Argentines in Australia: the connection you meet in Argentina

The 2021 Australian Census counted 17,977 residents born in Argentina. That’s a snapshot of people living in Australia then. Anyone who had already returned to Argentina is outside it.

How many Argentines have lived in Australia?

The Australian Bureau of Statistics counted 17,977 Argentina-born usual residents in 2021. Of those, 11,685 were Australian citizens, and 4,960 reported arriving between 2016 and 2021. Birthplace, citizenship and ancestry answer different questions. Someone born in Argentina can become Australian; an Australian born to Argentine parents does not enter the Argentina-born total.

DFAT's Argentina country brief quotes 15,712 Australian residents of Argentine descent from the same census. Ancestry is not birthplace. Both figures cover residents at census time, not people who had already moved back to Argentina.

There is traffic in the other direction as well. DFAT records 14,797 Argentine visitors to Australia in 2024–25, 3,584 Argentine students in Australia in calendar 2024, and 4,986 Australian visitors to Argentina in 2023–24. Different periods, different groups: don’t add those numbers together.

What does the working-holiday figure actually count?

Argentina and Australia have had a reciprocal Work and Holiday arrangement since 2011, according to DFAT. For Argentines travelling to Australia, the relevant Australian visa is Work and Holiday subclass 462. Home Affairs' country-cap page displayed an annual first-visa grant cap of 3,400 for Argentina when checked in September 2026. That cap limits first grants. It says nothing about how many Argentines live in Australia.

The Home Affairs Working Holiday Maker report provides a different, dated measure: 6,323 subclass 462 grants to Argentine citizens in 2024–25. These comprise 3,007 first, 2,418 second and 898 third grants. Second and third visas explain why the total tops the first-visa cap. Grants are approvals, not arrivals. The cap page's application status changes; anyone planning an Australia-bound application should read Home Affairs' live country-cap status.

If you are travelling from Australia to Argentina instead, subclass 462 is the wrong direction. The Argentine government's Australian Work and Holiday programme publishes an annual quota of 1,500 Australian participants. The Argentina work-and-holiday article covers that separate route; don't take the Australian grant cap as your Argentine visa allocation.

Where did the connection start?

Australia and Argentina established diplomatic relations in December 1959. Australia's first ambassador arrived in Buenos Aires in 1964. DFAT identifies continuing work together on agriculture, mining, Antarctic matters and the Cairns Group.

One tempting bit of history belongs on the other side of the border. The New Australia settlement founded by William Lane in 1893 was in Paraguay, near Asunción, according to the National Library of Australia. Wrong side of the border for an Argentina origin story.

What might an Australian newcomer recognise?

There’s no verified count here of Australian-born residents in Argentina. For a shared sporting connection, see the Wallabies–Pumas rivalry; to find fellow Australians, try ways to meet Australians in Buenos Aires.