📊 Latest dataset refresh: • Independent tracker using official-source data only • Sources: ABS 3412.0 & 3401.0 · Home Affairs
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Data Sources & Architecture

Every figure on this site traces back to an official Australian Government publication. Here's exactly where the data comes from and how it flows into the system.

⚠️ Why no real-time immigration API? The Australian Government does not expose a public real-time API for individual immigration status — this data is protected under the Privacy Act 1988. What IS publicly available is aggregated statistical data published on a regular cadence by ABS and Home Affairs. This site ingests those official datasets automatically.
Official Sources

Where the Data Comes From

📊 Australian Bureau of Statistics — Overseas Migration (Cat. 3412.0)
Official Quarterly

Net Overseas Migration (NOM) data — the number of people who add to or subtract from Australia's population through international migration. Broken down by country of birth, visa group, state/territory, age, and sex. Published approximately 3 months after each quarter end. The ABS uses the "12/16 month rule" — a person is counted as a migrant arrival if they stay in Australia for 12+ months within a 16-month period.

1
ABS receives movement records from Home Affairs' Travel and Immigration Processing System (TRIPS) each month
2
Records are matched to arrival/departure patterns and duration of stay is calculated
3
NOM is estimated quarterly and published as downloadable files on the ABS website
4
This site's data pipeline ingests and stores those figures automatically each month

→ ABS Overseas Migration (3412.0) — Latest Release
✈️ Australian Bureau of Statistics — Overseas Arrivals & Departures (Cat. 3401.0)
Official Monthly

Monthly count of all movements through Australian air and sea ports by traveller category (short-term visitor, student, temporary resident, settler), visa group, country of citizenship, and state of clearance. Published with a 6–8 week lag. Note: this counts movements, not unique people — a person entering twice is counted twice.

→ ABS Overseas Arrivals & Departures (3401.0) — Latest Release
🏛️ Department of Home Affairs — Live Visa Statistics
Official Quarterly Annual

Home Affairs publishes several key datasets: the annual Migration Program outcomes (permanent visa grants by stream — Skilled, Family, Humanitarian, Special Eligibility); the Temporary Entrants Program (quarterly snapshot of all temporary visa holders in Australia); Overseas Arrivals & Departures by visa group; and immigration detention statistics (updated regularly).

→ Home Affairs — Live Visa Statistics
→ Home Affairs — Migration Program Outcomes
🗂️ data.gov.au — Australian Government Open Data Portal
Open Data

The central Australian government open-data portal hosts machine-readable immigration datasets including visitor visa grants, Working Holiday Maker visa statistics, 482/457 skilled visa data, and Overseas Arrivals & Departures pivot tables — all freely available as downloadable files.

→ data.gov.au — Immigration Datasets
Technical

How It Works

🔄 Data Pipeline
1
Ingest — Scheduled jobs run monthly, downloading the latest statistical releases from ABS and Home Affairs.
2
Parse — Releases are parsed into structured records (quarterly NOM estimates, monthly arrival counts, annual visa grant totals).
3
Store — Records are stored in a relational database with upsert logic to handle revised preliminary figures.
4
Serve — The dashboard reads from the database and falls back to the latest known values if a refresh hasn't run yet.
📅 Update Schedule
DatasetSourceFrequencyTypical Lag
Net Overseas MigrationABS 3412.0Quarterly~3 months after quarter end
Overseas Arrivals & DeparturesABS 3401.0Monthly6–8 weeks
Permanent Visa GrantsHome AffairsAnnual~3 months after financial year end
Temporary Entrants StockHome AffairsQuarterly~6 weeks after quarter end