Number of foreign workers in Australia

Adam made this Freedom of Information request to Services Australia

This request has been closed to new correspondence from the public body. Contact us if you think it ought be re-opened.

The request was refused by Services Australia.

Dear Department of Human Services,

Can you please tell me, the total number of foreign workers currently working in Australia. This includes people working on Student visa, dependent visa and all other kind of work visas and excluding only Permanent Residents / Citizens.

Yours faithfully,
Adam

FOI.LEGAL.TEAM,

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Dear Adam,

 

I refer to the attached correspondence received by the Department of Human
Services (department) on 29 October 2019, in which you requested access
under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) to certain documents.

 

The subject matter of your request closely relates to the functions of the
Department of Home Affairs.

 

I am writing to inform you that your request has been transferred to the
Department of Home Affairs under the provisions of section 16 of the FOI
Act on the basis that your request more closely relates to the
responsibilities and functions of that agency.

 

The Department of Home Affairs has agreed to accept the transfer and will
contact you shortly in relation to this matter.

 

Many thanks,

 

Reshma

Authorised FOI Decision Maker

Freedom of Information Legal Team

Employment Law and Freedom of Information Branch

Legal Services Division I Department of Human Services

 

This email and any attachments may contain information subject to legal
professional privilege or information that is otherwise sensitive or
confidential. If you are not the intended recipient of this email, you are
prohibited from using or disseminating this communication. If you have
received this communication in error please notify the sender immediately
and permanently delete this email.

 

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UNCLASSIFIED

In reply please quote:

FOI Request:         FA 19/11/00081

File Number:          ADF2019/308002

Dear Adam,

Acknowledgement of Freedom of Information Access request

I refer to your correspondence received on 29 October 2019 seeking access
to documents held by the Department of Human Services under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act).

You have requested access to the following:

The total number of foreign workers currently working in Australia. This
includes people working on Student visa, dependent visa and all other kind
of work visas and excluding only Permanent Residents/Citizens

The subject matter of the documents requested by you is more closely
connected with the functions of the Department of Home Affairs (the
Department) than the functions of the Department of Human Services.
As such, your request was transferred to the Department on 4 November 2019
under section 16 of the FOI Act.

Your request was received on 29 October 2019 and has been allocated FOI
request number FA 19/11/00081 . Please include your FOI request number in
all correspondence with the Freedom of Information Section.

Timeframe for receiving your decision

The statutory timeframe provided under the FOI Act for processing requests
is a standard 30 calendar days. FOI requests will generally be processed
in the order that they are received. 

 

Information regarding your review rights in relation to your request,
including processing timeframes are available at the website of the Office
of the Australian Information Commissioner.

 

[1]https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-infor....

Duplicate documents

If the FOI decision-maker deems a document to be a duplicate, they will
not assess those pages as part of your FOI request. This means that if a
there is a decision to release the document to you, you will receive only
one copy, even if multiple copies of that document exists.

Contacting the FOI Section

Should you wish to discuss your request you may contact the FOI Section at
[email address].

 

 

Yours sincerely,

 

FOI Officer

Freedom of Information National Office

FOI and Records Management Branch

Data Division | Corporate and Enabling Group

Department of Home Affairs | Email: [email address]

 

 

UNCLASSIFIED

 

Important Notice: The content of this email is intended only for use by
the individual or entity to whom it is addressed. If you have received
this email by mistake, please advise the sender and delete the message and
attachments immediately.  This email, including attachments, may contain
confidential, sensitive, legally privileged and/or copyright information.
 

Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of this information
by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. 
The Department of Home Affairs and ABF respect your privacy and have
obligations under the Privacy Act 1988.  

Unsolicited commercial emails MUST NOT be sent to the originator of this
email.

References

Visible links
1. https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-infor...

UNCLASSIFIED

In reply please quote:

FOI Request:         FA 19/11/00081

File Number:          ADF2019/308002

Dear Adam,

Clarification of Freedom of Information Access request

I refer to your correspondence received on 29 October 2019 seeking access
to documents held by the Department of Home Affairs under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act).

