More than 100,000 people with rejected asylum seeker applications have stayed in Australia, many of whom are now undocumented workers, in a sign of the government’s ongoing struggle to make people leave the country once their visa claims are ruled invalid. Just 14 per cent of asylum claims the Home Affairs Department processed last financial year were deemed to be legitimate. Experts have for years warned that wait times for protection claims have created a loophole that allows people whose temporary visas have expired to keep working in Australia by applying for asylum and then entering a drawn-out appeal process. There were 23,576 people who applied for asylum in Australia in the 2024-25 financial year – slightly below the 25,210 who made claims the year before, when applications reached a six-year high. Applicants from India overtook those from Vietnam and China in putting in the largest number of claims, at about 11 per cent of the caseload.