more than five million australian visas are expected to be issued to students, tourists and workers this year    the biggest amount since world war ii as many as 19 million foreigners travelling on short term visas are predicted to be spending time down under at any one time throughout this year while a record 185,000 permanent migrants moved to australia in 1969   this figure is likely to be exceeded in 2015 as people are moving to the lucky country in droves more than five million visas are expected to be issued to students, tourists and workers this year to come to australia   the biggest amount since world war ii  as many as 19 million foreigners travelling on short term visas are predicted to be spending time down under at any one time throughout this year  secretary of the immigration department  michael pezzullo revealed these figures at a speech at the australian national university on tuesday night, fairfax media reported mr pezzullo said the challenges were on par to the high numbers in the aftermath of world war ii he said there were more east and southern asians than europeans moving to australia in what has been a quick and significant shift as the number of chinese born australians had tripled in the past 20 years 'this is equivalent to a migrant to population share of almost 28 per cent,' mr pezzullo said 'and the composition of that population is changing in ways that the proponents of 'white australia' could never have imagined' while a record 185,000 permanent migrants moved to australia in 1969   this figure is likely to be exceeded in 2015 as people are moving to the lucky country in droves  mr pezzullo pointed out that the nation's 'well crafted and targeted' immigration program towards skilled migrants was a significant factor to the increase of people uprooting to australia 'migrants enjoy high levels of economic participation as distinct from high levels of social exclusion and welfare dependency, he said 'immigration has beneficial impacts in terms of growth in the demand for goods and services, increases in national income and living standards, improved labour participation, expansion of the economy's productive capacity and growth in household consumption and public revenues,' mr pezzullo said
world war ii 1969 2015
19 million foreigners are likely to be in the country at any one time in 2015  this includes students, tourists and workers on short term visas  while permanent migrants is likely to exceed record of 185,000 set in 1969  the current visa figures compare to those in the aftermath of world war ii 