You have requested access to the following:

The total number of foreign workers currently working in Australia. This
includes people working on Student visa, dependent visa and all other kind
of work visas and excluding only Permanent Residents/Citizens

 

I have been advised by the business area that we are unable to provide
data on the total number of foreign workers “currently working in
Australia”. This is due to the fact that whilst a person may have work
rights on their visa, this does not necessarily mean that they are
currently employed.

 

In addition, “foreign workers” may be employed in Australia on a number of
visas that have working rights applied.

 

As such, please confirm if you are happy to amend your scope to request
data relating to the number of temporary visa holders in Australia who
hold work rights.

 

 

Yours sincerely,

 

FOI Officer

Freedom of Information National Office

FOI and Records Management Branch

Data Division | Corporate and Enabling Group

Department of Home Affairs | Email: [email address]

 

 

UNCLASSIFIED

 

From: FOI
Sent: Tuesday, 12 November 2019 11:37 AM
To: '[FOI #5809 email]'
<[FOI #5809 email]>
Subject: HPRM: Acknowledgement – FOI request FA 19/11/00081
[SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

 

UNCLASSIFIED

In reply please quote:

FOI Request:         FA 19/11/00081

File Number:          ADF2019/308002

Dear Adam,

Acknowledgement of Freedom of Information Access request

I refer to your correspondence received on 29 October 2019 seeking access
to documents held by the Department of Human Services under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act).

You have requested access to the following:

The total number of foreign workers currently working in Australia. This
includes people working on Student visa, dependent visa and all other kind
of work visas and excluding only Permanent Residents/Citizens

The subject matter of the documents requested by you is more closely
connected with the functions of the Department of Home Affairs (the
Department) than the functions of the Department of Human Services.
As such, your request was transferred to the Department on 4 November 2019
under section 16 of the FOI Act.

Your request was received on 29 October 2019 and has been allocated FOI
request number FA 19/11/00081 . Please include your FOI request number in
all correspondence with the Freedom of Information Section.

Timeframe for receiving your decision

The statutory timeframe provided under the FOI Act for processing requests
is a standard 30 calendar days. FOI requests will generally be processed
in the order that they are received. 

 

Information regarding your review rights in relation to your request,
including processing timeframes are available at the website of the Office
of the Australian Information Commissioner.

 

[1]https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-infor....

Duplicate documents

If the FOI decision-maker deems a document to be a duplicate, they will
not assess those pages as part of your FOI request. This means that if a
there is a decision to release the document to you, you will receive only
one copy, even if multiple copies of that document exists.

Contacting the FOI Section

Should you wish to discuss your request you may contact the FOI Section at
[2][email address].

 

 

Yours sincerely,

 

FOI Officer

Freedom of Information National Office

FOI and Records Management Branch

Data Division | Corporate and Enabling Group

Department of Home Affairs | Email: [3][email address]

 

 

 

UNCLASSIFIED

 

Important Notice: The content of this email is intended only for use by
the individual or entity to whom it is addressed. If you have received
this email by mistake, please advise the sender and delete the message and
attachments immediately.  This email, including attachments, may contain
confidential, sensitive, legally privileged and/or copyright information.
 

Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of this information
by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. 
The Department of Home Affairs and ABF respect your privacy and have
obligations under the Privacy Act 1988.  

Unsolicited commercial emails MUST NOT be sent to the originator of this
email.

References

Visible links
1. https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-infor...
2. mailto:[email address]
3. mailto:[email address]

Dear FOI,

The purpose of addressing this request to Department of Human Services was to get information specifically about employment and not about visa. I would like to inform you that my intention is specifically to know how many people in Australia who are neither Permanent residents nor citizens are working in Australia at the moment or in this FY. Many people may be having Australian temporary visas but may be anywhere in the world, may be doing anything which I am not concerned about. Or if I have to directly let you know what I want to understand is that, as per ABS statistics, in Oct '19, '12,935,700' people were employed and '722,400' people were unemployed. Out of those people who were employed in Australia, how many were Permanent residents & Citizens and how many were "others" (same info for unemployed people also)? I believe that whenever an employer employs a person, they would have his/her visa status and pass that information on-to respective Department or ATO at some point. So I think the information to my request may require co-ordination between Department of Human Services, Department of Home Affairs, ABS and ATO. So I kindly request you to please understand my intention and provide me the requested information.

