Immigration Policy Research Articles

British Values, Hong Kong Voices: Tracing Hong Kong’s Britishness and Its Influences on British Immigration Policies

Abstract This article examines the rationale behind the United Kingdom’s decision to offer Hongkongers new immigration routes and assess whether Britishness constitutes part of Hong Kong’s identity, influencing this policy choice. It explores the concept of Britishness and how Hong Kong developed a distinct identity through its colonial history and experiences under British rule. Perspectives from the British administration, Hongkongers, and Chinese government on Hong Kong’s Britishness are considered. The article argues the United Kingdom action stems from two factors – perceiving a shared Britishness between Hongkongers and Britons mitigating public backlash, and viewing Hongkongers’ Britishness as crucial to their integration. Ultimately, Britishness remains integral to Hong Kong due to shared social and political values with Britain from over 150 years of colonial rule.

Resistance Through Connections, Communities, and Friendships: Interrelational Possibilities of Educational Curriculum Design

This paper examines the transformational possibilities of educational curriculum design in fostering interrelational solidarities among mature migrant and diaspora women. It offers a brief introduction to an emerging doctoral project that engages with the educational experiences of mature migrant and diaspora women in Canada. Throughout a migrant woman’s displacement and “settlement” journey, friendships emerge as a starting point through which some women start to construct their agentic selves within and outside their homes, partners, and diasporic community. These friendships allow for a transnational self to emerge, one that can move beyond identification as the primary location for struggle, and towards shared, but different, experiences of oppression. By resisting neoliberal and multicultural immigration policies that isolate mature immigrant women and reproduce violence, these connections, communities, and friendships push settlement education systems to reckon with complicated, yet symbiotic experiences of migrant and diaspora women.

SOCIAL RELATIONS AND OLDER MIGRANTS

Abstract This paper elaborates on how the key life course tenets of timing and context represent important factors that influence older adult social relations following the act of migration. The timing of migration may yield specific social relations. For instance, migrating later in life is likely to result in more homogenous and restricted networks compared to migrating as a young adult. Reasons for migration (political instability, family reunification, or socio-economic aspirations) as well as host country factors such as immigrant policies and receptivity infer important contexts in which social relations emerge. The process of movement from one country to another, and the circumstances around those movements, frame the migrant experience and its effects on social relations. Beyond timing and context, there are also demographic and cultural factors that influence the experience. For instance, gender, race and SES indicate social positions in systems of stratification that can influence and structure the people with whom one has ties. Further, cultural factors such as country of origin and language not only signal the ease with which host society incorporation occurs, but also inform the acculturation and meaning-making processes upon which the formation and function of social relations rest. In sum, the concepts found in the life course perspective provide a useful starting point to demonstrate that the effects of migration on older adults’ social relations occur within various influential contexts.

THE NATIONAL MINORITIES EMIGRATION FROM THE UkSSR DURING THE NEP PERIOD (ON THE EXAMPLE OF THE VOLHYNIA PASSENGER AGENCY "RUSCAPA")

Abstract
 The purpose of the article is to study the main problems and factors of the ethnic minorities emigration, in particular, Germans and Jews, from Volhynia-Zhytomyr region in the 1920s; to reveal the peculiarities of the activities of the Russian-Canadian-American Passenger Agency (RUSCAPA) that helped USSR citizens to emigrate legally during the NEP period. Methodology of the study was general scientific methods (analysis of the available archival documents, synthesis of other sources that allowed to recreate the picture of the organization of migration flows), historical research methods (historical-comparative: parallels were drawn with previous periods and the causes of various migration waves), methods of classification and typology (to study the categories of citizens who could obtain permission to leave and enter another country). Scientific novelty. New documents from the archival fund «The Volhynia passenger agency «RUSCAPA»», stored in the State Archives of Zhytomyr region, are introduced into scientific circulation for the first time. The conditions of emigration during the NEP period and the methods of its regulation by the Soviet authorities are systematized.
 Conclusions. The second wave of emigration among the representatives of national minorities (primarily Jews and Germans) was an indicative form of protest against the conditions of economic, religious life, and other restrictions imposed by the Soviet political system. The former Volhynia province, with its center in Zhytomyr, was a region with a compact population of German and Jewish communities, whose representatives made up the highest percentage of those who took advantage of the short «window of opportunity» to travel abroad that existed in the USSR during the NEP period. That was a reason for the presence in Zhytomyr a representative office of a private company that organized emigration. However, it was not easy to leave the USSR, nor was it easy to get to the country of immigration, due to significant bureaucratic obstacles and arguments for the expediency of permits/prohibitions for the departure/entry of representatives of different social categories and national groups. Restrictions were created by the Soviet government that sought to prove to the world the advantages of the young «proletarian» state and by the immigration policy of «overseas» states that were interested in attracting physically, socially and financially prosperous citizens to their countries. RUSCAPA helped to bypass the restrictions, and its liquidation was a consequence of the collapse of the NEP and the transformation of the USSR into a totalitarian system closed by the Iron Curtain.

