Apart from the concepts relating to variables originating from the Department of Home Affairs Permanent Migrant Data (PMD) (i.e. visa stream, offshore/onshore applicant, main/secondary applicant, citizenship country), all other terms and definitions relate to Census variables and the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS).
See the Census Dictionary for more detail on Census items. Further information regarding the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) can be found at Statistical Geography.
Australian citizen
Persons who arrived to live in Australia on a permanent or temporary visa and have since obtained Australian citizenship.
Being an Australian citizen formalises a person's membership of the Australian community. It entitles a person to live permanently in Australia, hold an Australian passport and do such things as vote to elect Australia's governments, stand for parliament, work in the Public Service and serve in the armed forces. A person may acquire Australian citizenship in a number of ways, for example, by birth, adoption, descent, resumption or grant of Australian citizenship (naturalisation). Migrants no longer require a visa once citizenship is granted.
- General residence eligibility - Migrants can apply for Citizenship after residing in Australia holding a visa for four years immediately before applying. This must include the last 12 months as a permanent resident. In addition they must not have been absent from Australia for more than one year in total, in the 4 year period, including no more than 90 days absent in the year before applying.
Australian Standard Classification of Education (ASCED)
The ASCED is a national standard classification which includes all sectors of the Australian education system: that is, schools, vocational education and training, and higher education. From 2001 ASCED replaced a number of classifications used in administrative and statistical systems, including the Australian Bureau of Statistics Classifications of Qualifications (ABSCQ). The ASCED comprises two classifications: Level of Education and Field of Education. See Australian Standard Classification of Education (ASCED), 2001 (cat. no. 1272.0).
Citizenship country
The country of citizenship of the visa applicant or visa holder. Where a visa applicant or visa holder has more than one citizenship country, either the citizenship of the travel document or the citizenship nominated by the visa applicant is used. A citizenship country of 'Not Specified' can result from eligible dual nationality applicants where the non-eligible nationality has been recorded for the visa application
Country of birth
Country of birth has been classified according to the Standard Australian Classification of Countries (SACC), 2016 (cat. no. 1269.0).
Employed
Persons who, during the week prior to the Census on 9 August 2016 (last week) worked for one hour or more for pay, profit, commission or payment in kind in a job, business or farm (comprising employees, employers and own account workers); or worked for one hour or more without pay in a family business or on a farm (i.e. contributing family workers); or were employees who had a job but were not at work.
Employed full time
Employed persons who usually worked 35 hours or more a week (in all jobs) and those who, although usually working less than 35 hours a week, worked 35 hours or more during the reference week.
Employed part time
Employed persons who usually worked less than 35 hours or more a week (in all jobs) and either did so during the reference week, or were not at work in the reference week.
Family migrants
Persons who have arrived in Australia on a Child, Partner, Parent or Other Family stream visa. These migrants are selected on the basis of their family relationship (spouse, de facto partner, intent to marry, child, parent, other family) with their sponsor who is an Australian citizen, permanent resident, or eligible New Zealand Citizen.
Humanitarian migrants
Includes permanent entrants under the Offshore Humanitarian Program, as well as those who were granted permanent protection post-arrival in Australia.
Industry
Industry is classified according to the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC), 2006 (cat. no. 1292.0.55.002).
Labour force
Persons who were in the categories 'employed' or 'unemployed' as defined.
Level of highest non-school qualification
Level of highest non-school qualification identifies the highest qualification a person has attained in any area of study. It is not a measurement of the relative importance of different fields of study but a ranking of qualifications and other educational attainments regardless of the particular area of study or the type of institution in which the study was undertaken. It is categorised according to the Australian Standard Classification of Education (ASCED), 2001 (cat. no. 1272.0) Level of Education classification.
Main applicant
The 'main applicant' is generally the person whose skills or proposed activities in Australia are assessed by the Department of Home Affairs as part of their visa application. They will usually have been specifically identified on the application form as the 'main applicant'.
Main field of non-school qualification
Main field of non-school qualification is defined as the subject matter of the qualification. It is categorised according to the Australian Standard Classification of Education (ASCED), 2001 (cat. no. 1272.0) Field of Education classification.
Non-school qualification
Non-school qualifications are awarded for educational attainments other than those of pre-primary, primary or secondary education. They include qualifications at the Postgraduate Degree level, Master Degree level, Graduate Diploma and Graduate Certificate level, Bachelor Degree level, Advanced Diploma and Diploma level, and Certificates I, II, III and IV levels. Non-school qualifications may be obtained concurrently with school qualifications.
Not in the labour force
Persons who were not in the categories 'employed' or 'unemployed' as defined.
Occupation
Occupation is classified according to the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations, 2013, Version 1.2 (cat. no. 1220.0).
Offshore applicant
A person who has applied from outside of Australia for a permanent entry visa is called an 'offshore' applicant. For an offshore applicant, their arrival date is recorded when the applicant arrives in Australia on that permanent visa.
Onshore applicant
A person who has applied for a permanent visa from within Australia (e.g. maybe on a temporary visa and wishes to remain in Australia, such as a student or a temporary worker) is classified as an 'Onshore' applicant. For a person who applies onshore, their arrival date is the date of their last entry into Australia.
Other Permanent visa
Includes all other permanent visa categories (not included in the Skill, Family or Humanitarian streams) such as Former Citizen or Former resident (151,152) and Resolution of Status (851) or where the type of permanent visa could not be determined.
Permanent visa
The permission or authority granted by Australia for foreign nationals to live in Australia permanently.
Permanent migrant
A person who was born overseas, was not an Australian citizen or New Zealand citizen on arrival, does not currently hold New Zealand citizenship, and has permanent Australian resident status.
Skilled migrants
Persons who have arrived in Australia on a Skill stream visa. The Skill stream consists of a number of categories for prospective migrants where there is demand in Australia for their particular skills. They could be nominated by an employer or State/Territory Government, apply under points based Skilled Migration, have outstanding talents or demonstrated business skills.
Secondary applicant
A person whose visa was granted on the basis of being the family member (e.g. spouse, dependent child) of a person who qualified for a visa. They will have been identified on the visa application as an 'other' or secondary applicant with the person who met the visa criteria being specifically identified on the visa application as the 'main applicant'. Secondary applicants are included in the same visa stream as the main applicant. For example, family members granted permanent visas where the main applicant has been granted a Skilled stream visa, will all enter Australia under a Skilled stream visa.
Unemployed
Persons aged 15 years and over who were not employed last week (at the time of the Census), and had actively looked for full-time or part-time work at any time in the last four weeks and were available and could have started work last week if the job had been available then.
Visa stream (permanent)
The permanent visa subclasses held by individuals are categorised into the following visa streams.
- Skill stream
- Family stream
- Humanitarian stream
- Other Permanent visa stream
For more information see Glossary entries on Skilled migrants, Family migrants, Humanitarian migrants and Other Permanent visa.
Year of arrival
All overseas born people, in scope for the Census, are asked to report when they first came to Australia to live for one year or more. The Census Year of arrival (YARP) is a different concept from the arrival date recorded in the Permanent Migrant Data.
The arrival date in the Permanent Migrant Data reflects an individuals latest arrival date pertaining to their latest permanent visa. For this reason, while the scope of the Australian Census and Migrants Integrated Dataset is restricted to those permanent migrants with an arrival date from 1 January 2000 - 9 August 2016, it is quite valid for people to have reported an earlier date of arrival on the Census (i.e. prior to 2000). Note that a migrant may have been resident in Australia for a number of years prior to having been granted a permanent visa so their Census arrival date may relate to an earlier temporary visa.