• The survey ran from 8 July to 31 August 2024.

• It could be taken online on a phone or computer, taking 12-15 minutes to complete.

• Questions were multiple choice, with the option to provide narrative responses at the end of the survey.

• The survey was available in English, Mandarin, Spanish, Nepali, Tamil and Arabic.

• The survey is confidential and anonymous.

• Prizes included 50 x $200 Mastercard vouchers.

• The survey was disseminated directly via social media and in collaboration with educational institutions and a range of other partners.

The survey covers a range of problems that migrants encounter at work, ranging from non-compliance with workplace laws to modern slavery, and how migrants respond to these. This includes:

• Underpayment of wages and entitlements.

• Employer coercion and modern slavery indicators.

• Safety and injury in the workplace (including access to medical care).

• Sexual harassment

• Problems in accommodation linked to the job or employer.

• Whether temporary migrants seek help, where they go, the outcome of help-seeking, and if they did not seek help, the barrier that prevented them from doing so.

• Knowledge of rights, common misconceptions

We will publish survey findings in public reports and other materials available on our website in 2025. We will also conduct public webinars and briefings for stakeholder groups including business, government, education providers, community organisations/service providers and diplomatic missions.

Where more than 150 students from any education provider participated, we will provide that institution with a confidential report on the survey findings related to their students. Our aim is to help providers understand the challenges their students face and how to best support them.

The survey content and methodology received Ethics approval from UNSW Sydney (ratified by UTS). A copy of the full data privacy protocol is available on request. Key elements include:

• The survey is confidential and anonymous.

• Participants were not asked their name. At the end of the survey, participants were invited to provide a phone number or email address if they were interested in participating in further research on topics covered by the survey but this was not required.

• Participants exited the survey before entering the prize draw (structured as a separate single question survey). Participants were asked to provide a phone number to notify them if they won, but this could not be connected with their main survey responses.

• All data is kept on secure servers and is only accessible to members of the research team approved in the Ethics application.

• Where confidential findings are provided to individual organisations this only includes aggregated findings where it is not possible to identify any individual. No raw data will ever be shared.

• We will not publish any information that could identify any individual participant, education provider, employer or other person.

The survey was open to anyone who had worked in Australia on a temporary visa, or having overstayed a visa.

We are analysing how responses differ among different cohorts considering the intersection of variables including nationality, gender, geographic location, and industry. The large number of survey responses enable us to drill down into the differentiated experiences and support needs of different migrant cohorts.

Our previous surveys of thousands of migrant workers have become a reference point on migrant worker exploitation in Australia:

• Our 2016 survey focused on underpayment, other exploitation at work, and barriers to taking action (4,322 migrant workers).

• Our 2019 survey focused on exploitation at work and in housing, information and support needs (5,968 international students).

• Our 2020 survey focused on financial insecurity during COVID (6,105 temporary migrants).

The survey was funded through the Commonwealth Attorney General's Department Modern Slavery grants program. The International Labour Organisation provided funding to support the participation of PALM scheme workers (via a separate survey), and the Migrant Workers Centre has provided financial support in relation to survey data on workplace injury. In-kind support was provided by a wide range of national peak bodies, service providers, and organisations across the country.