A huge number of people from the small South Asian nation of Nepal are migrating to Australia.

Nepalese-born migrants now settle here in higher numbers than those from the UK, with 11,925 Nepalese born migrants arriving in 2018-19.

The surge is due to changes in visa requirements. Australia is now taking a very large proportion of our new permanent residents from international students who are already in Australia.

“Previously a lot of new permanent residents from the temporary skilled migrants, that’s the old 457 visas, but various policy changes have meant that’s now looking a bit sick as a way of getting new residents. “In the last decade the Nepalese have come in, in a big way, in the student stream.”

In recent years, Nepal has emerged as Australia’s third largest source market for international students.

The number of Nepalese students enrolled across Australian international education institutions ballooned from just under 12,000 in 2013 to 62,000 currently.

‘Exports’ from Nepalese international students – comprising both fees paid and living expenses – skyrocketed from around $500,000 in 2013 to $2.6 billion in 2019.

Many Nepalese students, like Indian students, come here with the intention of staying on after completing study. While Chinese students arrive in mammoth numbers, most Chinese return home after studying.

Most Chinese students in Australia have the intention of going back to China with their degree, and their salary kind of doubles if they’ve got a foreign degree. Migration from New Zealand, meanwhile, surged in the first decade of the century, but has since dropped.

It’s very much related to the state of the two economies, and relative to the Australian economy, in the last decade, New Zealand has been doing a lot better.

Top four countries of birth for Australian migrants:

1. India
2. China
3. The Philippines
4. Nepal

For more information regarding migration to Australia, please get in touch with our migration agent at info@australasiaeduconnect.com.au

Source: https://www.3aw.com.au/the-small-landlocked-country-which-is-now-the-fourth-largest-source-of-australian-migrants/