Yours sincerely,

Adam

1 Attachment

UNCLASSIFIED

Our References: FA 19/11/00081 : ADF2019/308002

 

Dear Mr Adam,

This email refers to your FOI request received on 29 October 2019 seeking
access to:

 

The total number of foreign workers currently working in Australia. This
includes people working on Student visa, dependent visa and all other kind
of work visas and excluding only Permanent Residents/Citizens

 

The purpose of this email is to advise you (as required under s.24AB of
the FOI Act) that I consider a 'practical refusal reason' exists under
s.24AA of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) in relation to
your request.  I have set out my reasons in the attached notice. 

The FOI Act requires that you respond to this notice before the end of the
consultation period, which is close of business Australian Eastern
Standard Time (AEST) Thursday 28 May 2020.

As advised in the notice, you may reply to me at this email address
[1][email address].

 

 

Regards

 

FOI Team

Freedom of Information Section

Freedom of Information & Records Management Branch

Productivity and Compliance Division  | Corporate and Enabling Group

Department of Home Affairs

UNCLASSIFIED

 

Important Notice: The content of this email is intended only for use by
the individual or entity to whom it is addressed. If you have received
this email by mistake, please advise the sender and delete the message and
attachments immediately.  This email, including attachments, may contain
confidential, sensitive, legally privileged and/or copyright information.
 

Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of this information
by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. 
The Department of Home Affairs and ABF respect your privacy and have
obligations under the Privacy Act 1988.  

Unsolicited commercial emails MUST NOT be sent to the originator of this
email.

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]

UNCLASSIFIED

Dear Adam

 

Freedom of Information Request – FA 19/11/00081

I refer to your email dated 29 October 2019 in which you requested access
to documents held by Department of Home Affairs under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act).

 

Your FOI request received sought access to:

The total number of foreign workers currently working in Australia. This
includes people working on Student visa, dependent visa and all other kind
of work visas and excluding only Permanent Residents/Citizens

On 14 May 2020 the Department notified you of its intention to refuse your
request on the basis that either the work involved in processing your
request in its current form would substantially and unreasonably divert
the resources of Department from its other operations due to its broad
nature, size and complexity, or that the request does not satisfy the
requirement in section 15(2)(b) of the FOI Act, which requires you to
provide such information concerning the document you are seeking access
to, to enable the Department to be able to identify it.   

In particular, Department notified you that, within 14 days of receipt of
that letter, you must advise Department that:

 

·         you wish to make a revised request; or

·         indicate that you do not wish to revise your request; or

·         withdraw your request.

The 14 day period has now expired.  As such, in accordance with section
24AB(7) of the FOI Act, Department considers that your request has been
withdrawn.

If you have any enquiries concerning this matter, please do not hesitate
to contact an FOI officer at [1][email address]

 

Regards,

FOI Team

FOI and Records Management Branch

Data Division

Corporate and Enabling Group

E: [2][email address]

Department of Home Affairs | [3]www.homeaffairs.gov.au

 

 

UNCLASSIFIED

 

Important Notice: The content of this email is intended only for use by
the individual or entity to whom it is addressed. If you have received
this email by mistake, please advise the sender and delete the message and
attachments immediately.  This email, including attachments, may contain
confidential, sensitive, legally privileged and/or copyright information.
 

Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of this information
by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. 
The Department of Home Affairs and ABF respect your privacy and have
obligations under the Privacy Act 1988.  

Unsolicited commercial emails MUST NOT be sent to the originator of this
email.

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. mailto:[email address]
3. http://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/