Global Immigration Trends and Issues Keynote Address CIC-LINC Administrators

1
Global Immigration Trends and Issues Keynote
AddressCIC-LINC Administrators Meeting

• by
• Dr. Usha George
• Dean, Faculty of Community Services, Ryerson
  University, Toronto.
• March 7, 2007
• Eaton Centre, Marriott Hotel, Toronto

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Features of Globalization

• Mutually reinforcing processes of globalization
  and regionalization
• Key Role of Global cities
• Multinational companies control of employment,
  national exports, output, and technology
  investment
• Increased mobility of capital and skilled labour
• Multilateral, regional, and worldwide systems of
  governance and regulation
• Technology and the resultant speed and reach of
  cultural and social networks
• Reconstitution of new transnational political
  economy through global migrations
• Asylum seekers and refugees are coming from the
  poor southern countries

3
Globalization and International Migration

• Globalization has greatly facilitated
  international migration
• International migration is noted in the
  conceptualization of globalization

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Global Trends in International Population
Movements

• Increasing Number of International Migrants
• Global Movement of Refugees
• Decreasing Number of Asylum Applications
• Feminization of Migration

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Increasing Number of International Migrants

• Migrants total 2.9 percent of the world
  population (IOM, 2003)
• 1 out of every 35 persons is an international
  migrant (IOM, 2003 p. 375)
• Worlds foreign-born population has doubled
  between 1960 2000

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Global Movement of Refugees

• The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
  (UNHCR) reports that during the first quarter of
  2004, the refugee population was remarkably
  stable
• By the end of 2004, the number of refugees
  globally totaled 9.2 million, a number which has
  decreased slightly since the beginning of the
  same year
• Source UNHCR, 2004

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Asylum Applications

• The number of asylum requests filed worldwide in
  2004 was 676, 000 compared with 2003s total of
  830,300
• Source UNHCR, 2005

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Nations recording and receiving the highest
number of new requests for asylum in 2004
Nations recording the highest number of new requests for asylum Nations recording the highest number of new requests for asylum Nations receiving the largest numbers of asylum seekers Nations receiving the largest numbers of asylum seekers
France 58,5000 Iran 1,046,000
United Kingdom 40,200 Pakistan 960,600
Germany 35,600, Germany 876,622
The United States 27,900 Tanzania 602,100
South Africa 32,600 The United States 420,900
Canada 25,800 China 299,400
Source UNHCR, 2005
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Feminization of Migration

• In 2000, approximately 49 percent of all
  international migrants were women (IOM, 2005)
• Women are increasingly migrating as independent
  heads of households instead of dependents

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Migration Trends in North America- USA.

• The U. S. is the worlds foremost receiving
  country with approximately 850,000 legal
  permanent entries and 1,535,000 entries with
  temporary visas each year (IOM, 2003)
• The largest migratory movement on earth is that
  of emigration from Mexico to the
• U. S. Between 300,000 and 400,000 Mexicans
  enter the U. S. annually.

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Migration Trends in North America- Canada

• Canada has received over 200,000 new permanent
  residents almost every year since 1990
• There has been a quick and large increase in its
  proportion of foreign-born residents in recent
  years

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Migration Trends in Latin America -Mexico and
Central and South America

• Migration to Canada and the U. S.
• Intra-Central America migration
• Migration within the Andean region
• Migration flows in the Southern Cone of
  Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay
• Guerilla warfare promoting refugee movements
  return migration, and internal migration flows
  within Brazil

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Migration Trends in Europe

• During the past four decades the EU has been host
  to a large number of immigrants - In 2005,
  immigrants constituted 8.8 per cent of the total
  population of Europe (International Migration,
  2006)
• Migration flows move into other countries within
  the region
• The types of migration flows and connections with
  other parts of the world have diversified
• Strong in-migration countries in the region
  include the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and
  Russia strong out-migration countries are
  Belarus, Bulgaria, Moldova, Romania, and Ukraine
  and, those witnessing a moderate level of
  migration are Lithuania and Slovakia

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Inflows of Foreign Nationals-Europe2003-2004
Receiving Country 2003 2004 2003-2004 Per cent change
Finland 7500 5600 -1900 -25
Germany 238400 202300 -36100 -15
Netherlands 60800 57000 -3800 -6
Denmark 16200 15900 -300 -2
France 173100 175200 2100 1
Switzerland 79700 82600 2900 4
Sweden 38400 40700 2300 6
Norway 18800 21400 2600 14
Austria 51000 59600 8600 17
Portugal 11100 13100 2000 18
U.K 214600 266500 51900 24
Italy 121800 156400 34600 28
Source IMO, 2006
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Migration Trends in Europe

• The intensity of migration flows can be
  characterized as those countries with strong
  inflow and weak outflow
• strong inflow and outflow
• weak inflow and
  strong outflow, and
• weak inflow and outflow
• Few countries, most notably Russia, have large
  numbers of displaced persons (Okólski, 2000 )
• Most European nations have begun to curb
  immigration rates through the reinforcement of
  stricter immigration controls

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Is immigration a remedy for declining and aging
populations?

