Permanent Immigration Research Articles

Strangers in the North: Critical narratives on the postgraduation career transitions of international doctoral students

AbstractData show higher enrollment of international graduate students compared to undergraduates in the United States in 2022, with the trend expected to continue. Many international doctoral students pursue education in the United States, hoping to seek employment and/or employment‐based permanent immigration after graduation. Through critical personal narratives (CPNs), the authors use their stories to reflect on employment‐seeking experiences during their time as international graduate students. The narratives depict a 20‐year time span of ongoing issues faced by international graduate students. These first‐person accounts authentically recognize the challenges and provide an avenue for institutions to subsequently address the areas of immigration policies, hiring practices, career development, and cultural responsiveness for international doctoral students.

“There Is No Safe Place in This Plant”: Refugee Workers in Canadian Meatpacking and the Limits of Permanent Legal Status

Following spring 2020’s deadly COVID-19 outbreaks in the Alberta meatpacking industry, we conducted research with meatpackers who were formerly resettled refugees and now Canadian permanent residents (PRs) or Canadian citizens. Research with temporary foreign workers often promotes permanent legal status as a solution to poor conditions of precarious work in Canada, but even with permanent immigration status, former refugees experienced a large gap between their rights as “guaranteed” by the state through their PR status and their daily work in meatpacking plants in rural Alberta. Work in the plants is dangerous, dirty, and difficult, and employees found it difficult to enact their rights as workers. Access to adequate breaks, sick days, and other mandated requirements was reported to be contested and contingent. Former refugees working in this sector experience unexpected “unfreedom.”

Proportion of Life Spent in Canada and the Incidence of Multiple Sclerosis in Permanent Immigrants.

While immigrants to high-income countries have a lower risk of multiple sclerosis (MS) compared with host populations, it is unknown whether this lower risk among immigrants increases over time. Our objective was to evaluate the association between proportion of life spent in Canada and the hazard of incident MS in Canadian immigrants. We conducted a population-based retrospective cohort study in Ontario, using linked health administrative databases. We followed immigrants, who arrived in Ontario between 1985 and 2003, from January 1, 2003, to December 31, 2016, to record incident MS using a validated algorithm based on hospital admission or outpatient visits. We derived proportion of life spent in Canada based on age at arrival and time since immigration obtained from linked immigration records. We used multivariable proportional hazard models, adjusting for demographics and comorbidities, to evaluate the association between proportion of life in Canada and the incidence of MS, where proportion of life was modelled using restricted cubic spline terms. We further evaluated the role of age at migration (15 or younger vs older than 15 years), sex, and immigration class in sensitivity analyses. We included 1.5 million immigrants (49.9% female, mean age 35.9 [SD 14.2] years) who had spent a median of 20% (Q1-Q3 10%-30%) of their life in Canada. During a mean follow-up of 13.9 years (SD 1.0), 934 (0.44/100,000 person-years) were diagnosed with MS. Compared with the median, a higher risk of MS was observed at higher values of proportion of life spent (e.g., hazard ratio [70% vs 20% proportion of life] 1.38; 1.07-1.78). This association did not vary by sex (p(sex × proportion of life) = 0.70) or immigration class (p(immigration class × proportion of life) = 0.13). The results did not vary by age at migration but were statistically significant only at higher values of proportion of life for immigrants aged 15 years or younger at arrival. The risk of incident MS in immigrants varied with the proportion of life spent in Canada, suggesting an acculturation effect on MS risk. Further work is required to understand environmental and sociocultural factors driving the observed association.

Fighting to belong: drivers for transnational diaspora military service in Israel and beyond

Previous studies have explored two scenarios wherein diaspora members fight for their ancestral homeland: (1) in response to immediate threats, and (2) when the homeland’s conscription laws mandate enlistment. This study investigates diaspora military service (DMS) in Israel, where DMS occurs voluntarily outside of acute crises or compulsory conscription requirements. Utilizing survey and interview data from over 1100 diaspora soldiers, it compares enlistment motivations across three diaspora groups with varied ties to Israel and Judaism: North Americans, Israeli Americans, and individuals from the Former Soviet Union. The study conceptualizes DMS as a state led effort to cultivate an engaged diaspora and advance Jewish immigration. This framework enables examining DMS, beyond the immediate military context, as a site for identity exploration, cultural assimilation, and contemplating permanent immigration. Despite varied emphases, results show that DMS occurs in a migratory context as soldiers from all groups recognize service as essential for immigration, integration, and acceptance in Israel. The study formulates three motivational models that drive transnational military engagement across contexts: the “ideological model” among conviction-driven actors; the “mobility model” among those focused on upward mobility; and the “reconnection model” for cementing national belonging and avoid stigma.

