Overseas Arrivals and Departures

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.\r\n\r\nDue 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%202017?opendocument&tabname=Notes&prodno=3401.0&issue=Jul%202017&num=&view= \r\n\r\nA 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.\r\n\r\nDue to ‘Return to Source’ limitations, data supplied to ABS from non-DIPB sources are also excluded.\r\n\r\nOverseas 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.\r\nOAD data will differ from data derived from other sources, such as Migration Program Outcomes, Settlement Database or Visa Grant information.\r\nTravellers 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.\r\nSettler 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.\r\n\r\nThese de-identified statistics are periodically checked for privacy and other compliance requirements. The statistics were temporarily removed in March 2024 in response to a question about privacy within the emerging technological environment. Following a thorough review and risk assessment, the Department of Home Affairs has republished the dataset.\r\n