Regulating migrant worker temporariness in Australia: the role of immigration, employment and post-arrival support policies

This article examines how the interaction of migrant agency and policy arrangements influence different forms of regulated temporariness in Australia’s temporary migration regime. It analyses regulated temporariness under the temporary skilled visa, the Seasonal Workers Program, working holidaymaker visa and international student visa schemes. The findings demonstrate that migrant temporariness is a form of insecurity driven not only by policies governing migrants’ entry and stay, as existing migration studies theories emphasise, but also by the insecurity of their employment and settlement. This highlights the importance of employment regulations and post-arrival support policies in determining whether temporary migrants attain their migration objectives, which is a key factor shaping temporariness as a category of practice.