The surprising immigration category shrinking as arrivals abroad increase during a cost-of-living crisis

Family reunions were the only immigration category to shrink as the number of overseas arrivals surged to an all-time high.

While approvals for permanent skilled and student visas doubled in a year, the family category fell by 22.2 percent, Interior Ministry figures showed.

It was the only category of eight to register a decline when July 2022 to March 2023 was compared to the corresponding nine months of 2021-22.

Family reunions used to make up the bulk of Australia’s permanent migration flow, but more skilled migrants have arrived since 1997 after the government of former Liberal Prime Minister John Howard changed the migration mix.

This marked a major shift away from the policies of Labor Prime Ministers Bob Hawke and Paul Keating, who favored a greater emphasis on family reunification.

The exception to that long-standing trend was the 2021-22 financial year, when Australia’s border was closed to skilled migrants and students until mid-December 2021 due to the pandemic.

This meant that for the first time in 25 years, more family reunifications were issued than permanent skilled visas were issued.

In 2021-2022, 105,689 family reunification visas were completed, compared to 68,055 for skilled visas.

Since the 1996-1997 fiscal year, during the first year of the Howard government, family visas were no longer the majority of permanent migrants.

Subsequent Labor and Coalition governments had continued to take in more skilled migrants than the family stream.

The reopening of the Australian border in late 2021 saw a surge in permanent and long-term arrivals, with skilled migration rising 111.7 per cent to 144,040, while student visa approvals rose 154.4 per cent to 511,149.

The Treasury expects a record 400,000 migrants to arrive in Australia by 2022-2023, on a net basis, when arrivals are subtracted from departures.

This despite a tight rental vacancy market and high inflation of six percent.

Employees’ cost of living was even higher, rising 9.6 percent in the year to June 30, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed.

In the five years to June 2027, 1.5 million migrants are expected to move to Australia, according to the May Budget Papers.

Unemployment remained at a 48-year low of 3.5 in June despite the Reserve Bank’s 12 rate hikes since May 2022 and business groups have lobbied the government to boost skilled migration.

Aside from short-term tourists, visas for working vacationers saw the largest increase among labor force-related categories, growing 166.8 percent to 171,270, compared to 64,195.

The figures were revealed after Tasmanian Labor Senator Helen Polley asked a question as a member of the Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs.