Some 280 pilgrims from last year's World Youth Day are still illegally in Australia, The Daily Telegraph reported, but the number represents less than 0.3 percent of the number who had arrived for the event.
The newspaper said that of 110,000 people who came to Sydney for World Youth Day last year, 550 did not go home. Federal immigration authorities have caught and expelled about half of those but 280 pilgrims are still on the run, it added.
Federal Department of Immigration and Citizenship spokesman Sandi Logan said the overstayers represented less than 0.3 per cent of the number of people who came to Australia for the world's largest youth event.
"But it is still an issue," Mr Logan said.
The majority of overstayers are from South Pacific countries including Tonga, Fiji and Samoa. Most of the others were from India, Vietnam and Pakistan.
Mr Logan said following World Youth Day, 86 protection visas were granted to pilgrims who could not safely return home, while a further 90 people were waiting to hear if the Federal Government will grant them an extension to their visas.
The deparment says it is always prepared to manage the risk overstayers after the country hosts major events.
FULL STORY
Hundreds of World Youth Day pilgrims still in Australia (The Daily Telegraph)