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International migration
Global Labour Markets, Return and Onward Migration http://economics.uwo.ca/centres/cibc/wp2006/Aydemir_Robinson01.pdf
Recent immigration appears to be characterized by frequent return and onward migration. This has important consequences for the contribution of immigrants to the economy of the host country. Lack of longitudinal data has prevented much analysis of whether recent international migration is more like internal migration and not a once-for-all move with a possible return should the move prove to have been a mistake. A newly available longitudinal data set covering all immigrants to Canada since 1980 provides the opportunity to address the issues raised by the
new migration. The results show that a large fraction of male immigrants who are working age, especially among skilled workers and entrepreneurs, are highly internationally mobile.
International Migration
http://www.oecd.org/topic/0,2686,en_2649_37415_1_1_1_1_37415,00.html
About, statistics, publications & documents, information by countryA world on the move
http://pstalker.com/migration/
According to the United Nations, only around 191 million people lived outside the country of their birth in 2005 - around 3% of the world population. Nevertheless the presence of international migrants can raise many contentious issues and generate controversy out of all proportion to their modest numbers... Do immigrants steal the jobs of local workers? Do immigrants sponge off welfare states? Do emigrants drain skills from their home countries?International Migration Review
http://www.jstor.org/journals/01979183.html
Peer-reviewed quarterly journal on sociodemographic, economic, historical, political and legislative aspects of human migration and refugee movements.International Migration and Multicultural Policies
http://portal.unesco.org/shs/en/ev.php-URL_ID=1211&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
The overall aim of UNESCO's programme on International Migration is to promote the respect for the human rights of migrants, and to contribute to peaceful integration of migrants in society.Journal of International Migration and Integration
http://jimi.metropolis.net/frameset_e.html
Devoted to the provision of opportunities for research and policy linkages with the goal of strengthening policy and highlighting best practices in the settlement of migrants and diverse groups. The Journal, reflecting the mandate of the Metropolis Project, permits high level exchanges between researchers and policy-makers.Migration Research
http://www.iom.int/en/what/gmra%5Fcountries.shtml
Directory of Government Sponsored Migration Research Activities around the World - Country Submissions.The International Metropolis Project
http://international.metropolis.net/index_e.html
Set of coordinated activities carried out by a membership of research and policy organizations who share a vision of strengthened immigration policy by means of applied academic research.European Research Centre on Migration and Ethnic Relations
http://www.uu.nl/uupublish/onderzoek/onderzoekcentra/ercomer/24638main.html
Mission: To actively encourage, support and promote comparative research in the fields of international migration and ethnic relations within the European context.Economic Implications of Migration
http://www.oecd.org/document/47/0,2340,en_2649_34591_36721391_1_1_1_1,00.html
International migration has substantially changed during recent years, both in quantitative and qualitative terms, and it is likely to play an increasing role in the coming decades. While the economic impact for the host country depends on a variety of factors, successful integration of immigrants appears in any case as a sine qua non condition to making the most out of immigration. Integration is multifaceted, and its social dimension conditions the political acceptability and social sustainability of immigration. Economic integration, in particular on the host labour market, heavily conditions the possible benefits reaped from migration by the host economy as well as by immigrants themselves. In both cases, integration cannot be considered as a given. It is likely to be influenced by a number of factors, and understanding these relationships is important for policy design. Empirical and policy questions: What is the cross-country evidence on social and economic integration of immigrants in host countries? hat are the determinants of cross-country differences in immigrants’ integration? What are the implications for policies in labour and product markets? OECD, 2006Immigration and Redistribution in a Global Era
http://www.cpsa-acsp.ca/paper-2003/banting.pdf
