India provides highest share of migrants entering Australia

For the year ending in June 2012, more permanent migrants to Australia came from India than from any other country. The next highest intake came from China. A shortage of skilled workers in Australia has meant that the government is looking to fill vacancies from overseas. Many of the positions are in the country’s booming mining industry.

A government report shows that during the 2011/2012 financial year 185,000 permanent migrants crossed the border. This is up from the 2010/2011 period when 168,685 skilled migrants entered the country.

The government said that over the coming year it hopes to attract 190,000 permanent migrants to Australia. Just below 16 per cent of all permanent migrants came from India last year filling 29,018 places. China provided the second largest number with 25,509 people. Britain took third place filling 25,274 vacancies.

Chris Bowen, Australia’s Immigration and Citizenship minister, said skilled immigration was vital for the country’s economy especially as there is a growing ageing population. He added that 60 per cent of the visas being given to foreign skilled workers were for government, regional and employer sponsored places.

Of the 10 countries supplying the most workers, seven were in Asia. These included Vietnam, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, China and Asia.