India among top countries for partnership visa lodgements

Australians bring more than 50,000 foreign partners to the country every year, here's where they come from.

Immigration cost is pushing Indian migrants to look for partners in Australia. Source: Wikipedia Commons

Despite the hefty price tag, thousands of Australians are bringing foreign partners to Australia.

The Department of Immigration and Border Protection told SBS Life it’s been reaching its annual maximum on partnership visas, with more than 50,000 visas being granted to partners last year.

The Department also shared with us the top 10 origin countries for partnership visa application lodgments.

The world’s most populous countries come in first – China and India – followed by many countries in our region, as well as the US and the UK, Australia's English-speaking allies.

Chart based on figures provided to SBS by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection. Source: SBS

Likely owing to simpler and cheaper possible visa arrangements, New Zealand doesn’t appear on the list.

SBS has previously reported on the record-high cost of partnership visas in Australia. The non-refundable application fee in Australia is $6,865 – more than double that of a similar visa in the UK and four times the price of a US partnership visa.

Last week Peter Dutton found himself at odds with his own department over the visa prices.

His office said that the higher fees were necessary given the drain new recipients are on the budget with their use of public services, figures provided by the department showed the exact opposite – new partners were contributing more through taxes than they were using on services.