International migration does seem to matter for the size of the welfare state. Although no welfare state has actually shrunk in the face of the accelerating international movement of people, its rate of growth is smaller the more open a society is to immigration. To the extent that spending growth is inescapable, mandated by the aging of populations in industrial societies, specific parts of the welfare states - especially the parts that redistribute from rich to poor or from the old to the young—may truly have shrunk in the face of migratory pressures. Whatever the details, the typical industrial society might spend 16 or 17% more than it now does on social services had it kept its foreign-born percentage where it was in 1970… International migration will continue to be a fact of life … evidence suggests that multicultural policies help break down barriers—they do not in fact ghettoize newcomers. The attitudinal problem is more among natives than newcomers and reflects more the apprehension of cultural threat than the fact of threat.The World Bank: International Migration, Remittances and the Brain Drain
http://www-wds.worldbank.org/servlet/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2005/10/21/
000012009_20051021094619/Rendered/PDF/339880rev.pdf
Migration is a complex and dynamic process that changes the migrants’ home and destination countries and, of course, the migrants themselves. It is a global phenomenon, and dialogue between destination and source countries, migrant communities, and international organizations is critical for finding successful solutions to the myriad of problems we face in this area.Global Trends and Their Effects on the Environment: Globalization and the unequal distribution of wealth
http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-64507-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html
The difference between the real incomes of the poorest and richest people in the world is huge. Annual per-capita income in the 16 richest countries varies from $10,420 to $21,250, averaging about $15,000. At the other extreme, the annual per-capita income in the 25 poorest countries ranges from $80 (Mozambique) to $350 (India), with an average of about $220. Five days’ accumulation of per-capita income in the 16 richest countries (total population, 725 million) is equal to 1 year of per-capita income in the 25 poorest (total population, 1, 575 million)... The income of the poorest people in the poorest countries is considerably lower than the national average. It is estimated to be less than $60 or $80 a year and, in the poorest tenth of the population, probably does not exceed $40. The hourly wage of a well-paid professional in a developed country is often over $100; this can represent 2 or even 3 years’ earnings for someone in the poorest sectors of the poorest countries.Yale Global Online: Globalization
http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/display.article?id=6428
The principal cost of this migration, as far as developing countries are concerned, is its "brain drain." Those residents of developing nations, able to find work in the developed world are those who are well educated; unfortunately, these are also the ones their native countries needs most. The resultant brain drain hamstrings developing nations with lower productivity, decreased levels of technical skill, a disproportionately-smaller tax base (because higher-educated, higher-earning workers pay more in taxes than they receive in services)… The costs of brain drain, however, are offset to some degree by the benefits of remittances that migrant workers send back to their native countries.Migration in an Interconnected World: New directions for action
http://www.queensu.ca/samp/migrationresources/reports/gcim-complete-report-2005.pdf
International migration has the potential to play a very positive role in the process of human development, bringing benefi ts to people in poorer and more prosperous countries alike. The Global Commission on International Migration underlines the need for the international community to maximize these benefi ts and to capitalize on the resourcefulness of people who seek to improve their lives by moving from one country to another. The following sections identify a number of important issues that must be taken into account if those objectives are to be achieved.Immigration and Globalization: The UN Conference Against Racism Takes on Migrant Issues
http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=375
The over 150 million people in migration every year are contributing to a "demographic shift" in countries throughout the world. At the same time, globalization 's impact in migrant-receiving countries, such as in the United States or in Europe, has stirred economic uncertainties and heightened racial and anti-immigrant hostilities as predominantly white native populations seek economic security. Political pressures have brought about greater restrictions on immigration as well as on the rights of current immigrants, while immigration enforcement resources and practices have been enhanced. In turn these policies and practices have further stigmatized migrants and fueled anti-immigrant activity and institutional discrimination, particularly against those without immigration documents.Globalization and Immigration
http://www.asiapacific.ca/analysis/pubs/pdfs/paperweb2.pdf
Migration is not a zero-sum game. Closer economic integration presumably benefits both the country “sending” immigrants, as well as those receiving the immigrants. However, and as with other, more direct trade promoting activities, a competition among countries to attract business and entrepreneurial immigrants, will ensure that the associated benefits to the receiving country are dissipated. That is, while immigrants may benefit, the broader society of the receiving country may not.The Program of Migration and Diversity Studies
