Canberra sidesteps transparency by leaving thousands of visas off the books

A quiet visa carve-out leaves thousands of permanent residents uncounted, while the Government insists nothing has changed. Dr Abul Rizvi reports.

THE PACIFIC Engagement Visa (PEV) is a permanent resident visa granted to nationals from Pacific nations based on a lottery system.

It is Australia’s only permanent visa that is based on a lottery system (a silly way to select permanent migrants), but more importantly, it is Australia’s first permanent resident visa that is not counted in the permanent Migration Program at any point. This is effectively a means of increasing the size of the current migration program of 185,000 without telling the Australian public.

Last week, I asked the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) how many PEVs have been granted and why these have not been included in the 185,000 permanent Migration Program.

DHA advised that in 2024-25, 1,000 PEVs were granted. In its statistics reporting on the 185,000 outcome of the 2024-25 Migration Program (see data.gov.au), there is no mention of these 1,000 permanent resident visas. Moreover, there is no mention of the 3,000 places for the PEV in the 185,000 planning level for 2025-26.

I asked why these permanent visas are not included in the permanent Migration Program.

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DHA advised that:

‘Decisions regarding what is included in the Migration Program are a matter for government.’

Rather than providing a reason for why these permanent visas are not counted in the permanent Migration Program, DHA ducks the question. It is undoubtedly the case that DHA would have recommended the PEV be included in the formal Migration Program, consistent with longstanding practice. A minister would have made the decision not to do so.

Moreover, it appears the Minister has not explained that decision to DHA or told DHA not to use whatever explanation there was.

Three thousand visas are not many and the Government may argue that I am just being finicky. But this is a very slippery slope.

When the Government announced a new permanent visa for citizens of Tuvalu, the 280 places for that visa were also not included in the planning level for the 2025-26 permanent Migration Program.

The Government should simply come clean and either include the 3,280 places for these visas in the 185,000 places for the 2025-26 Migration Program or increase the size of the Program by 3,280.

For full transparency, the Government should also make a public commitment to always count all permanent resident visas in the formal Migration Program.

Given the focus on immigration levels, this is not a time to be playing visa-counting games.

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Dr Abul Rizvi is an Independent Australia columnist and a former Deputy Secretary of the Department of Immigration. You can follow Abul on Twitter @RizviAbul.