Problematic transition from residence permit for the purpose of studies to having an employment: Non-EU foreign students from post-Soviet countries and Czech immigration policy

The Czech Republic introduced a migration policy in 1999, and one of the newly emerged residence permits was for the purpose of studies. It allowed non-EU foreign nationals to study in the Czech Republic. However, its rationale was also associated with restricting the permanent settlement of non-EU international students in the country. The policy changed in 2006. However, even up to 2019, it remained challenging for international students to secure permanent residency. In particular, students from post-Soviet countries wanted to settle permanently and had to find a job before graduation to secure their stay. In 2019, the Czech Republic introduced a transitional period for non-EU foreign graduates, enabling them to stay in the country for nine months to find a job. However, despite the advantages, this was late compared to other European countries. This article discusses the situation of non-EU international students before 2019 and the difficulties they experienced due to the complicated transition process from residence permit for the purpose of studies to employee status.

AGE AND COHORT TRENDS OF RACIAL/ETHNIC DIFFERENCE IN RELIGIOUS PARTICIPATION AMONG MIDDLE-AGED AND OLDER AMERICANS

Abstract Religious involvement is an important way of maintaining social connectedness for older Americans. While large quantities of studies have explored age and cohort effects of religious participation separately, less is known about racial/ethnic disparities. Applying growth curve modeling to the 2004-2020 waves of the Health and Retirement Study (N=134,734 person-years), the current study examines how religious attendance changes across the life course and among recent birth cohorts, as well as how exposure to immigration policy regimes (IPR) shapes Hispanic immigrants’ religious participation behaviors. Results suggest an overall reversed U-shape age trajectory with lower average levels and faster declines among more recent cohorts. Compared to White older adults, Black and Hispanic populations attend religious activities more frequently, but their attendance declines at faster rates in later life, leading to minimal White-Nonwhite differences in the oldest ages. However, Hispanic immigrants display significantly less decline in religious participation among more recent cohorts relative to Whites, although no similar trend is found between White and Black/native Hispanic older adults. Further analyses of Mexican Hispanic immigrants suggest that longer exposure to restricted IPR (since the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, IRCA) is associated with increased religious attendance, but less restricted IPR (between 1964 and 1985) is associated with decreased religious participation net of age and cohort effects. These findings emphasize the importance of understanding the civic engagement experiences of Hispanic immigrants against the context of immigration policy regimes.

Fiasko reformy polityki imigracyjnej, kontroli granic zewnętrznych oraz polityki azylowej Unii Europejskiej w latach 2015-2020

THE FAILURE OF THE REFORM OF THE EUROPEAN UNION’S IMMIGRATION POLICY, EXTERNAL BORDER CONTROL, AND ASYLUM POLICY BETWEEN 2015 AND 2020: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS The primary research objective of the article is to evaluate the reform of the immigration, external border control and asylum policy of the European Union between 2015 and 2020. The author formulates two research hypotheses. The first is based on the assumption that the legislative packages presented by the European Commission in 2015-2016 and then in 2018 have almost completely failed. The second hypothesis is that the idea of establishing a permanent resettlement mechanism as a means to overcome the migration crisis in the Union in 2015-2016 and address the future migration challenges of the EU has generally failed. Instead, the EU’s temporary resettlement mechanisms in place between 2015 and 2017 and the 1:1 resettlement mechanism between the EU and Turkey introduced in 2016 have worked well. The author then formulates two research questions: firstly, why have the legislative acts of the European Commission largely failed?; and secondly, why has the temporary relocation of asylum seekers in the EU generally been successful?

Risk of unemployment and work disability among refugee and non-refugee migrants with incident psychotic disorders in Sweden and Denmark.