http://institute.metropolis.net/cours_e.htm
The Metropolis Project is a world leader in immigration, integration and diversity research. Drawing on several hundred academic studies and input from policy-makers and stakeholders the world-over, the Metropolis Institute has created one-day courses which explore the challenges and opportunities of international migration.Globalization / Integration of National Economies / Restructuring of Labor Forces
Globalization, Immigrants' Transnational Agency and Economic Development in Their Homelands
http://international.metropolis.net/events/milan/wg1a_e.html
First International Metropolis Conference 1997 research questions:
What is the relationship between restructuring of national labor forces (as a result of globalization) and immigration flows? How does policy affect this relationship? For example, the US border control regime vis-à-vis Mexico has not altered the macro-economic framework or the motivations for migration. What policy could alter it? - In what industries/sectors do immigrants concentrate? What impact does immigration have on the structure of the economy of the receiving city? On its competitiveness? - What is the relationship between "high-end" immigration driven by globalization and "low-end" immigration driven by the same forces? - How do immigrants contribute to the trade opportunities of the receiving country and the position of the receiving city as a fulcrum of international trade?
http://www.focal.ca/pdf/globalization.pdf
Transnational immigrant communities grassroots level phenomenon and uniquely of contemporary globalization processes… By distributing portion of their time, money and loyalty to their communities of origin in their homelands, transnational immigrants positively contribute to poverty reduction and growth at the grassroots level in their homelands… International development authorities together with governments of the emigration countries perceive transnational immigrant communities as a significant source of untapped resources for financing sustainable development in poor countries… Canada is noticeably on the sidelines in both transnational migrant community research and initiatives to maximize the contribution of its immigrant communities to development in poor countries.The Five Wars of Globalization
http://www.fsa.ulaval.ca/personnel/vernag/EH/F/noir/lectures/Five_wars_of_globalization.htm
The illegal trade in drugs, arms, intellectual property, people, and money is booming. Like the war on terrorism, the fight to control these illicit markets pits governments against agile, stateless, and resourceful networks empowered by globalization. Governments will continue to lose these wars until they adopt new strategies to deal with a larger, unprecedented struggle that now shapes the world as much as confrontations between nation-states once did… Recognizing that governments have no chance of winning unless they change the ways they wage these wars is an indispensable first step in the search for solutions.The Global Struggle with Illegal Migration: No End in Sight
http://www.how2immigrate.com/main/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article
&sid=127&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0
When the UN Population Division releases its latest estimates of the stock of those currently living outside their country of birth for a minimum of one year (its definition of an immigrant) in late 2005 or early 2006, that number will likely be between 190 and 200 million. This estimate would put the immigrant stock at about 3.3 % of the world's population… Of that 190 to 200 million, about 30 % are likely to be in the Americas, with Canada and the US probably accounting for about 42 million immigrants. Continental Europe's share will probably be a little more than 20 %, though the uncertainty level is higher because European states do not always include unauthorized in their statistics. The other half are spread across the world, with Asia having the largest number… What may be equally significant about those estimates is what they do and do not count, or count incompletely. For instance, the UN figure includes the 25 to 30 million persons (most of them ethnic Russians) who were reclassified as international migrants when the Soviet Union collapsed and broke up into a large number of independent states… Most temporary immigrants and irregular immigrants are not included, in large part because government data systems do not report them. Such statistics are also subject to individual states' political determinations about what to collect and, more importantly, what to report. For instance, Canada uses a "working guesstimate" of about half-a-million unauthorized immigrants.Organized crime goes rural
http://web.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060818.worgcrim0818/BNStory/National/home
