Australian visa overstayers could populate large town
November 21 2011 by Helen Johnson
Australia has some 60,000 illegal immigrants, largely made up of Britons, Chinese and Americans who have arrived on flights and overstayed their Australian visas.
This is according to a new report from the Herald Sun newspaper, which has uncovered the extent of the visa overstaying issue. The total number of these illegal overstayers could populate a large city, claims the newspaper, which adds that the figures show that one in every 390 people living in Australia is in the country illegally.
The issue has been highlighted by the Herald Sun to illustrate how the 4,700 asylum seekers arriving on boats in 2010-2011 pales in comparison to the numbers from the UK, the US, China and South East Asia who overstay their visas. However, the asylum seeker cases tend to attract much more negative media attention than the visa overstay issue.
Of the 60,000 illegals, 20,000 have been living in Australia for over a decade, while more than half have been in the country for at least five years. There are now calls to crack down on the visa system to try to reduce the ability for people to “work the system” and stay much longer than their Australian visas dictate.
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