This page collates the official Federal Government figures on the number of asylum seekers arriving under the Operation Sovereign Borders regime, which came into effect on September 18, 2013.

Operation Sovereign Borders

Date Number of asylum seekers Sent to May 2- 6, 2016 12 Returned to Sri Lanka Unknown Two boats, number of passengers not given Returned to country of origin 27 July, 2014 157 Nauru 14, 19 Dec 2013 167 (on two boats) Christmas Island 6 Dec-13 Dec 3 Unknown 29 Nov-6 Dec 185 (on four boats) Christmas Island 27 Nov 9 Christmas Island 22 Nov 35 Christmas Island 10-11 Nov 163 Christmas Island, Darwin 21 Oct 40 Christmas Island 20 Oct 126 Christmas Island 17 Oct 41 Christmas Island 12 Oct 53 Christmas Island 12 Oct 79 Christmas Island (73 returned to Sri Lanka) 30 Sept 79 Christmas Island 26 Sept 70 Christmas Island 25 Sept 7 Returned to PNG 24 Sept 18 Darwin 22 Sept, 2013 31 Christmas Island

Total Boats Asylum seekers 18 Sept, 2013 to 31 July, 2014 23 1263

Note: In the period from September 8 to September 21 2013, there were seven boats detected with 475 passengers and 16 crew on board. A boat intercepted on September 26 with 44 asylum seekers on board was returned to Indonesian authorities, as was another intercepted on September 27 with 31 asylum seekers on board. A boat capsized off Java on September 27 with 80 on board, of whom at least 31 died.

At the December 6 briefing, it was reported that there were 27 people from a boat believed to have sunk whose status had yet to be determined. Twenty-two were at Christmas Island.

Crew: There were two crew on board the September 22 arrival, two crew on board the September 26 interception and three crew on board the September 27 interception. From September 23 to 30, there were an additional eight unspecified crew arrivals. From October 11 to 18 there were three unspecified crew arrivals and from October 18 to 25 there were four crew arrivals. From November 8 to 15, eight crew arrived onboard three vessels. Four crew arrived on the November 17 boat included in the November 22 briefing. Two crew arrived with the November 27 boat. Six crew were transferred to Christmas Island during the December 6 reporting period. Two crew arrived on one boat were transferred to border protection authorities during the December 13 reporting period. Four crew arrived on two boats during the December 20 reporting period.

Processing Centres

Date range No. sent to Nauru Nauru total No. sent to Manus Island Manus total Total at Christmas Island 18-23 Sept 2013 Not given 710 Not given 798 2559* 23-30 Sept 103 770 115 825 2401 30 Sept-4 Oct 32 801** 139 953 2263 4-11 Oct 0 800 111 1059 2176 11-18 Oct 28 827 25 1061 2211 18-25 Oct 44 682 74 1101 2272 25 Oct-1 Nov 32 591 44 1137 2184 1-8 Nov 17 606 0 1128 2158 8-15 Nov 30 629 67 1157 2217 15-22 Nov 50 659 0 1144 2197 22-29 Nov 12 668 0 1140 2191 29 Nov-6 Dec 20 686 26 1165 2156 6 -13 Dec 81 765 38 1194 2178 13 - 20 Dec 43 804 43 1234 2260 20 - 27 Dec 42 841 0 1229 2260 27 Dec, 2013 - 3 Jan, 2014 0 838 0 1229 2193 3-10 Jan 29 867 30 1259 2107 10-17 Jan 80 942 42 1297 1987 17-24 Jan 36 974 19 1314 1913 24-31 Jan 43 1012 41 1353 1927 31 Jan - 7 Feb 35 1036 0 1352 1835 7 - 14 Feb 60 1092 0 1340 1765 14 - 21 Feb 0 1089 0 1332 1737 21 - 28 Feb 38 1107 0 1325 1712 1 - 31 July 41 1146 0 1127 1077*** 1 - 31 August 189 1233 0 1084 1 - 30 Sept 5 1167 0 1060 1-31 Oct 0 1095 0 1056 1-30 Nov 0 996 0 1044 1-31 Dec 0 895 1 1035 1-31 January 2015 802 1023 1-28 February 742 1004 1-31 March 718 989 1- 30 April 677 971 1- 31 May 634 943 1- 30 June 655 945 1 - 31 July 637 942 1 - 30 August 653 936 1 - 30 September 631 934 1 - 31 October 621 929 1 - 30 November 543 926 1 - 31 December 537 922 1 - 31 January 2016 484 916 1 - 29 February 470 909 1 - 31 March 468 905 1 - 30 April 469 898

*A Department of Immigration figure. There was no figure given at the 23 September OSB briefing.

**There were another 43 people in transit to Nauru at the time of the October 4 briefing.

***According to figures supplied on June 30, 2014.

At the October 25 briefing, it was stated that 28 asylum seekers were returned to Vietnam on October 23.

At the November 1 briefing, it was stated that 67 people had voluntarily returned to their country of origin since the start of Operation Sovereign Borders.

At the November 15 briefing, it was stated that 31 asylum seekers had opted to return home voluntarily to Iran and Iraq during the reporting period. Twenty-one people (eight from Nauru and 13 from Manus) returned to Iran between November 15 and November 22. One person returned to Iran in the December 6 reporting period.

At the December 13 briefing, it was stated that one asylum seeker had opted to return home to Iran voluntarily.