Among the more sophisticated groups in particular, organized crime has come to represent the darker side of globalization by exploiting the same things we've come to take for granted – the free flow of goods and people around the world and the rapid advancement of technology.Immigration and Redistribution in a Global Era
http://www.cpsa-acsp.ca/paper-2003/banting.pdf
This paper examines the relationship between immigration and the welfare state, arguing that there is indeed a link between increasing levels of migration and decreasing social welfare expenditures. The chapter begins with a description of existing research, and a review of the various linkages that may exist between social spending and immigration. We then explore the links between these two variables in advanced industrial democracies since 1965 with multivariate analyses at various time scales. These analyses suggest that increasing migration is one way in which globalization may adversely affect social welfare programs.Return and Onward Migration Among Working Age Men
http://www.statcan.ca/english/research/11F0019MIE/11F0019MIE2006273.pdf
There is increasing evidence that international migration, like internal migration, is not a permanent move and that many immigrants either return to the source country, perhaps many times, or move on to another country… Of particular significance for the human capital stock of the country is the fact that immigrants coming under the skilled worker class or business class often leave quite soon. In addition, there appear to be strong business cycle effects.Immigration and Class
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/wolff100506.html
Migration between countries occurs if and when it "resolves" social and especially class contradictions inside both of them. One set of contradictions pushes people out of a country just as another set of contradictions in other countries pulls them in. Finally, while migration "resolves" some social contradictions, it likewise engenders or aggravates others.Immigration - Background
http://www.web.ca/comfront/alts4americas/eng/05-immigration-e.html
International migration has increased over the last number of decades, accelerated by the process of globalization. There are currently about 125 million immigrants (people who have moved from one country to another) in the world, 80 million of whom are considered "recent" immigrants. The growing population of immigrant men, women and children has serious impacts for the countries they leave, as well as for the countries which receive them… The International Organization for Migration estimates that approximately 30 million immigrant workers send a total of nearly US$67 billion a year back to their countries. Many studies show that such remittances are the second leading source of foreign exchange in the world, after petroleum.International Migration
http://www.prcdc.org/summaries/intlmigration/intlmigration.html
While international migration has no impact on overall world population growth, it has a significant social and economic impact on specific countries and regions… In any given year during the mid-1990s more than four million people migrated across national borders. Of these, more than one and one-half million emigrated permanently to other countries and close to one-half million sought refugee or asylum status. The remaining two million migrants sought legal or illegal employment without the intention of remaining within the country… By the numbers, non-refugee migrants, refugees, women as migrants, global/regional impacts.International study explores challenges faced by immigrants
http://ring.uvic.ca/06may05/immigrants.html
Challenges that immigrants face when they move to new countries and re-enter their chosen professions… The research project, entitled Cultural Capital During Migration: Labour Market Integration of Migrants, is being funded by the Volkswagen Foundation. It includes an international team of researchers in Canada, Germany, Turkey and the UK—countries that have all experienced significant increases in immigration levels.Beyond the State-Bounded Immigrant Incorporation Regime
http://www.nsi-ins.ca/english/pdf/transmigration_executive_summary.pdf
Globalization and the emergence of transnational migrant communities, Paradigms, Shifts in the analysis of international migration processes, Implications for Canada’s leadership role and influence in a globalized world, Embracing transnational migrant communities as development cooperation partners.Globalization, Immigration and World Poverty
http://www.upei.ca/~rneill/canecpro/topic6.html
Immigration Policy: an economic point of view – Why people immigrate to Canada; Arguments against immigration; Arguments against the arguments against immigration; Globalization and world poverty.Doctor shortage to increase by 2015 without foreign-trained physicians
http://www.macleans.ca/topstories/politics/news/shownews.jsp?content=n082802A
The doctor shortage has grown in recent years after provincial governments in the 1980s cut back the number of people allowed into medical school…. Canada's reliance on foreign-trained doctors is forcing poorer countries, such as South Africa and India, to make do with fewer physicians. Macleans 2006Immigration: Governance, Globalization and Security
