Indian brides lead migration surge
Jonathan Porter | October 04, 2008
WHEN 21-year-old Kanika Puri was sponsored by her new husband to emigrate to Australia just three months after their Anzac Day wedding in 2004, she became part of the largest and fastest-growing group of spouses seeking a new life down under.
Last year, 2782 Indian brides, sponsored overwhelmingly by men of Indian birth, arrived in Australia, compared with 496 husbands brought out by women.
Eleven years ago, just 434 Indian brides were sponsored and 149 men, meaning there has been a six-fold increase.
The next largest group is British men. According to immigration figures obtained by The Weekend Australian, 2259 were brought out by Australian women in 2007-08, compared with 1862 British women sponsored by our men -- virtually unchanged from 11 years ago.
After that there is China, with 2409 women and 1243 men coming to our shores; and then The Philippines with 1158 women and just 318 men. This compares with 455 Bangladeshi brides who called Australia home in 2007-08, and 92 husbands, up from a base of 79 and 34 respectively in 1996-97.
Immigration expert Bob Birrell said the growth in Indian spouse sponsorship proved the immigration program had "a life of its own". "Visas issued under the spouse and fiancee program have grown from 25,500 in 1996-97 to 39,931 in 2007-08," Professor Birrell, from Monash University, said. "This is very substantial growth and illustrates the dynamics of the program, which has recently been boosted by the Labor Government largely to keep a lid on the price of labour.
"Most of the growth in spouses and fiancees is from non-English-speaking countries. That reflects the stock of people who have migrated here in recent years who are now looking for a spouse. They are in a good position to attract a partner from their homeland because movement to Australia is such an attractive option."
Professor Birrell said once a country had a "pioneer community from a place like Bangladesh, where there is enormous pressure to get out, the spouse numbers can rise dramatically". "Mostly it is men going back for a bride."
The program could run into problems because, when combined with the humanitarian program, there were large numbers of people coming in who were not being skills- or language-tested.
"We are bringing in spouses who are likely to not speak English and not have skills they can sell in the marketplace," Professor Birrell said. "This could be a problem if the market goes off the boil."
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