10. Settlement and Migration Patterns of Immigrants by Visa Class in Australia

Migration is a key theme in regional science, as it concerns the movement and distribution of human populations and the impacts thereof. The twenty-first century has witnessed increasingly diverse forms of migration, in particular the bifurcation of migrants into permanent migrants and temporary migrants, among others. In this chapter, we focus on the specific case of Australia to uncover how the stratification of migrants by visa class helps to explain the mobility of migrants after arrival. It draws on two new powerful datasets that link visa status with census data to examine the settlement and migration patterns of immigrants by visa class. Our analysis reveals important variations by visa class that are missed when migrants are lumped together. The results confirm that early years post-arrival constitute an important period of adjustment as immigrants seek to establish themselves in the labour and housing markets, but they show that this process is particularly pronounced for skilled migrants who exhibit heightened levels of mobility. While the visa types used in this analysis are specific to Australia, they are underpinned by distinct reasons for immigrating, namely employment, family reunification, and humanitarian motives, which remain the primary drivers of international migration in most countries.