Migration aspiration and desire of international students: Chinese international students under strain amid geopolitical tension and the COVID-19 pandemic

Confronted with restrictive visa policies, deteriorating US–China relations and the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Chinese international students in the United States face unprecedented uncertainty in their immigration prospects. Their unique intersectional identities as temporary immigrants, prospective permanent immigrants and emerging adults modulate their migration aspirations and desires within this exceptional social context. We interviewed and surveyed a group of Chinese international students in a major American university at various stages of their stay in the United States. Using the migration aspiration and desire framework, we explore how they cope with the challenges and plan for immigration upon graduation. Our findings suggest that under the unique temporal junction of the geopolitical tension and a global public health crisis unprecedented in their lifetime, the becoming process associated with their particular identity as in-between migrants and the assemblage of various actors throughout the process help recalibrate their initial aspirations at personal and collective levels and reshape their migration desires. Although it has frustrated their migration motivations and plans, it has also endowed them with perspectives and the capacity to develop effective coping mechanisms and remain resilient.

1883. Features and Outcomes of Tuberculosis in Documented versus Undocumented Migrants in Israel

Abstract Background In countries with low tuberculosis (TB) incidence, most TB cases are observed in foreign-born individuals, including permanent immigrants, and undocumented migrants. There is limited information regarding the differences within these groups. In Israel, where TB prevalence is < 2 cases/100,000 persons, 85% of TB cases occur in foreign-born people. We examined risk factors, clinical course, and outcomes between documented and undocumented immigrants hospitalized with active TB. Methods A retrospective analysis of medical records from foreign-born active TB patients admitted to a 700-bed hospital in the center of Israel between January 1st, 2019, to March 31st, 2023. We included patients who initiated TB treatment during hospitalization and were discharged by April 2023. Undocumented migrants were defined as non-Israeli citizens without medical insurance. We summarized their clinical characteristics, course, and outcomes. Results 48 patients were included, 21 (43.8%) were undocumented migrants. Undocumented migrants were younger (mean age 40.9 vs. 53.0 years, P< 0.001) and predominantly arrived from Africa (95.2% vs. 29.6%, P< 0.001). The prevalence of HIV was similar between both groups. Presenting symptoms, duration of symptoms before admission, rates of bilateral and cavitary pulmonary disease, and extrapulmonary disease were comparable. Multi-drug resistant TB was rare (0% vs. 11.5%, P=0.242). Among patients with positive sputum smears and follow-up, undocumented migrants experienced a longer time to achieve negative sputum cultures (76.0 days vs. 36.8 days, P=0.004), and hospitalizations lasting over 30 days were also more common among undocumented migrants (71.4% vs. 40.7%, P=0.045). Multivariate analysis identified undocumented migrant status, thrombocytosis, and bilateral and cavitary pulmonary disease as risk factors for prolonged hospitalization. Conclusion Although the clinical features of TB were similar between documented and undocumented migrants, the response to treatment was slower, and hospital stays were longer among undocumented migrants. This may be due to undocumented migrants presenting with more advanced disease or lack of suitable conditions for isolation and treatment at home. Disclosures Yasmin Maor, MD, Astra Zeneca: Advisor/Consultant|Astra Zeneca: Honoraria|Gilead: Honoraria|GSK: Honoraria|kamada: Honoraria|Medison: Honoraria|MSD: Advisor/Consultant|MSD: Honoraria|Pfizer: Grant/Research Support|Pfizer: Honoraria

Under the Radar – Expatriate Children and Integration in Finland

In policies and research, migrant children tend to be seen as underprivileged and vulnerable. This discourse ignores the more privileged migrant children, those labelled expatriates or third culture kids. Finland wants to attract skilled professionals from abroad. They are often accompanied by their children. Although the families typically intend to sojourn in the country temporarily, Finnish society tends to see them as ‘permanent immigrants’ who need to be integrated. This is visible in international schools that follow the national curriculum, including extensive Finnish language studies and exposure to Finnish culture. This article is based on an ethnographic study among expatriate children in an international school in a Finnish town. I ask how the integration aims affect the expatriate children’s lives, and how they navigate those aims. Using empirical examples, I elaborate on the contradiction between being a ‘privileged’ temporary expatriate child and being defined as an ‘underprivileged’ permanent immigrant.

