Department of Home Affairs Website (2024)

Population

At the end of June 2022, 586,020 New Zealand-born people were living in Australia, 2.9percent more than the number (569,630) at 30 June 2012. This is the fourth largest migrant community in Australia, equivalent to 7.6percent of Australia's overseas-born population and 2.3percent of Australia's total population.

For Australia's New Zealand-born migrants:

The median age of 46.0years was 7.5years above that of the general population.
Males outnumbered females—50.8percent compared with 49.2percent.

_{(Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics,Australia’s Population by Country of Birth)}

Permanent migration

Australia's permanent Migration Program incorporates economic and family migration and is the main pathway to permanent residence. It includes the Skill stream, Family stream and Special Eligibility visas. The only other way to obtain permanent residence is on humanitarian grounds.

Skill stream visas

The Skill stream is designed for workers who havethe skills, qualifications and entrepreneurship most needed in the Australian economy. There are seven components:

Business Innovation and Investment
Distinguished Talent
Employer Sponsored
Global Talent (Independent)
See Also
Immigration and citizenship Website Australia Special Category Visa - Subclass 444 Requirements 2021 People in Greater Melbourne who were born in New Zealand, Census Country of birth QuickStats Social security benefits
Regional
Skilled Independent
State/Territory Nominated.

Family and Child stream visas

The Family stream allows the permanent migration of close family members, of Australian citizens, permanent residents, and eligible New Zealand citizens. It focuses on partners and parents, but also provides the opportunity for additional family members, such as aged dependent relatives, carers, remaining relatives and orphan relatives, to join their family in Australia.

Child visas allow the permanent migration of children, of Australian citizens, permanent residents, and eligible New Zealand citizens. The Child visa comprises two categories, namely Child and Adoption visas.

Special Eligibility visas

Special Eligibility visas allow former residents and certain people who served in the Australian Defence Force to live in Australia as permanent residents.

The following table shows the size of permanent migration from New Zealand by migration category.

Table 1: Permanent migrant places granted, 2019–20 to 2022–23
Migration category	2019–20	2020–21	2021–22	2022–23
Business Innovation and Investment	13	17	7	<5
Employer Sponsored	254	246	248	515
Skilled Independent	4,300	2,939	3,557	9,876
State/Territory Nominated	80	80	90	104
Regional ¹	78	55	48	23
Global Talent (Independent) ²	51	120	55	16
Partner	122	327	266	212
All other categories³	99	194	150	107
Total places granted	4,997	3,978	4,421	10,853

_{Source: Department of Home Affairs}
_{¹The Regional migration category commenced 1 July 2019.}
_{²Global Talent (Independent) category commenced 4 November 2019.}
_{³ Data has been perturbed to protect the privacy of individuals.}_{Note: To protect the privacy of individuals, various data confidentiality techniques have been applied. These techniques include, data masking — using primary and secondary suppression methods for values that are deemed to be a disclosure risk and perturbation — a data security technique that allows for random data adjustment to prevent the release of identifiable data.}

Temporary migration

People can come to Australia for a temporary stay for a range of purposes, for example, visiting Australia for tourism or attending a conference, or for more specific purposes, such as medical treatment, study, skilled work, working holidays or other specialist activities. There are six main categories of temporary residents, which can cover stays of more than three months in Australia.

Note: Not all categories apply to migrants from each country

Visitor visas

Visitor visas are mostly used by people visiting Australia for holidays, tourism and recreation, or to see family and friends. People may also use Visitor visas for certain short-term business activities that do not entail working in Australia.

Working Holiday Maker Program

The Working Holiday Maker Program allows young adults to have an extended holiday and engage in short-term work and study.

Student visa

The Student visa program enables international students to come to Australia to study full-time in a registered course.

Temporary Resident (Skilled Employment) visa

Allows a business to sponsor a skilled overseas worker if they cannot find an appropriately skilled Australian citizen or permanent resident to fill a skilled position.

Other temporary visas

Other temporary visas include visas that allow people to undertake short-term, non-ongoing highly specialised work, enrich social and cultural development, strengthen international relations or provide training opportunities of benefit to Australia.

New Zealand citizens

Under the 1973 Trans-Tasman Travel Arrangement, New Zealand citizens can enter and leave Australia freely and live in Australia indefinitely on grant of a Special Category visa (subclass 444).

The following table shows the number of visa grants from New Zealand, for Visitor, Special Category, Student and Temporary Resident (Skilled Employment) visas.

Table 2: Temporary visas granted by selected categories, 2019–20 to 2022–23
Temporary visa category	2019–20	2020–21	2021–22	2022–23
Visitor	235	54	89	275
Special Category¹	1,396,835	143,023	302,226	1,428,081
Student	<5	<5	0	<5
Temporary Resident (Skilled Employment)	19	19	23	24
Other temporary visa grants ²	58	48	53	62
Total temporary visa grants	1,397,147	143,144	302,391	1,428,442

_{Source: Department of Home Affairs}_{¹Note: Most New Zealand citizens obtain the Special Category visa (subclass 444) to enter Australia for visiting, studying, working or residing permanently.}
_{²Excludes Transit visa (subclass 771), Border visa (subclass 773) and Maritime Crew visa (subclass 988). Data has been perturbed to protect the privacy of individuals.}_{Note: To protect the privacy of individuals, various data confidentiality techniques have been applied. These techniques include, data masking — using primary and secondary suppression methods for values that are deemed to be a disclosure risk and perturbation — a data security technique that allows for random data adjustment to prevent the release of identifiable data.}

Main occupations

The following table shows the main occupations for nationals of New Zealand, based on Skill stream migration outcomes and Temporary Resident (Skilled Employment) visa grants.

