Australia’s annual permanent migration intake fell to the lowest level in over a decade as the government’s focus shifts towards settling more migrants in regional Australia.

A total of 160,323 permanent visas were granted in 2018-19, while the migration planning level cap remained 190,000. The intake is the lowest since 2008 when under 159,000 visas were issued.

Earlier this year, the government cut the annual migration cap by 30,000 to maintain the intake at 160,000 for the next four years.

Immigration Minister David Coleman said the government’s push is now on regional migration.

“Our population plan will ease the pressure on the big capitals while supporting the growth of those smaller cities and regions that want more people,” Mr Coleman said.

“This year, we’ve reduced the cap for the Migration Program from 190,000 to 160,000.

“We’re also dedicating 23,000 places for regional skilled migrants and have announced two new regional visas to help fill some of the tens of thousands of job vacancies in regional Australia."

“We’re directing migration to those smaller cities and regional areas that are crying out for more people and those regional economies that simply cannot fill jobs with local workers.”

While the number of visa places for Australia’s regions has been jacked up, Skilled Independent visa stream has been cut to less than half, slashing it from nearly 44,000 to under 19,000 this year. Skilled independent visas allow visa holders to settle anywhere in Australia without any conditions.