Please Note: As announced by the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection on 25 June 2017, the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) retired the paper-based Outgoing Passenger Cards (OPC) from 1 July 2017. The information previously gathered via paper-based outgoing passenger cards is now be collated from existing government data and will continue to be provided to users. Further information can be accessed here: http://www.minister.border.gov.au/peterdutton/Pages/removal-of-the-outgoing-passenger-card-jun17.aspx.
Due to the retirement of the OPC, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) undertook a review of the OAD data based on a new methodology. Further information on this revised methodology is available at: http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Previousproducts/3401.0Appendix2Jul 2017?opendocument&tabname=Notes&prodno=3401.0&issue=Jul 2017&num=&view=
A sampling methodology has been applied to this dataset. This method means that data will not replicate, exactly, data released by the ABS, but the differences should be negligible.
Due to ‘Return to Source’ limitations, data supplied to ABS from non-DIPB sources are also excluded.
Overseas Arrivals and Departures (OAD) data refers to the arrival and departure of Australian residents or overseas visitors, through Australian airports and sea ports, which have been recorded on incoming or outgoing passenger cards. OAD data describes the number of movements of travellers rather than the number of travellers. That is, multiple movements of individual persons during a given reference period are all counted.
OAD data will differ from data derived from other sources, such as Migration Program Outcomes, Settlement Database or Visa Grant information.
Travellers granted a visa in one year may not arrive until the following year, or may not travel to Australia at all. Some visas permit multiple entries to Australia, so travellers may enter Australia more than once on a visa.
Settler Arrivals includes New Zealand citizens and other non-program settlers not included on the Settlement Database. The Settlement Database includes onshore processed grants not included in Settler Arrivals.