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Precarious experiences of Indians in Australia on 457 temporary work visas

Author

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  • Selvaraj Velayutham

Abstract

The study of temporary skilled migration in Australia is relatively new. As a rapidly emerging source of labour and settlers for Australia’s immigration programme, temporary skilled migration will have a major and potentially long-lasting impact on Australia. Since the mid-1990s, temporary skilled migration (under the subclass 457 visa programme) has overtaken permanent migration to Australia. India is now the largest and fastest growing source of temporary skilled migrants. This is a major new development in Australian migration history; yet, to date, there has been little qualitative research into the subjective experiences, motivations and settlement patterns of Indian temporary skilled migrants in Australia, from the perspective of the migrant. This article presents findings from a 3-year qualitative study on the experiences of temporary skilled migrants from India living and working in Australia. It argues that many of the quantitative studies on this topic fail to offer a nuanced reading of these workers’ experiences in Australia, in particular, their situations of vulnerability engendered by the recruitment process, visa conditions, unlawful employment practices and living arrangements.

Suggested Citation

  • Selvaraj Velayutham, 2013. "Precarious experiences of Indians in Australia on 457 temporary work visas," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 24(3), pages 340-361, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ecolab:v:24:y:2013:i:3:p:340-361
    DOI: 10.1177/1035304613495268
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Julia Connell & John Burgess, 2009. "Migrant workers, migrant work, public policy and human resource management," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 30(5), pages 412-421, August.
    2. Stefanie Toh & Michael Quinlan, 2009. "Safeguarding the global contingent workforce? Guestworkers in Australia," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 30(5), pages 453-471, August.
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    Cited by:

    1. John Burgess & Roslyn Cameron & Al Rainnie, 2014. "Contemporary research on work, workplaces and industrial relations in Australia," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 25(1), pages 5-9, March.
    2. Richard Curtain & Matthew Dornan & Stephen Howes & Henry Sherrell, 2018. "Pacific seasonal workers: Learning from the contrasting temporary migration outcomes in Australian and New Zealand horticulture," Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 5(3), pages 462-480, September.
    3. Agnieszka Kosny & Basak Yanar & Momtaz Begum & Dina Al-khooly & Stephanie Premji & Morgan A. Lay & Peter M. Smith, 2020. "Safe Employment Integration of Recent Immigrants and Refugees," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 807-827, September.
    4. Dominika Polkowska & Kamil Filipek, 2020. "Grateful Precarious Worker? Ukrainian Migrants in Poland," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 52(3), pages 564-581, September.
    5. Stephen Clibborn & Chris F. Wright, 2022. "The Efficiencies and Inequities of Australia's Temporary Labour Migration Regime," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 55(2), pages 254-262, June.
    6. Chris F Wright & Stephen Clibborn, 2020. "A guest-worker state? The declining power and agency of migrant labour in Australia," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 31(1), pages 34-58, March.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    India; migration; precarious work; vulnerable workers;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers

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