Unemployment and work disability are common among individuals with non-affective psychotic disorders (NAPDs) but it is unknown whether rates differ among migrants and native-born individuals. The present study aimed to compare the risk of these outcomes during the first 5 years of illness in non-refugee migrants, refugees and native-born individuals with NAPDs in Sweden and Denmark-two countries with different immigration policies and models of early psychosis care. Using national registers, we identified all individuals aged 18-35 years in Sweden and Denmark who received an incident NAPD diagnosis between 2006 and 2013 (N = 6750 and 8320, respectively). Cohorts were followed for 5 years to determine the days of unemployment and sickness absence (analyzed using zero-inflated negative binomial models) and the time to receipt of disability pension (analyzed using complementary log-log models). Relative to their native-born peers, refugees and non-refugee migrants in Sweden and non-refugee migrants in Denmark were significantly less likely to have zero unemployment days (OR range: 0.54-0.72) and all migrant groups experienced more unemployment days (IRR range: 1.26-1.37). Results were largely unchanged after adjustment for sociodemographic and clinical factors. In the adjusted model, both Swedish migrant groups and refugees in Denmark were more likely to experience zero sickness absence days than native-born individuals (OR range: 1.48-1.56). Only refugees in Denmark were at greater risk of disability pension. Non-refugee migrants and refugees with NAPDs in both Sweden and Denmark are particularly vulnerable to experiencing unemployment. Targeted interventions may help to reduce these disparities and promote long-term work ability among migrant groups.

The Flows of Racial Capitalism: Charting the Spread of COVID-19 through Alberta’s Meatpacking Industry

This article will present a case study of Cargill’s High River meatpacking plant operations to show how at crucial historical junctures racial capitalism shaped its working conditions and in so doing determined the spread of COVID-19. First, the Canadian meatpacking industry’s 1980s-era economic restructuring relocated and reorganized its workforce from a core to peripheral one, allowing for the low wage employment of many precarious workers; this restructuring enabled the Cargill company to gain overwhelming control of the meatpacking industry in Canada and to become a “choke point” in the supply chain. Second, Canadian immigration policy from 2006 to 2010 supported a marked increase in migrant workers to meet the labour market needs of business; this reconstituted the labour class to heighten their disposability. With these pieces in place, the Albertan provincial government could classify meatpackers as “essential workers” who worked even in the face of mass COVID infection in April through June 2020. Across this crucial historical period racial capitalism enabled the plant to circumvent public health interventions protecting workers through the onset of the pandemic. Political championing of business interests, enacted through legislative mechanisms, allowed for the exploitation of workers and consistently rendered workers personally responsible for their own health and safety, despite their lack of control over what exposed them to risk.

Lessons Learned from Immigrant Health Cohorts: A Review of the Evidence and Implications for Policy and Practice in Addressing Health Inequities among Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders.

The health of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (AANHPI) is uniquely impacted by structural and social determinants of health (SSDH) shaped by immigration policies and colonization practices, patterns of settlement, and racism. These SSDH also create vast heterogeneity in disease risks across the AANHPI population, with some ethnic groups having high disease burden, often masked with aggregated data. Longitudinal cohort studies are an invaluable tool to identify risk factors of disease, and epidemiologic cohort studies among AANHPI populations have led to seminal discoveries of disease risk factors. This review summarizes the limited but growing literature, with a focus on SSDH factors, from seven longitudinal cohort studies with substantial AANHPI samples. We also discuss key information gaps and recommendations for the next generation of AANHPI cohorts, including oversampling AANHPI ethnic groups; measuring and innovating on measurements of SSDH; emphasizing the involvement of scholars from diverse disciplines; and, most critically, engaging community members to ensure relevancy for public health, policy, and clinical impact.

Immigration and health outcomes: A study on native health perception and limitations in Europe

This study examines the impact of immigration on the self-perceived health of natives in 16 European countries from 2006 to 2018. Utilizing data from the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) and the European Union Labor Force Survey (EU-LFS), we focus on two health outcomes: natives’ self-perceived health and health-related limitations in daily activities. Contrary to concerns, our findings indicate a positive influence of immigration on natives’ health perception and a reduction in health-related limitations. Noteworthy variations by gender and age emerge, with more pronounced benefits in countries with lower human capital. These results underscore the potential health advantages of immigration, emphasizing the necessity for nuanced immigration policies that consider societal impact and call for a comprehensive evaluation of immigration’s effects.

