Vietnamese Australians
| Total population | |
|---|---|
|
205,039 (Vietnam-born) 221,114 (Vietnamese ancestry) 2011 |
|
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane | |
| Languages | |
| Australian English, Vietnamese | |
| Religion | |
| Buddhism, Christianity, Taoism, Confucianism, Other |
Vietnamese Australians (Vietnamese: Người Úc gốc Việt) are Australians of Vietnamese ancestry, or people who migrated to Australia from Vietnam. Communities of overseas Vietnamese are referred to as Việt Kiều or người Việt hải ngoại.
Up until 1975 there were fewer than 2,000 Vietnam-born people in Australia. Following the takeover of South Vietnam by the North Vietnamese communist government in April 1975, Australia, being a signatory to the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, agreed to resettle its share of Vietnam-born refugees under a refugee resettlement plan between 1975 and 1985. After the initial intake of refugees in the late 1970s, there was a second immigration peak in 1983-84, most likely a result of the 1982 agreement between the Australian and Vietnamese governments (the Orderly Departure Program) which allowed relatives of Vietnamese Australians to leave Vietnam and migrate to Australia. A third immigration peak in the late 1980s seems to have been mainly due to Australia's family reunion scheme. Over 90,000 refugees were processed, and entered Australia during this time.
By the 1990s, the number of Vietnam-born migrating to Australia had surpassed the number entering as refugees. From 1991-93, the percentage of Vietnam-born migrants had reached 77 per cent of the total intake of Vietnam-born arriving in Australia, and by 2000, the percentage of Vietnam-born migrants had climbed to 98 per cent. In 2001-2002, 1,919 Vietnam-born migrants and 44 humanitarian entrants settled in Australia.
Vietnamese Australians vary in income and social class levels. Australian born Vietnamese Australians are highly represented in Australian universities and many professions (particularly as information technology workers, engineers, doctors and pharmacists), while many other members in the community are subject to high unemployment rates, poverty and crime.
Vietnamese Australians have an exceptionally low rate of return migration to Vietnam. In December 2001, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade estimated that there were 3,950 Australian citizens resident in Vietnam. It is not clear what proportion of this number are returned emigrants with Australian citizenship or their Vietnamese Australian children, and what number is simply other Australians in Vietnam for business or other reasons. The greater proportion (3,000) were recorded in the south of the country.
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