Britons are still wanted down under as over 24,000 UK residents emigrated to Australia last year. NSW remains the most popular choice for new arrivals to Australia despite an overall drop in migration, a new survey shows. The Department of Immigration and Citizenship’s (DIAC) Settler Arrival survey reveals 140,610 people moved to Australia in the 2009-2010 financial year, a drop of 11 per cent from last year.
NSW was still the most attractive destination, with about 30 per cent of all new arrivals flocking to the state. The next most popular states was Victoria which attracted 26 per cent of new migrants, followed by Queensland at 18 per cent.
Western Australia attracted around 15 per cent of arrivals.Most migrants to NSW were educated professionals hailing from China and India, with settler arrivals from those countries at 17 and 11 per cent respectively.
Kiwis were Australia’s biggest import at around 13 per cent of all migrants, closely followed by China at about 12 per cent and India at 11 per cent. UK migrants account for around 9%. This is a major change as 3 years ago, British migrants were ahead of both China and India ; although this situation is anticipated to be reversed in 2012 as the tougher rules on studying in Australia begin to bite.
More than half of all settlers into Australia were professionals or worked as managers and administrators.The Settler Arrival survey sources its data from passenger arrival and departure cards filled in by new arrivals.