The main issue is that the "boat people" tag is an easier target for pollies, when there are other bigger immigration issues such as persons overstaying visa's.
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There are 13 times more illegal immigrants than there are asylum seekers in detention who have arrived by boat.
Figures obtained by The Advertiser from the Immigration Department and under the Freedom of Information Act show plane arrivals from the United States (5080) and Britain (3610) are near the top of the list of those in the country without a valid visa. China (8070), and Malaysia (4200) round out the top four.
There are 4446 detained boat people, the largest national grouping of which are Afghans (1422).
Three in four of the 58,400 visa overstayers came on tourist or holiday-working visas; one in seven arrived as students and one in 15 disappeared after being granted temporary residency.
Last year, only 6720 visa overstayers were sent home, most voluntarily, after applications to stay longer were rejected.
The US Government refused to answer questions about how it tried to stop visa overstayers but British Deputy High Commissioner Jolyon Welsh was critical of those who broke the rules.
Mr Welsh said only limited help was given to visa overstayers who were deported and had travel restrictions imposed. "My strong advice to British nationals is that they make sure they have the right visa for what they want to do and stay within the terms of that visa," Mr Welsh said.
Other details provided by the Immigration Department include:
MORE than half of the overstayers have called Australia home for five or more years.
ABOUT 20,000 have lived here a decade or more.
TWO in three have evaded immigration authorities for more than two years.
The figures do not include thousands of visitors who overstay their visas by up to a fortnight.
Refugee Council of Australia chief executive officer Paul Power said the figures helped put boat arrivals into context.
"The impact of boat arrivals on Australia's migration program is very small," he said.
"Political leaders continue to add to public fears about people arriving by boat but they make little or no effort to put the small number of asylum seekers entering Australia into any global context. Little attention is paid to the fact that so many asylum seekers who arrive by boat are found to have well-founded fears of persecution."
But Ethnic Communities' Council chairman Sam Afra said more should be done to round up visa overstayers and send them home. "It's shocking - to have one in three who have been here more than 10 years (suggests) something's wrong with the system," he said.
Mr Afra said illegal overstayers hurt everyone, including legitimate migrants and refugees, by taking jobs and housing, using public services and not paying tax.
Monash University migration expert Bob Birrell said tens of thousands of foreign students, who had expected to get residency here once their course was finished, were now scrambling to find ways to stay after immigration laws were tightened last year. "A surge in the number of students who have overstayed without any form of bridging visa is a reflection of their desire to extend their stay by hook or by crook," he said.
There were 10,600 more visa overstayers at June 30 last year than in 2005.
A spokesman for Immigration Minister Chris Bowen said less than 0.1 percent of visitors overstayed visas and many only for short times before leaving without immigration's involvement.
The 58,000 represents only around one fifth of those who overstay their visas, most being found and sent home within the first two weeks after the document expires.
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