. The Skill Stream made up 68.4 per cent of the total Migration Program.
• Within the Skill Stream, the main source countries in 2007-08 were the United Kingdom (UK), India, the Peoples Republic of China (PRC), South Africa and the Republic of Korea.
• There were 49 870 people granted Family Stream visas in 2007-08.
• Within the Family Stream, the main source countries in 2007-08 were the UK, the PRC, India, the Philippines and Vietnam.
The full report
Archive for the ‘Green Card’ Category
Australia’s Migration Program’s Report 2007-08
Saturday, February 28th, 2009Australia to cut immigration as economy slows
Monday, February 23rd, 2009Mon Feb 23, 2009 8:07am IST
by James Grubel
CANBERRA, Feb 23 (Reuters) - Australia will cut its annual immigration intake for the first time in eight years due to the slowing economy and weakening demand for labour, Immigration Minister Chris Evans said on Monday.
Australia is a nation of immigrants and has been enjoying a boom in new arrivals for the past decade to help meet labour shortages as a China-fuelled mining boom drove unemployment rates to 30-year lows.
But six of Australia’s major trading partners are now in recession, economic growth has stalled, and unemployment has started to rise with the government expecting unemployment to hit 7.0 percent by mid-2010 from 4.8 percent currently.
“I expect the numbers of our programme to drop next year … as a reaction to the economic circumstances,” Evans told reporters.
Fight War for us? Get Green Card
Monday, February 16th, 2009
By Julia Preston, Sunday, February 15, 2009 for New York Times
Stretched thin in Afghanistan and Iraq, the American military will begin recruiting skilled immigrants who are living in the United States with temporary visas, offering them the chance to become U.S. citizens in as little as six months.