People born in India formed the largest cohort of permanent migrants who moved to Australia between 2000 and 2016 and are now thriving in their adopted home, with more than half of them owning a house.
From January 2000, a total of 291,916 Indian born migrants moved to Australia on a permanent basis until the Census night of 2016, with over half of them -154,012- pledging their allegiance to Australia by becoming Australian citizens. During this 16-year period, Australia added over 2.9 million permanent residents.
While a vast majority of Indian permanent migrants came to Australia on skilled visas (234, 395), over 56,000 arrived on family visas and just over 1,000 arrived on humanitarian visas.
The latest ABS figures show that over half of the permanent migrants (over the age of 15) who arrived in Australia during this period were buying or owned their own home.
Sandeep Sharma came to Australia with his wife and three-year-old son in 2015. He has recently signed a deal for a house and land package in Melbourne’s west. He says though it was very difficult for him to get into the property market, it was his top priority.
Sandeep Sharma with his wife Shivinu Source: Supplied
“We signed the deal when the property boom was at its peak, so it was obviously difficult. But we had to do it," Mr Sharma tells SBS Punjabi.
"It’s as much a sentiment as common sense; the rent goes down the drain and you add a few hundred dollars every month… these days a little more, and you pay your mortgage repayments for your home."
He says, like most Indian migrants, he was willing to make “lifestyle sacrifices” in order to save a deposit.
“I didn’t have a job right in the beginning and I had to invest in a business before I finally got a job that I liked. That’s why it took me longer to get a property of my own. Otherwise, I would have done that much sooner when the property wasn’t as expensive,” he says.
Rishi Prabhakar, who runs a financial services consultancy in Melbourne, came to Australia in 2003 as an international student. Four years later, he became a permanent resident, going on to buy his home in 2010.
Rishi Prabhakar and his wife Anchal Source: Supplied
He says it wasn’t easy even back then.
“Even in 2010, the prices seemed high and I couldn’t get anything in my budget which was very frustrating,” says Mr Prabhakar who bought a unit as his first property with help from his parents.
“A house is what I always wanted, that’s what, I guess, any Indian would want - you call that cultural or whatever.”
Indian-born migrants have consistently received the most number of visas under Australia’s annual migration program that has a cap of 190,000 places, with 38,854 in 2016-17 and 40,145 visas allocated to Indians in the previous year.
However, the recent figures are declining. During the 2017-18 financial year, Australia granted just around 163,000 visas - the lowest in ten years.
Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton attributed this decline in numbers to increased checks.
