Filipino Australian

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Filipino Australians are Australian citizens or residents of Philippine origin.

Australia recorded about 127,000 Filipinos and/or Filipino-Australians in 2000. All Filipinos in Australia have permanent residency or are Australian citizens because Australia does not yet issue working visas to Filipinos. Despite this, there are still a very small number who live in Australia illegally; many of which have simply overstayed their visa. About 50% of Filipino-Australians live in the state of New South Wales, with about 40,000 of them living in the Sydney suburb of Blacktown.

The main criteria to enable a Filipino migrate to Australia are skills and education, thus most of the Filipino migrants in Australia are professionals and skilled people. Most Filipino-Australians hold very good positions as health professionals, educators, engineers, computer programmers, trades people and even as public servants. There is also a large number of Filipino migrants who are employed in the blue collar industries, such as factory workers, hospitalility workers and construction labourers.

Some better known Australians with Filipino heritage include

• Kate Ceberano, a Sydney based singer (and sometimes actress).
• Jeff Hewitt, a Perth based standup comedian.
• Kathleen de Leon, a member of Hi-5