China tops UK in number of new Australian immigration arrivals

China has topped the UK to become the country with the highest number of citizens emigrating to Australia.

It marks the first time in Australian immigration history that China has topped the UK, highlighting the strong ties between Australia and the world's fastest-growing economy.

While the number of Brits arriving in Australia during the 2010/11 migration year remained strong with 23,931 new migrants, the number of Chinese arrivals was higher at 29,547 - approx. 17.5 per cent of the total migration program.

The country supplying the third most migrants was India, with 21,768 arrivals. Speaking on the General Skilled Migration (GSM) program, Australian Immigration Minister Chris Bowen made the following comments:

"Skilled migrants deliver significant benefits to the Australian economy as their employment contributes to economic growth and their relative youth offsets some of the impacts of the aging labor force."

The Australian Visa Bureau is an independent consulting company specialising in helping people lodge their Australian visa application with the Australian High Commission.