http://www.iigr.ca/conferences/archive/pdfs1/adelman.pdf
Immigration and refugee policy has not been harmonized between Canada and the United States. Nor are there any indications that they will be. The various elements of governance have fragmented both with respect to the relations between various parts of the state sector as well as between the state and different elements in the civil society. The state sector – in particular, the bureaucracy – has been expanded at the expense of the role of sub-state actors, NGOs and super-state institutions. Further, that bureaucracy had grown but it has fragmented as well. The legislative foundation for reconciling security and immigration is in disarray. The courts have reinforced the role of bureaucracy, but the bureaucracy has an even larger challenge while it has itself become divided. There is little sign that the governments of the United States and Canada have in the works proposals to develop a multi-level system of governance in response to the challenges of reconciling human rights with security concerns.Transnational Migrant Communities: Their Potential Contribution to Canada’s Leadership Role and Influence in a Globalized World
http://www.nsi-ins.ca/english/pdf/transmigration_document_july_22.pdf
The constituent processes of globalization, namely rapid advances in communication and transportation technologies; changes in the structure of technology and financial markets; the ascendancy of liberalization policies; and the onset of global competition, have brought about the emergence of new types of immigrant communities. These communities link different national societies in ways that differ from earlier periods in immigration history... These new types of immigrant communities are transnational migrant communities with transnational (across political border) dimensions... They comprise low skill and high skill immigrants who share common interests and homeland references... they comprise immigrants who voluntarily leave their homelands; others comprise individuals and groups resulting from forced migration.. Contrary to the assumptions of settler models, these immigrants do not sever ties with their homelands... they construct networked organizational systems of relationships with homeland counterparts and actively use them to consolidate economic business, political, and social ties with families, firms, organizations, institutions and national governments in their homelands.Geopolitics and Global Demographics
http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/cip-pic/current_discussions/piche-en.asp
Understanding migration, Why people migrate, Implications for the international community, Canada and migration.International Migration of Skilled Workers
Patterns of exit and return of Canadians - 1982 to 2003
http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/pics/ra/hand_e.pdf
The demand for knowledge workers is increasing worldwide… Canada has been a net gainer of skilled workers worldwide but a net loser to the US… More opportunities and enhanced accessibility of the US labour market will continue to create incentives for skilled Canadians to head south. Human Resources Development Canada/Industry Canada.
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/061117/d061117b.htm
Departure rates were highest among young adults aged 25 to 34, and lower for older groups... Francophone Quebecers had by far the lowest departure rates, while Anglophones Quebecers had the highest rates. Individuals living in larger cities were about twice as likely to leave as rural dwellers, and substantially more likely than those in smaller cities as well... The higher the individual's income, the greater the probability of leaving. This was especially true at the very highest income levels, $100,000 and over... The study found strong immigrant effects. In a male immigrant's landing year, his chances of leaving the country were 10 times greater than those of a non-immigrant Canadian with similar characteristics. These rates actually rose over his early years in the country. The rates began to decline 6 years following immigration to Canada, at which point they did so fairly sharply. Statistics Canada.The Foreign Born from Canada in the United States
http://www.migrationinformation.org/USfocus/display.cfm?ID=244#11
Between 1990 and 2000, the number of foreign born from Canada in the United States increased by 10 %. The foreign-born population from Canada increased from 744,830 in 1990 to 820,771 in 2000, or by 75,941 people, according to the results of Census 2000… According to Department of Homeland Security data for fiscal year 2002, 133,367 or 10.3 % of the nearly 1.3 million nonimmigrants admitted as temporary workers, exchange visitors, and intracompany transferees in the United States were Canadian foreign born… Of the 73,699 workers admitted to the United States under the North American Free Trade Agreement, 71,878 or 98 % were immigrants from Canada. Fiscal year 2002 data of the Department of Homeland Security.Solberg reviews dual citizenship but larger issues loom, say experts http://www.macleans.ca/topstories/politics/news/shownews.jsp?content=n111215A