Structured encounters and immigrant experiences of integration in Sweden

ABSTRACT The present paper investigates immigrants’ perceptions of the integration process, centering their perceptions of organizations and the built environment. To do so, we use the concepts formal structured encounters, or planned organizational activities intended to foster access to social connections and integration facilitators, and informal structured encounters, or unplanned, organic social connections and access to facilitators fostered by the physical arrangement of space. Drawing from in-depth interviews and ethnographic data gathered at two Swedish research sites, we examine how immigrants who participated in formal and informal structured encounters perceive these encounters affecting their integration experiences. We then compare how immigrants who have and have not participated in formal and informal structured encounters perceive the integration process overall. We find that immigrants who participated in formal structured encounters were able to access language and cultural learning as well as opportunities for social connections. Informal structured encounters rarely occurred. We also find that those who participated and did not participate in formal structured encounters perceived and experienced the integration process similarly: as never-ending and burdensome, with processual challenges and discrimination functioning as formidable hurdles. We conclude the paper by discussing the implications of our findings for future research and immigration policy.

EU migration policy: policy of humanism vs threat to national security

Uncontrolled migration sweeping Europe is a priority of the political leadership led by a number of European states such as France, Italy, as well as their allies in the United States. The climate crisis in Europe also plays an important role here, which can be resolved, according to Germany, with the help of future “new citizens” who arrived from countries in Africa and the Middle East, exclusively with a Muslim population. What are the migration and immigrant policies in EU countries? How is the immigration policy of European countries being transformed? A detailed analysis of the current state of affairs in Europe is based on official data from the national statistical services of Germany, France, Great Britain, the Ministry of European Integration of the Republic of Serbia, the Department of Civil Liberty and Immigration of the Italian Republic, as well as international organizations - the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Eurostat, World Bank. The article examines the security problem in connection with the penetration of radical Islam along with refugees. The authors reveal the consequences of the migration crisis in Europe and make an attempt to answer the question: is the reception and integration of refugees an act of humanity or a problem of national security for EU countries.

Modernization of the US immigration system as an important condition for maintaining global technological leadership

The article focuses upon the problem of a comprehensive reform of the US immigration system. The reform was supposed to increase the effectiveness of immigration policy, make it able to respond the needs of the economy. The author notes the extreme politicization of the problem of immigration. Acute inter-party contradictions made it impossible to carry out a comprehensive immigration reform, the need for which was recognized at the beginning of this century. Many developed countries successfully compete with the United States, attracting thousands of foreign specialists to their countries.

Syrian, Armenian, and Lebanese Claims to Whiteness in Post-War Canadian Immigration Policy

Abstract This article asks how, in early post-World War II Canada, Syrian, Armenian, and Lebanese communities claimed whiteness in the context of Canada’s racially restrictive immigration regulations that defined them as “Asiatics,” and hence inadmissible. But, it also examines how Canadian politicians and immigration bureaucrats responded to those claims. Using so-far untapped archival records, this article shows that immigration authorities were unwilling to redefine the racial status of these groups out of fear that doing so would provide a wedge for other groups of “Asiatics” to press for the ability to migrate to Canada. In this case, Syrians, Armenians, and Lebanese could be regarded as experiencing collateral damage in the politics of whiteness. While Canadian immigration authorities seemed to privately accept the white/European identity claims of these groups, they were nonetheless unwilling to publicly grant them one of the privileges of whiteness – namely the ability to migrate to Canada on a basis equal to that of other white immigrants. Instead, the government used “merit-based” orders-in-council as an under the radar administrative mechanism to admit members of these groups. This allowed the government and the immigration department to avoid a larger public debate about racial discrimination against “Asiatic” immigrants.

The Asymmetric Polarization of Immigration Opinion in the United States

Abstract In this paper, we analyze trends in Americans’ immigration attitudes and policy preferences nationally and across partisan and racial/ethnic groups. In the 1990s and early 2000s, Democrats and Republicans shared similarly negative attitudes toward immigrants and high levels of support for restrictionist immigration policies. Beginning in the 2010s and continuing through the early 2020s, however, Democrats’ aggregate immigration opinions liberalized considerably. We observed increasingly liberal immigration preferences among Democrats of all racial and ethnic backgrounds after 2016, but this trend was especially pronounced among white Democrats. Among Republicans, opinion on immigration remained mostly stable over this period, although in some cases it became more conservative (e.g., border security) and more liberal on others (e.g., amnesty). The marked liberalization in immigration opinion among Democrats has left partisans more divided on immigration than at any point since national surveys began consistently measuring immigration opinion in the late twentieth century.

