Migrants to be forced to stay in regions

New migrants will be forced to remain in regional areas under the terms of their visas to prevent them moving to big cities, such as Sydney and Melbourne, once their permanent residency is approved.

The federal Home Affairs office is developing new visa rules to "bind" people to a regional area for the duration of a visa to better help them assimilate, after only 7000 of 190,000 migrants settled in rural areas in 2017.

"Many migrants are sponsored for permanent residence on the basis of an intent to live and work in regional Australia, but don't stay long in the region once they have their permanent visa," citizenship minister Alan Tudge told News Corp Australia on Tuesday, describing the situation as "a major issue".