melbourne australias net migration intake will fall by as much as 80 in 202021 owing to covid19 induced travel bans according to a new government report indians the largest source of permanent migration to australia have already been hit hard as permits for permanent residency are taking substantially longer than usual this years economic and fiscal update for australia a report released by the treasury department on thursday has predicted that net overseas migration will fall to 31000 this financial year july 2020 june 2021 compared with 154000 in 201920 and 232000 in 201819 net overseas migration takes into account anyone who enters and stays in the country for 12 months these include those granted permanent residency temporary residents and studentsthe report noted that net overseas migration has been significantly affected by international travel restrictions and constraints on the ability of applicants to meet visa application requirements it observed that even if travel ban is lifted by january 2021 a mandatory twoweek quarantine period upon arrival may lead to a lower inflow of temporary and permanent migrants immigration experts said people can still submit visa applications and get assessed but wait time has increased mark glazbroo ceo of migration solutions in adelaide said skilled indians who want to move to australia may find it harder to realise their dreams this year india is the largest source of migration into australia for several years now but travel bans have affected this section and wait for permanent residency is much longer now earlier we used to get 1520 permanent residency approvals in a week and now we are getting only about two to three per week he told toi adding that lower migration rates will have a significant impact on the australian economy the latest available immigration figures reveal that out of 160323 permanent residencies issued in 201819 a total of 33611 went to indianswhen asked about the delay in processing permits an official at the department of home affairs told toi processing time varies according to individual circumstances and the complexity of the application in relation to assessment of identity health character and national security covid19 has had an impact on the departments visa operations including reduced availability of external services essential to visa assessments such as health character and biometric checks