Temporary migration and land renting behavior

This paper investigates the impact of temporary migration on land transfer (land renting) using a conceptual framework and empirical analysis based on nationally representative data from the 2017 China Migrants Dynamic Survey. Our key findings indicate that temporary migration significantly and negatively affects land transfer-out, after accounting for potential endogeneity issues using the PSM and 2SLS methods. Specifically, migrants with temporary intentions are at least 5.85 percentage points less likely to transfer-out land than their permanent counterparts. We also find that the adverse effect of temporary migration on land transfer is more pronounced in larger cities but diminishes over time as migrants stay longer. Furthermore, we observe that permanent immigrants are more likely to transfer land to acquaintances than strangers, whereas temporary immigrants are more likely to cultivate the land. Our results have significant policy implications for agricultural productivity and rural rental land market in China.

Staggered Inclusion: Between Temporary and Permanent Immigration Status in Quebec, Canada

Pathways to permanent residency among immigrants in Canada have become more often preceded by a phase of temporariness. Research on these processes indicates that a two-step immigration regime is gaining momentum. However, we know little about those who qualify for permanent residency and experience a transition to permanent status inland. This article examines such experience of encountering federal and provincial administrative borders from within Canada. The analysis is based on 43 in-depth qualitative interviews conducted in the province of Quebec between 2016 and 2020 with temporary migrants in the process of transitioning to permanent residency or having recently acquired it. The article argues that migrants find themselves in spaces of ambiguity and in-betweenness regarding their transition process, access to rights and life perspectives over a period during which their status, as a lived experienced rather than strictly an administrative category, is neither temporary nor permanent. It sheds light on how bureaucratic processes that throw people into precariousness produces different shades of inclusion, not only based on the type of residency permit, but on the staggered transition process resulting from Canada’s immigration multi-governance itself. Furthermore, it calls for a rethinking of the permanent-temporary resident binary that structures Canada’s immigration policies.

SECURITIZATION OF AUSTRALIA’S MIGRATION ISSUES DURING SCOTT MORRISON’S LEADERSHIP ERA

<div><p class="Els-history-head">In the last two decades, the Australian Government has intensified the practice of securitizing migration issues. The difference is that the pre-Scott Morrison migration securitization program was more focused on handling cases of Illegal Maritime Arrivals, while the core of Scott Morrison's migration program was to reduce the pressure on the immigrant population. Through the discourse of Planning for Australia's Future Population, Scott Morrison cut the quota of permanent immigrants from 190,000 to 160,000 people. Scott Morrison also implemented immigration transfer policies and migration reforms. Therefore, this study focuses on analyzing the process of framing the issue of Australian immigrants under the leadership of Scott Morrison. This research uses securitization theory and qualitative methods, particularly process-tracing. As a result, this research found that Scott Morrison, as the securitization actor, intentionally created a speech act and convinced the public that the referent object, namely Australia's national security, was in a threatening situation due to the surge in the immigrant population. Functional actors, including parliament, media, and epistemic groups, reinforced Scott Morrison's speech acts. </p></div>

What Level of Migration Is Required to Achieve Zero Population Growth in the Shortest Possible Time? Asian Examples

Sustained below replacement fertility leads to declining population size. Several countries in Asia have experienced below replacement fertility for many years. The paper applies a novel approach to examining the viability of using immigration to achieve zero population growth in six Asian countries: China, Japan, Republic of Korea, Thailand, Singapore and Australia. The novel approach is to estimate the level of immigration that would be required to maintain a constant annual number of births in the long term. Maintaining the number of births at the current level is the fastest way to achieve eventual zero population growth. A population with a constant annual number of births, labeled as a quasi-stationary population, also has a near-to constant age structure that is not excessively old. The study concludes that, for all countries except Australia, no reasonable level of immigration could produce a quasi-stationary population if fertility remains at the country's 2020 level. The constraining factors are the current population size and level of fertility and the extent to which there is acceptance of permanent immigrants in the country. If fertility were to increase over 15–20 years to 1.7 births per woman and the country was accepting of relatively large numbers of permanent immigrants, the quasi-stable outcome becomes potentially viable for all countries except China.

