In and out of Australia: rethinking Indian and Chinese skilled migration to Australia

Abstract

China and India, with four out of ten of the world's inhabitants, must loom large in any discussion of global international migration, especially so-called South-North migration. They have become major sources of migrants to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) nations. This paper focuses on the migration relationship between China and India and one of the OECD nations, Australia. Australian international migration data allow a comprehensive picture of all movement in and out of the country to be made, and for this article, flows with China and India are analysed. It is argued that the migration relationship is best depicted as a complex migration system involving flows in both directions and circularity, reciprocity, and remigration. A conceptual scheme is developed to identify the main components of the migration system and it is shown that many migrants transit between the different elements in the system. The analysis demonstrates that the traditional conceptualisation of the migration relationship between India and China on the one hand and high income countries on the other hand as being 'South-North' in nature is inappropriate. Some of the implications of reconceptualising mobility in this way for understanding the migration process and for the development of migration policy in China, India and Australia are discussed.