Out of the Immigration Periphery: A Case Study of Competence-based Immigration Policy Development in Finland

An impending talent deficit caused by declining working age population and surging need of professionals pose a severe threat for the knowledge-intensive countries like Finland. Competence-based immigration can partially remedy the situation if supported by appropriate policy making and governance. Through multiple-streams framework (MSF) approach this intrinsic case study analyses the construction of the national macro talent management framework during the last two decades. By examining the policy change through MSF, the article demonstrates how the issue of competence-based migration was moved out of the ‘immigration periphery’ and bridged to the economic policy. The results show that despite the obvious need for strategic planning only trivial policy changes were made until recent years. This changed when a group of ‘policy entrepreneurs’ created a new narrative on immigration, defined a new policy arena, and firmly placed international talents on the policy makers’ agenda. Political changes and external trends fortified the favourable circumstances. With systemic approach and a clear mandate from the government, the window of opportunity for the economically and societally significant immigration policy making is now finally open. However, recruiters and the public need to embrace the ethnic and cultural diversity to reap the benefits of the renewed policy.

Broad and Detailed Agreement: Public Preferences for German Immigration Policy

Immigration policy is often considered one of the most divisive issues in Western Europe and North America. We explore whether that debate has been oversimplified. We start from the position that immigration is a complex issue comprising many specific policy choices. We then investigate whether preferences are consistently open or closed across a range of immigration policy criteria. We analyze an original survey with a nationally representative sample of Germans. Our results suggest that preferences are not consistently open or closed on immigration, integration, and naturalization regulations. Overall, the German public would prefer to be open on some aspects of immigration policy and closed on others. In addition, population subsets who are either “pro-” or “anti-” immigration in general have the same preferences for whether to be open or closed on specific immigration policies. Our findings promote a more detailed approach to studying immigration preferences, which adds nuance to the idea of immigration as a grand societal conflict. In doing so, we highlight how future studies can refine expectations about when policy preferences are more permissive or restrictive.

Permanent residence permits and demands for integration: a genealogical analysis of Swedish immigration policy

ABSTRACT This article explores the contemporary civic integration policy trend of fusing migration control and integration requirements, by analysing Swedish immigration policies from a governmentality perspective. Through a genealogical analysis, the article focuses on policies on permanent residence permits and explores key concepts which underly contemporary policies on permanent residence permit, and the technologies of citizenship and anti-citizenship produced through them. The material consists of Swedish official documents published between 1951 and 2021. The analysis shows that ‘incentives’ and ‘conduct’ are key concepts which underly contemporary policies, where the permanent residence permit is constructed as part of an assemblage of technologies of (anti-)citizenship, governing non-citizens towards becoming law-abiding and working subjects. Furthermore, both these concepts have been given different meaning over time, especially the concept of incentives. This concept was central in the 1950s, then backgrounded during the late twentieth century and reactivated in 2015. The policies on permanent residence permit once again activated an assemblage of technologies aimed at governing the motivation of non-citizens who require residence permits. This reactivation relates to a wider trend of civic integration within western countries, where policies are recurringly designed to ‘improve’ non-citizens who are portrayed as morally lacking.

Research on the Spatial and Temporal Distribution and Evolution Characteristics of Ancient Architectural Heritage in Southeastern Zhejiang

Southeastern Zhejiang boasts a large number of ancient architectural heritage sites and features, representing a rich cultural heritage. However, this region lacks a unified and effective planning system and coordination mechanism. Each county and city operates independently, resulting in low levels of resource sharing and utilization. There is a lack of a long-term, comprehensive, and effective planning and management framework. Therefore, this study focuses on 268 ancient architectural heritage sites in southeastern Zhejiang. By employing correlation analysis methods on the ArcGIS platform, this study summarizes the spatial and temporal distribution characteristics and evolutionary patterns of ancient architectural heritage. The study aims to provide guidance for subsequent comprehensive research, protection, and planning, thereby achieving the sustainable development of the region’s ancient architectural cultural heritage. The conclusions are as follows: (1) Southeastern Zhejiang’s ancient architectural heritage has formed an overall spatial distribution pattern known as the “three cores and three belts”. Targeted sustainable development strategies for ancient architectural heritage can be proposed accordingly. (2) The overall spatial distribution of ancient architectural cultural heritage in southeastern Zhejiang is highly correlated with the natural environment. It is important to consider the correlation between the overall spatial distribution of ancient architectural cultural heritage and the natural environment in the region during subsequent development. (3) The distribution of newly added architectural heritage in southeastern Zhejiang is influenced by factors such as water resource reforms, immigration policies, administrative changes, and cultural ideologies. Throughout history, southeastern Zhejiang has exhibited different spatial distribution structures, laying the foundation for the study of its genealogy and lineage of ancient architectural heritage. The contribution of this research lies in providing targeted references for the coordinated development and systematic revitalization of ancient architectural cultural heritage for the future of southeastern Zhejiang.