How many Australians living in New York is a question that is often asked, but challenging to answer. This report attempts to answer the perennial question based on data directly obtained from the US Government.

We can see from the data that COVID-19 severely impacted the number of Australians entering the U.S. on tourist visas. A separate report answers the number of Australian who repatriated in 2020.

Much of this report is based on I-94 data – that is every time an Australian enters the US – and not the number of unique Australians living in America. Looking at the raw I-94 data we can see that the vast majority of Australians entering the US are on tourist visas.

Australian Citizens Entering the United States on an I-94

2022 I-94 data has not been released, but based on the surge of non-immigrant visas in 2022, we can interpolate that there were around one million Australian tourist crossings into the U.S. This is well above the 23,096 in 2021 and 532,815 in 2020.

However, the number is well below the 1,369,855 border crossings by tourists in 2019.

Entering the U.S. on B Visas

B Visa crossings also saw a rebound from 1,917 in 2021 to 4,697 in 2022.

Non-Immigrant Visas issued to Australians living in America

To understand how many Australians are living in the U.S., we first need to look at the total number of non-immigrant visas issued. Given, non-immigrant visas expire every two years, adding the latest two years of data will give a rough estimate.

In 2020, the total number of Australians issued with Non-Immigrant visas declined by more than 50%, and then another 36% in 2021!

However, we witnessed a sharp increase of 124% in visas issued to Australians in 2022 over 2021 to 31,825 visas. However, in real terms, this only brings us level to the number of visas issued in 2009.

Based on these numbers, it is estimated that there were approximately 46,000 Australians on non-immigrant visas living in America at the end of 2022.

E-3 Visas issued to Australians living in America

The E-3 visa category rebounded in 2022 with 4,371 E-3s, 3,729 E-3Ds, and 2,631 E-3 Rs. This represented approximately 30% of the total non-immigrant visas issued to Australians that year.

E-3 Visa Denials

The number of E-3 visas denied in 2022, as a percentage, rose sharply over 2021. There is not a large number of denials so this may just be an anomaly.

Is the E-3 Visa returning to the Mean?

Prior to the Pandemic, the floor for monthly E-3 visa approvals was around 400 visas with peaks above 500. Since early 2022 we have had a return to the mean with that same floor of 400 and a peak of 583 in September 2022.

Whether these numbers are backfilling the demand for work visas, or we are seeing continued growth will remain to be seen in the coming months.

2022 only saw 4,371 E-3 visa approvals both from Consulate and I-129 applications. This is still well short of the 10,500 cap and poses a significant risk to future Australians finding work in the U.S. should proposed changes to the E-3 Legislation pass in 2024.

You can read more in our article Vale the E-3 Visa?

Other Nations on the E-3D Visa.

Another remarkable chart is the spouses and children on an E-3D, who are not Australian citizens. In 2022, there were 2,622 Australians and 667 Nationals from countries on an E-3D visa.

Let’s not forget Green Cards 

Unlike non-immigrant visas, Australians on Green Cards over the past decade have not seen sharp increases or decreases. In fact, Australians on employee-sponsored Green Cards have steadily increased.

Unlike other nationalities who immediately take U.S. citizenship after five years, it is not uncommon to see Australians who are U.S. Permanent Residents for more than a decade and may never take U.S. citizenship. Others take citizenship if married to an American for Estate Planning purposes so as to take advantage of unlimited Gifting between (U.S. citizen) spouses.

Given that since 2006, 43,972 Australians received Green Cards, it would not be beyond the realm of possibility that there are more than 50,000 Australians currently in America either on a Green Card or have taken citizenship – factoring death or repatriation.

Where are Australians on an E-3 Living in America?

New York has consistently led California as the preferred destination for Australians working on the E-3 visa. This is calculated by the destination recorded by Australians on their I-94 form.

Based on this data, around 30% of E-3 holders live in New York, and around 25% live in California. We can further interpolate that if there are c.46,000 Australians on non-immigrant visas, around 14,000 live in New York, and 11,500 live in California.

So, How Many Australians are living in the U.S.?

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2021 there were 97,815 Australians in America.

Our data is that at the end of 2022, there were c.46,000 Australians on non-immigrant visas. , c.50,000 Permanent Residents and Dual Citizens, i.e 96,000.

Tourists notwithstanding, for those asking how many Australians live in New York, the best estimate is 28,800 and California is 24,000 Australians.

Further Reading

We published two articles on Repatriation that may be of interest:

Australian Repatriation During COVID-19

Repatriating to Australia: The Survey

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