Australia's migration intake at decade low

Australia's migration intake has dropped to its lowest level in a decade. But the government says it can still combat employment problems in regional Australia by setting places aside for skilled foreign workers.

Source: Pixabay

The number of migrants granted permanent residency in Australia has dropped to its lowest level in a decade.

Around 160,000 visas were granted under the permanent migration program in 2018-19 - nearly 30,000 fewer than the annual migration cap of 190,000.

About 70 per cent of the places were filled by skilled workers, with migration agents and applicants blaming long processing times, rather than a lack of demand, for the unallocated visas.

Immigration Minister David Coleman says the program also delivered nearly 9,000 places under the regional sponsored migration scheme, up by around 44 per cent from the previous year.

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