Settlers from Nepal now major migrant group as arrivals outnumbered Brits last year

Australian migrants from this small Asian nation have unexpectedly leapfrogged the number of UK settlers, with nearly 12,000 moving Down Under last year. This is where they’re from.

In 2018/19 more Nepalese migrants arrived in Australia than British, according to new statistics. Picture: Ian Currie

More people from Nepal settled in Australia last year than from the United Kingdom, federal government figures show.

Incredibly, the landlocked Himalayan nation has become a significant migrant source, mainly due to the high number of students who come here and then stay on.

In 2018-19, 11,925 people born in Nepal settled here, the fourth biggest group after India, China and the Philippines, according to Department of Home Affairs permanent and provisional visa data.

Children play a game of sack race at their school in Bhaktapur, Nepal.

There were more Nepalese than British migrants, whose number was 11,557 settlers last year.

The figures reflect the domination of Asia in our migration program and how the British, once the backbone of the program, have declined as a migrant source.

Australia’s Nepal-born population is now about 95,000, compared with only 1410 in 1996.

Tara Gaire arrived from Nepal as a student in 2008, and now works as a trainer in the vocational education sector.

Living with his family in the northern suburbs, Mr Gaire said he felt very at home in Melbourne’s multicultural environment.

“We catch up with community members, we go to the temple, it doesn’t feel like we’re overseas,” he said.

“The lifestyle is great, the salaries are good, nobody can discriminate on the basis of race and religion, and the governments are very good compared to Nepal.”

Nepalese are a major part of the overseas student industry, with 43,190 student visa applications - or 10 per cent of the total - lodged last year.

Nepalese migrant Tara Gaire with his wife Shikha and son Subodh and daughter Tashiya at home in Epping. Picture: Ian Currie

Dr Bob Birrell, from the Australian Population Research Institute, said Nepalese students had created a bridgehead in Australia from which the community grew rapidly.

“We have former students who got permanent residency through skilled entry and marrying locals, and then inviting relatives from the homeland to join them,” he said.

The settlement data reveal that in 2018-19 the top group was the India-born, with 53,587 arrivals, followed by the China-born (36,712) and Philippines-born (13,533).

Of the 84,327 migrants who settled in Victoria, the City of Melbourne had the most of any Victorian municipality with 7030, followed by Wyndham (5525), Greater Dandenong (4374), Monash (4165), and Casey (4053).

Hume Council had the most humanitarian settlers (765), while Melbourne City had the most skilled arrivals (6071).

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The main humanitarian arrivals to Victoria were from Iraq (1387), Myanmar (745), Syria (520), Afghanistan (348) and Thailand (252).

There were 18,754 skilled settlers from India, 8953 from China, 2097 from Pakistan and 2071 from Sri Lanka.

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Originally published as Settlers from Nepal now major migrant group as arrivals outnumbered Brits last year