Meet Sachin. Indian migration
He moved to Melbourne over ten years ago, is in his mid-30s, is university educated, and is highly proficient in English. He feels belonging within his community when he volunteers or his neighbour asks him for a favour and has friends from a variety of different cultural backgrounds.
But most importantly, he’s not real – he’s just an average Indian migrant which we’ve created based on the findings from the Scanlon Foundation’s Multiculturalism in Focus – Migrants’ Sense of Belonging Study 2025, which interviewed 65 migrants from six communities, including India, Pakistan and Nepal.
Conducted to give the Government more detailed analysis on how these communities are settling into life in Australia, the study saw 15 Indians, 11 Pakistanis and 10 Nepalese people share their experiences, the testimonials combined with data from the Foundation’s 2025 Mapping Social Cohesion report.
“Belonging grows over time – it’s built through everyday experiences of being welcomed, valued and included,” says Anthea Hancocks, CEO of the Scanlon Foundation Research Institute
“At a time when Australia’s diversity continues to grow, understanding what helps or hinders that process gives us practical insights for policymakers, workplaces, and communities who want to create a stronger, more inclusive Australia.”
Unsurprisingly, the biggest factor influencing belonging was the length of time individuals had resided in Australia, with around 64 percent of our total Indian population arriving in or before 2015. Indian migration
Most participants mentioned finding belonging in their neighbourhoods, typically through volunteering or familiarity with neighbours, and valued creating a diverse group of friends.
“The shared experience of being ‘new’—navigating settlement, adjustment and challenges—created a strong sense of connection, often equal to or even less complicated than that based solely on shared cultural background,” the ‘Multiculturalism in Focus – Migrants’ Sense of Belonging’ study notes.
Multiculturalism in Focus – Migrants’ Sense of Belonging Study 2025
Involvement in religious and cultural groups was also a common factor for over half of the interviewees, even embracing other cultures’ events as a chance to learn and socialise, and contradicting arguments of cultural insularity.
“There are not many events for Pakistani community, but sometimes…not sometimes, most of the time, they’re creating so many events for Indian communities. So, though we are different, still, we have some similarities. So yeah, I have attended few events like that,” says one Pakistani respondent. Though most interviewees felt a strong sense of belonging in Australia, they also feel their heart ‘divided’ between their homeland and adopted home. Indian migration
“They will never be 100% [in India] because they’re born and brought up looking at the flora and fauna here, they’ve smelled the air from [Australia]. Like my DNA is made of a different kind — my feelings are there. My half heart will be here, and half heart will be in India again,” said one Indian participant reflecting on his children raised in Australia.
But some things haven’t changed, namely, the difficulty in securing meaningful employment and having overseas qualifications recognised, with most migrants from India skewing male and between the age of 20-40. Financial stress was also described as a factor in belonging, with 46 percent of Indian migrants who have arrived within the last ten years earning less than the national median weekly income of $799.
“While many migrants report a growing sense of belonging the longer they live here, experiences of discrimination, isolation, or financial stress can make that journey harder. However, community connections, whether through neighbourhood interactions, volunteering or shared social spaces, make a real difference,” says Trish Prentice, author of the report. Indian migration
