Australian Immigration – A Big Slowdown in Muslim Migration

The Australian government and the opposition are in agreement in keeping Australian immigration policy non-discriminatory.

The Australian government is proud of the fact. Yet some clauses in the policy are slowing down the migration of Muslims from the Middle East. This might not be the exact aim for issuing such policy but it is affecting the pace of Australian immigration for Muslims.

According to statistics of The Australian, migration rate has notably slowed down from Lebanon and there’s no rush visible soon.

The government responded to this statistics by saying that this decrease in a number of Muslim migrants from the Middle East has nothing to do with religion. We don’t ask the applicants to mention their faith to process the immigration application.

The new policy focuses on increasing the number of skilled workers and family reunions. This is an indirect effect of that policy.

Today, India and China are the largest permanent migrants’ source countries with arrivals as high as 34,874 and 27,874 respectively.

The strategy is not deliberate. Islam was once the highest growing religion in Australia, but now Buddhists are increasing with fast pace followed by Hindus.

James Jupp, an eminent immigration scholar from Australian National University told The Australian that there are some politicians who favour Christians and Jews over Muslims. But the Australian Immigration department will never admit this based that most immigration decisions are taken on local grounds.

Read More: Australian Immigration for Pakistani

Mehmet Ozalp, Director of Islamic Sciences & Research Academy Australia, said that the Muslim community can’t help but notice that the number of Muslim migrants from the Middle East is decreasing day by day. They were increasing rapidly about 10 years ago whereas Buddhists and Hindus were comparatively very small in number. Today, the opposite is happening.

Ozalp further added that why does it concern Muslim community in Australia. That’s because we have been witnessing calls for banning Muslim migration in Australia. Considering the situation, it is possible that the parliament might respond positively to these calls.

Jamal Rifi, the Muslim community leader in Australia clarifies that there is nothing to do with religion or faith. Australian Immigration policy is not at all anti-Muslim.