Surging numbers of students, tourists and workers on short-term visas mean that as many as 1.9 million foreigners are likely to be in the country at any one time over the course of 2015, according to Michael Pezzullo, Secretary of the Department of Immigration.

Over the year, more than 5 million visas are expected to be issued this year, said Mr Pezzullo, in a speech at the Australian National University (and reported in The Australian). Although over three quarters of those numbers will be tourists, the number of traditional permanent migrants is also surging, with this year's intake likely to surpass the existing record of 185,000, which was set in 1969.

Mr Pezzulo pointed to a rapid shift in the ethnic composition of new migrants away from Europe towards east and southern Asia.

The number of Chinese-born Australians has more than tripled to almost 450,000 in the space of two decades, he said.

Those born in India has risen more than four-fold in that time, to almost 400,000. 

Figures just released by the department of immigration revealed that some 450 foreigners in Australia have had their visa cancelled since July 2014 after being convicted of serious crimes in Australia. Another 100 visa applications were refused under character provisions.

Compared with the previous year this represents an increase of over 450 per cent in visa cancellations and an increase of over 40 per cent in visa refusal decisions. Minister for Immigration and Border Protection Peter Dutton said these actions prove the Government is serious about protecting Australians from foreign criminals.

The DIBP media release noted that in the same period, of the 450 visas cancelled, 34 removals have taken place from New South Wales, with Western Australia (13), Victoria (11) and Queensland (10) together accounting for another 34 removals. 

“My message to the minority of people who travel to Australia and violate community standards is that they should consider themselves on notice; we will continue to target you by cancelling your visa and will remove you from Australia as soon as possible,” stated the Minister.

Under changes made by the Australian Government, mandatory visa cancellations can apply to non-citizens convicted of serious crimes like murder, rape, sexual assault and drug crime.

Over the last year, seventy-one people have been deported following criminal convictions in Australia, including nine pedophiles, six rapists and one murderer.

A Darwin-based hospitality business has been ordered to pay a record fine for exploiting at least 10 foreign 457 Visa workers as cheap labour; illegally forcing them to pay migration agent costs and forging documents to mislead Immigration officials.

Choong Enterprises Pty Ltd, the Director of Choong Enterprises, and one other person were found to have breached their sponsor obligations under the Migration Act. The fine amounting to over $175,000 was ordered by Justice John Mansfield who said the “civil penalty regime” was integral to “secure the integrity of the Australian labour market by ensuring people who are sponsored to work here are not employed in a manner that undercuts standard employment conditions”, and added that “It also protects those who are brought to Australia and who are vulnerable to exploitation.”

The offending took place at the expense of 10 Filipino workers employed as cooks, restaurant managers and food and beverage supervisors by the Nightcliff-based business — which operates a number of restaurants and cafes in Darwin and the NT — between 2009 and 2012. The company director Ronald Choong was found to have gained a direct benefit by enabling the offending as the sole director and shareholder, according to a report in the NT Times.

“This is the first civil penalty application my Department has undertaken in the Federal Court, and is the largest civil penalty any court has imposed for a breach of sponsor obligations,” Minister Cash said. “This action highlights the fact that the Government takes any alleged breach of 457 visa sponsorship very seriously and will pursue court action if appropriate.”

The court found that Choong Enterprises had paid 457 visa holders as little as $12 an hour, failed to abide by its record keeping obligations, had knowingly produced false pay records and had illegally recovered the costs of migration agent fees from four visa holders, among other contraventions. It found that that the director of Choong Enterprises, Ronald Choong, had aided and abetted these breaches.

“The stiff penalty this company has received should send a warning to other sponsors: if you fail to meet your requirements, my Department may impose administrative sanctions, issue an infringement notice, execute an enforceable undertaking, or apply to the federal court for a civil penalty order,” Minister Cash said in a media release.

One of the shock announcements of the Budget was that working holiday visa holders will be required to pay about a third of their earnings in taxes. The Treasurer announced that from July 2016, those on a working holiday in Australia will no longer enjoy a tax free threshold of up to $18,200, and will instead be forced to pay 32.5 per cent tax from their first dollar earned. That measure will apparently save the budget $540 million over four years.

What is the real cost of this? Backpackers might go elsewhere like New Zealand. Fewer backpackers here could also mean a dive in the enrolments in the ELICOS sector – the English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas students. The ELICOS visa has been used by many backpackers to remain in Australia at the end of their work/holiday stint and some go on to full student visas for other courses.

Sue Blundell, English Australia’s executive director told The Australian that taxing backpackers will affect the ELICOS sector badly as these working holiday-makers could start looking elsewhere and drastically damage a $2 billion dollar industry.

The ELICOS sector accounted for 15.0% of total student enrolments and 21.5% of total commencements in YTD February 2015. A report by EA and the federal Department of Education has found that almost 164,000 students started English language courses last year, with student numbers increasing by 11 per cent on last year and revenues climbing to $2 billion.

China accounted for the largest cohort of enrolments and commencements in ELICOS with shares of 26.1% and 21.7% respectively. Brazil was the next largest nationality for ELICOS enrolments with 8.0%, followed by Thailand and Colombia (7.8% and 6.9% respectively).

In just four years, the number of Australian families needed to house the international students has soared 400 per cent, according to figures from the NSW Department of Education.

Paying an average of $300 a week to live with an Australian family in NSW is clearly no obstacle even after forking out a similar amount each week to study at one of NSW’s 150 state public school fees that accept overseas students. Wealthy Chinese parents are apparently driving the demand for homestay accommodation for young children in especially NSW.

“Thousands of teenagers from Asian countries are increasingly being sent to NSW to finish their studies at the state's public high schools,” notes a report in The Sydney Morning Herald today.

The latest figures from the department revealed a 25 per cent increase in new, full fee-paying international students in just 12 months. About a third of these students are in homestay arrangements.

According to the report, in 2010, only 276 families were required to host international students, but in 2014, 1129 families were needed and a tender process to find more families to cater for the expected influx later this year has just closed.