According to the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC), the number of Greek citizens being awarded permanent residency visas over the next 12 months is set to at least double.
But don’t believe unreliable media reports of a tidal wave of new Hellenes down under – the modest increase is coming from an extremely low base. Nevertheless, permanent visa numbers are set to more than double. Between July 2011 and January this year, 110 Greek citizens were awarded permanent visas, compared to 123 such visas awarded in the whole of the previous financial year.
These figures do not include Greek nationals on holiday, student or other temporary visas. Whilst enquiries for migration from Australia to Greece have soared in the past 12 months, there is little evidence to show that the trend is resulting in similar numbers of visas being applied for or awarded. The latest data available from DIAC in relation to temporary visas relates to financial year 2010-2011.
According to the Immigration Department, in July last year only 194 Greek citizens were residing in Australia on temporary resident visas, in addition to 492 Greek-born visitors. DIAC’s statistics show that just 40 Greek nationals came to Australia on ‘sub-class 457’ working visas in the whole of 2010-2011. ‘457’ visas enable employers to bring in workers to fill nominated skilled positions and allow recipients to work for up to four years in Australia. Over the same period, 102 Greek nationals were awarded student visas to study in Australia, in comparison to 49,852 students from China.