Investigations involving immigration overstayers tripled in the 2022-2023 financial year, highlighting what the Department of Immigration described as a growing enforcement priority.
Figures submitted by the Department of Immigration to the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence and tabled in Parliament last Friday, show overstayer investigations increased from one case in 2019-2020 to six cases in both 2020-2021 and 2021-2022, before surging to 18 cases in 2022-2023.
The data identified overstayers as one of the few investigation categories to record a consistent upward trend over the four-year period, contrasting with an overall decline in the department’s investigative workload.
While total investigations fell from 209 cases in 2019-2020 to 146 cases in 2022-2023, enforcement activity targeting overstayers moved in the opposite direction.
The report noted that the increase indicated “growing enforcement pressure on overstaying cases, particularly in the latest year”.
Overall, the department carried out 699 investigations between 2019 and 2023 across a range of immigration compliance categories.
Complaint-driven investigations remained the largest component, accounting for 507 cases or 73 per cent of all investigations.
The report also found that investor inspections declined sharply during the reporting period, dropping from 49 investigations in 2019-2020 to none in 2022-2023, while citizenship-related investigations fell from 19 cases to just one case annually over the final two years.
New investigation categories introduced in 2022-2023 included 16 refugee status determination (RSD) cases, 25 travel history requests, six marriage-related investigations and a number of permit referral, administration and legal advice matters.
According to the report, although the Department’s overall investigative workload has stabilised at around 145 cases annually, the sharp rise in overstayer investigations reflects a shift in enforcement priorities as immigration authorities strengthen compliance efforts.