Table 3: Main occupations, 2019–20 to 2022–23
Period	Temporary Resident(Skilled Employment) visas	No. of migrants	Skill stream migration	No. of migrants
2022–23	Engineering managers	<5	Registered nurses	92
	General managers	<5	Software and applications programmers	24
	Management and organisation analysts	<5	Civil engineering professionals	8
	University lecturers and tutors	<5	Computer network professionals	8
	Registered nurses	<5	Management and organisation analysts	7
	ICT business and systems analysts	<5	General practitioners and resident medical officers	7
	-	-	Other medical practitioners	7
	-	-	ICT business and systems analysts	7
	-	-	Accountants	6
	-	-	University lecturers and tutors	6
2021–22	Advertising, public relations and sales managers	<5	ICT business and systems analysts	34
	Research and development managers	<5	Database and systems administrators, and ICT security specialists	20
	Land economists and valuers	<5	Auditors, company secretaries and corporate treasurers	7
	Chemical and materials engineers	<5	Anaesthetists	6
	Registered nurses	<5	Multimedia specialists and web developers	6
	Software and applications programmers	<5	Counsellors	6
	-	-	Vocational education teachers (Aus) / polytechnic teachers (NZ)	<5
	-	-	ICT support and test engineers	<5
	-	-	Other education managers	<5
	-	-	Other information and organisation professionals	<5
2020–21	General managers	<5	Registered nurses	32
	Advertising, public relations and sales managers	<5	Software and applications programmers	17
	Engineering managers	<5	General practitioners and resident medical officers	9
	Other specialist managers	<5	Other medical practitioners	8
	Technical sales representatives	<5	Civil engineering professionals	5
	Agricultural and forestry scientists	<5	University lecturers and tutors	5
	Software and applications programmers	<5	Specialist physicians	5
	Database and systems administrators, and ICT security specialists	<5	ICT business and systems analysts	5
	Judicial and other legal professionals	<5	General managers	<5
	Solicitors	<5	Computer network professionals	<5
2019–20	General managers	<5	Registered nurses	26
	Engineering managers	<5	Software and applications programmers	12
	General practitioners and resident medical officers	<5	University lecturers and tutors	7
	ICT business and systems analysts	<5	General practitioners and resident medical officers	5
	Motor mechanics	<5	General managers	<5
	-	-	Management and organisation analysts	<5
	-	-	Civil engineering professionals	<5
	-	-	Other medical practitioners	<5
	-	-	ICT business and systems analysts	<5
	-	-	Dental practitioners	<5

_{Source: Department of Home Affairs}_{Note: To protect the privacy of individuals, various data confidentiality techniques have been applied. These techniques include,data masking— using primary and secondary suppression methods for values that are deemed to be a disclosure risk andperturbation— a data security technique that allows for random data adjustment to prevent the release of identifiable data.}
_{Note: Occupation level information is available for primary applicants only, and is based on Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations unit level data.}

Geographic distribution

The following table shows the geographic distribution of migrants by state and territory, based on permanent additions for the Skill and Family streams, international student visa grants, and Temporary Resident (Skilled Employment) visa grants.

Table 4:Geographic distribution, by state and territory
Population	NSW	Vic	Qld	SA	WA	Tas	NT	ACT
Census 2021 (%)
Of all persons	32	26	20	7	10	2	1	2
Of New Zealand-born	22	19	39	3	14	1	1	1
Permanent additions - 2022–23 (%)
Skill stream	24	31	27	2	14	1	1	1
Family and Child stream	24	23	34	4	13	0	0	2
Temporary visa grants - 2022–23(%)
International student visa grants	-	-	100	-	-	-	-	-
Temporary Resident (Skilled Employment) visa (primary) grants	29	43	14	0	14	0	0	0

_{Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics and Department of Home Affairs
Note: Permanent additions consist of two components; those persons who, while already in Australia on a temporary basis, are granted permanent residence status or those persons who have subsequently arrived from overseas during the reporting period and are entitled to stay permanently in Australia.}

Country ranking

This table uses rankings to show the significance of New Zealand migration for the past four financial years.

Table 5: Country ranking, 2019–20 to 2022–23
Ranked position of migrants	2019–20	2020–21	2021–22	2022–23
Population in Australia ¹	4	4	4	4
Regional	30	27	29	48
Employer Sponsored	21	21	20	14
Total Skill stream	5	6	6	4
Total Family and Child stream	37	30	28	33
International students	148	145	n/a	162
Temporary Resident (Skilled Employment) visa	78	76	75	90
Visitors	116	82	109	118

_{Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics and Department of Home Affairs}_{¹Population level data is by country of birth and lags one year behind the financial year specified. Data based on the estimated residential population at 30 June; 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022.}