Explainers
Short explanations for the migration terms and policy claims that most often confuse the debate: NOM, international education, permanent residence, housing, skills, and settlement.
No. Net Overseas Migration does not include short tourist visits. ABS NOM counts people who are added to, or removed from, Australia's usually resident population under the 12/16-month rule.
does NOM include tourists / net overseas migration touristsMigrant arrivals count people who enter Australia and meet the migration residence rule. Net Overseas Migration subtracts migrant departures from migrant arrivals. NOM is the net population change from overseas migration, not the total number of people arriving.
net overseas migration vs arrivals / migrant arrivals AustraliaInternational student spending is counted as an export because the payer is treated as a non-resident. Australian providers are supplying education and related services to people from overseas, even when tuition, rent, food, and transport spending happens inside Australia.
why are international students counted as exports / education exports AustraliaStudent visa holders, international student headcounts, enrolments, and student arrivals are not the same measure. A visa-holder stock counts people with a visa on a snapshot date; a student headcount counts people studying; enrolments can be higher because one person can have more than one enrolment; arrivals are a flow.
student visa holders vs international students Australia / international students headcount enrolmentsPermanent residence lets a person live, work, and study in Australia indefinitely, subject to visa conditions and travel-facility rules. Citizenship is a separate legal status that adds the full right to return, vote, hold an Australian passport, and belong to the polity as a citizen.
permanent residence vs citizenship Australia / PR vs citizen AustraliaNo. Permanent migration outcomes are not all new arrivals. In 2024-25, Home Affairs recorded 101,022 permanent Migration Program outcomes for people who were in Australia at the time of application and 83,979 for people outside Australia.
onshore offshore permanent visas Australia / permanent migration outcomes new arrivalsMigration affects housing demand because new usual residents need somewhere to live immediately, while new housing supply takes time. TAMM turns NOM into an estimated dwelling requirement by dividing the net population addition by an average household-size assumption.
migration housing demand Australia / does migration increase housing demandSkills recognition lag is the delay between admitting a skilled migrant and being able to use their skills fully in Australia. It can involve qualification assessment, licensing, gap training, supervised work, English or workplace requirements, and state-based rules.
skills recognition lag Australia / overseas qualifications recognition AustraliaBuilding trades migration can help, but it is not a standalone housing solution. More housing-relevant tradespeople can ease capacity constraints, yet homes also require approvals, finance, land, materials, infrastructure, domestic training, and skills recognition.
building trades migration Australia / construction trades shortage AustraliaNOM as a share of population shows the scale of overseas migration relative to the country absorbing it. For example, a NOM of about 306,000 against a population of about 27.6 million is roughly 1.1% of the resident population.
NOM as share of population Australia / net overseas migration percentage population