The Canadian government has no idea how many Canadian citizens live abroad - and isn't trying to find out - but independent researchers say the number is close to three million and growing. That's a figure that could swamp Canada's relatively generous social programs if this pool of non-tax-paying citizens were to spill back into the country in retirement... The Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada recently estimated there are 2.7 million Canadian citizens living outside the country - 9 % of the total population at home. That puts Canada ahead of the United States, China, India and Australia for the proportion of nationals living abroad. Almost half, 1.2 million, are in the United States. More than 644,000 live in Asia, including more than 200,000 in Hong Kong alone. 2006Economic Impact and Integration: Immigration Policy and Practice in Canada
http://institute.metropolis.net/cours/008%20_introduction-e.pdf
“Everyday” international business means that societies within a global environment are aware of opportunities elsewhere. A “double” process occurs which facilitates migration. First, there is an awareness of alternatives. Second, international networks offer support, advice and enable mobility in ways that make the alternatives seem possible… Thus, globalization and transnationalism combine so that Canada now operates in a very competitive international market to attract the highly skilled who are more mobile than ever.Migration, Human Capital and Skill Redistribution Across Canadian Provinces
http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/epic/internet/ineas-aes.nsf/en/ra01975e.html
Results suggest that the quality of education, in terms of skills acquired, received by international immigrants to Canada in their home country is typically lower than in Canada. Interprovincial migrants typically have a higher skill intensity than the Canadian-born non-migrant population. Overall, the two migration channels have opposite effects on skill disparities across the 10 Canadian provinces. International immigration tends to reduce provincial disparities whereas interprovincial migration tends to increase them. However, the net effect of the two channels on provincial disparities is clearly negative since in absolute value, the alleviating effect of international migration is more than twice as great as the effect of interprovincial migration.Reaction to Chinese migrants exposes globalization's double-standard
http://www.policyalternatives.ca/index.cfm?act=news&do=Article&call=764&pA=e053430b&type=2
Globalization has another effect - it understandably heightens Canadians' sense of economic insecurity. But responding to this growing anxiety with intolerance is misplaced. Ultimately, the migrant boats are the inevitable social fall-out of free market globalization. And until we have a global economic order based on justice and a great deal more social and economic equality, more boats (and planes) will come. We can either respond with higher gates, a beefed-up military and other obstructive and hypocritical measures, or we can push for a new international system that stops draining the Third World of its resources and capital.Effect of Immigration on the Canadian Population: Replacement Migration?
Biometrics: Implications and Applications for Citizenship and Immigration
http://sociology.uwo.ca/popstudies/dp/dp03-03.pdf
It is impossible to use immigration to prevent an increase in the population aged 65 and over as a ratio to the population aged 20-64. Immigration can somewhat be seen as replacing the socioeconomic distribution of the population, though to a lesser extent over time as the Canadian-born have various advantages. But immigration cannot be seen to be replacing the existing geographic distribution of the population, nor its socio-cultural composition… Rather than being based excessively on demographic or economic considerations, the case for immigration should be made in socio-political terms, that is, increasing the cultural richness of Canada and achieving stronger integration into a broader pluralistic world.
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pub/biometrics/introduction.html
Recent international security concerns, border initiatives and the increasing incidence of identity theft and identity fraud have highlighted the need to strengthen the integrity of Canadian identity, immigration, citizenship and travel documents. Biometric technology has emerged as a powerful and controversial tool that could potentially help to address these public policy challenges... This issue requires more in-depth study, including engagement with the Canadian public, before any definitive recommendations can be developed.International Organization for Migration
http://www.iom.int/jahia/jsp/index.jsp
An intergovernmental organization established in 1951, IOM is committed to the principle that humane and orderly migration benefits migrants and society.United Nations
http://www.un.org
Peace & Security, Economic & Social Development, Human Rights, Humanitarian Affairs, International Law
Immigration & migration statistics
http://www.library.yorku.ca/ccm/LibraryDataServices/SubjectGuides/immigration.htm
York University Library Data Services