• A review of the research related to
  Immigration and Canadian demographics reports
  that while immigration, of about 200,000 per year
  can be the solution to effectively prevent
  population decline, at current levels of
  fertility, it has a minor impact on ageing, which
  will continue regardless of level of immigration
  (Beaujot, 1998).

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Migration Policy Trends in Traditional Countries
of Immigration

• Immigration as a source of increasing the labour
  pool and growth in population
• Selection of immigrant stream to suit the
  countrys needs
• Temporary-to-permanent entry routes have become
  increasingly prominent
• Eurpean Immigration to the TCIs has declined
  while immigration from Asia has increased
  significantly

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Transnationalism

• A new perspective
• A grassroots occurrence with deep historical
  roots
• Is not a characteristic of all immigrants
• Transnational identities can take a variety of
  forms
• Transnationalism has macro-social consequences
• Transnational activism varies in extent and forms
  with the contexts of exit in the sending country
  and reception in the receiving country
• Global cities are major sites for transnational
  encounters (Portes, 2003 Castles 2003).

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Consequences of Immigration

• Small negative effect of immigration on
  unemploymenthigher social cost for immigrants
  than that for the population at large
• Increased demand for goods and services produced
  in the host country creates favourable demand for
  labour
• Immigrants serve as a flexible labour pool
  providing geographical and functional mobility
• Immigration has assisted some countries in
  dealing with the problems created by an ageing
  population

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Issues in Settlement

• Meaningful employment
• Information and access to programs and services
• Housing
• Language training
• Community connections

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References

• Beaujot, R. (1998). Immigration and Canadian
  Demographics State of the Research. CIC Canada.
  Retrieved 27th September 2006 from
  http//www.cic.gc.ca/english/research/papers/demog
  raphics.html
• Castles, S. (2003b). Transnational communities A
  new form of social relations under conditions of
  globalization? In J. G. Reitz (Ed.), Host
  societies and the reception of immigrants, (pp.
  429-445). San Diego University of California,
  Center for Comparative Immigration Studies.
• International Migration 2006. (Wall chart).
  United Nations. Retrieved on March 6, 2007 from
  http//www.un.org/esa/population/publications/2006
  Migration_Chart/2006IttMig_chart.htm
• International Migration Outlook. (2006).Retrieved
  on March 6, 2007 from http//www.oecd.org/dataoecd
  /44/33/36859673.pdf

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• International Organization for Migration (IOM).
  (2003). World migration 2003. Retrieved on
  January 22, 2007, from http//www.iom.int/jahia/Ja
  hia/cache/bypass/pid/8?entryId4992
• International Organization for Migration (IOM).
  (2005). World migration 2005. Retrieved on
  January 22, 2007, from http//www.iom.int/jahia/J
  ahia/cache/bypass/pid/8?entryId932srcId933grps
  rcyespublicationEntriesGroup_filterWorld20Migr
  ation20Reports
• Okólski, M. (2000). Recent trends and major
  issues in international migration Central and
  East European perspectives. International Social
  Science Journal, 52, 330-341.
• Portes, A. (2003). Conclusion Theoretical
  convergencies and empirical evidence in the study
  of immigrant transnationalism. International
  Migration Review, 37, 874-892.

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• Tapinos, G.P. Delaunay, D. (2000). Can one
  really talk of the globalization migration
  flows? In (unknown eds.), Globalization,
  Migration and Development, 35-58. Paris OECD.
• United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
  (UNHCR). (2004). Refugee Trends 1 January-31
  March 2004. Geneva, Switzerland United Nations
  High Commissioner for Refugees, Population Data
  Unit, Population and Geographic Data Section.
• United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
  (UNHCR), (2005). Asylum levels and trends in
  Industrialized countries, 2004. Retrieved 5th
  October 2006 from http//www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/tex
  is/vtx/news/opendoc.pdf?tblSTATISTICSid42243914
  4pagestatistics