This report describes key findings from the department’s third Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Australia – LSIA 3. The LSIA 3 is a survey of approximately 10 000 Primary Applicants from the Family and Skill stream who either: arrived in Australia between December 2004 and March 2005; or were granted their visa onshore between December 2004 and March 2005. So far, migrants have been surveyed in two waves - wave one was run in August 2005 (approximately six months after arrival or grant of visa onshore) and wave two was run 12 months later. A third wave is planned for 2008.

The most significant finding of the report is the dramatic reduction in the unemployment rate between wave one and wave two of LSIA 3. This improvement is experienced by both streams with Skill stream unemployment falling from 9 per cent at wave one to 3 per cent at wave two, and Family stream unemployment falling from 20 per cent to just 6 per cent.