The Australian government granted a total of 189,770 permanent migration visas in 2015-16. The major source countries in the migration programme were India (21.2 per cent), China (15.3 per cent) and the United Kingdom (10.0 per cent).
Within the managed migration programme the breakdown was:
- 128,550 places were delivered in the Skill stream;
- 57,400 places were delivered in the Family stream; and
- 308 places were delivered in the Special Eligibility stream.
Skill stream
The Skill stream accounted for 67.7 per cent of the total 2015–16 migration programme outcome. Within the Skill stream:
- the Employer Sponsored category had an outcome of 48,250 places. It comprised 37.5 per cent of the 2015–16 Skill stream outcome, with 35,981 places (74.6 per cent) granted under the Employer Nomination Scheme and 12,269 places (25.4 per cent) granted under the Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme;
- General Skilled Migration (GSM) had an outcome of 72,840 places. GSM comprised 56.7 per cent of the Skill stream outcome in 2015–16. Within GSM, 85.1 per cent (31,061) of primary places granted had an occupation on the Skilled Occupation List (SOL); and
- outcome in the Business Innovation and Investment Programme and the Distinguished Talent categories were 7260 and 200 places respectively.
The State-Specific and Regional Migration (SSRM) had an outcome of 40,101 (31.2 per cent of the total Skill stream outcome). These visas are included in the various Skill stream categories discussed above.
Family stream
The Family stream (excluding Child) accounted for 30.2 per cent of the total 2015–16 migration programme outcome. Within the Family stream:
- the Partner category had an outcome of 47,825 places (including spouses, fiancés or partners of Australian citizens, permanent residents and eligible New Zealand citizens). It comprised 83.3 per cent of the 2015–16 Family stream outcome;
- the outcome for Contributory Parent and Non-Contributory Parent categories were 7175 and 1500 places, respectively; and
- the outcome for the Other Family category was 900 places.
States and territories
The states/territories that attracted the largest number of migrants were:
- New South Wales with an outcome of 61,742 (32.5 per cent);
- Victoria with 47,516 (25.0 per cent);
- Western Australia with 22,488 (11.9 per cent); and
- Queensland with 21,860 (11.5 per cent).