International students drive record immigration flood

I noted last week how net overseas migration (NOM) is rocketing back, and has already exceeded the NOM forecasts in the October federal budget:

On Friday, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released data breaking down the contributors to Australia’s NOM in the 2021-22 financial year.

This data clearly shows that international students are behind the resurgence in NOM, with 109,000 net student visa arrivals landing in Australia in the financial year – the second highest intake on record (behind 2008-09 when 122,000 net students arrived):

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About the author

Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.