Macroeconomic impacts of remittances: A two-country, two-sector model

We examine the impacts of remittances on foreign direct investment and the development of developing countries using a macro-dynamic model of two small open economies—an advanced economy and a developing country. We incorporate a two-sector framework for the latter: traditional non-traded and foreign capital dependent traded sectors while introducing a collateral effect of remittances. The most important feature of the model is that remittances come from two sources: temporary migrant workers and permanent immigrants, and they are allocated between consumption and domestic investment through the household’s utility maximization. The results from extensive calibration exercises show that remittances in the presence of labor migration hurt the traded sector of the developing economy, leading to a contraction in the aggregate output. Albeit to a lesser extent, the contraction persists even with the expansionary impacts of remittances through the collateral effect. In addition, the migration policy of the developing countries can weaken other development efforts, giving rise to a phenomenon known as a migration-remittance trap.

Fault‐lines in temporary migration schemes: The case of Australia and the legacies of settler‐colonial mentalities in the exploitation of temporary non‐citizens

AbstractWe evaluate the complexity of temporary migration schemes in contrast to the longstanding approach to immigration as a key aspect of nation‐building in settler societies. Until the early 1990s, predominantly one‐way, permanent immigration schemes were preferred in settler societies such as Australia. In an increasingly fluid global context, temporary migrants are more susceptible to forms of abuse and exploitation in a host society, with fewer forms of redress due to their status as non‐citizens and non‐permanent residents. Taking a specific focus upon Australia, we contextualize the experiences of temporary migrants both prior to and under the conditions of COVID‐19. Our key argument is that temporary migration schemes are organised and structured not only to favour states, as well as employers and businesses, but that the stripping back of rights to those who enter these schemes is a deliberative aspect of the state approach.

Bias in estimated breeding-bird abundance from closure-assumption violations

The closure assumption of many abundance models, that individual animals are present throughout the survey season, often is inconsistent with field data. The effects of closure-assumption violations on estimators of abundance and associations between abundance and covariates are not fully understood. Furthermore, one’s definition of abundance affects these estimates. We used simulated data on breeding birds to explore how permanent, non-random immigration and emigration that violate the closure assumption affect estimates from N-mixture abundance models and naïve models (models that do not account for imperfect detection). This is the first work to evaluate the effect of permanent immigration and emigration on estimates from N-mixture models, and to compare these effects among definitions of abundance (initial, season-long, and superpopulation). We also collected and analyzed point-count data on breeding bird species in the Great Basin (USA) to evaluate the frequency of within-season movement. When detection probability was high (ρ ≥ 0.65), estimators of superpopulation abundance from N-mixture and naïve models were relatively unbiased. By comparison, in many cases, even relatively small violations of the closure assumption biased estimates of initial and season-long abundance by > 20%. Naïve abundance models generally were less biased than N-mixture models when ρ ≥ 0.65, but highly biased when ρ ≤ 0.4. In both model types, estimators of the association between abundance and an environmental covariate were minimally biased. The magnitudes of assumption violations tested in our simulations were consistent with those in our field data. Movement of individuals (availability) strongly affected detection probability of nearly all species and, in 7 of 34 species-region combinations, was temporally heterogeneous, suggesting that closure-assumption violations are common in our study system. Our results highlight that permanent movement of individuals within a season may be a substantial source of bias in studies of breeding birds that are based on count data, and that the definition of abundance affects the magnitude of these biases.

Economic integration among mainland Chinese immigrants during and after the period of Hong Kong's handover: The disparity between higher‐educated and lower‐educated groups

AbstractWe examined mainland Chinese immigrants’ economic integration by looking at the earnings gap between locals and immigrants (both permanent and newly arrived) during and after the period of the Hong Kong handover from 1991 to 2016. During this period, Hong Kong experienced a further process of deindustrialization and an increased connection with mainland China. Using 5% Hong Kong population census/by‐census data (1991‐2016), we found that although mainland Chinese immigrants with college or above education still earned less than their local counterparts throughout the years, the income gap rapidly narrowed and their income levels converged in the more recent period. Meanwhile, the gap for those with high school degrees or below only slightly narrowed over time. Moreover, for those with high school degrees or below, the income gap between the permanent immigrants and the newly arrived ones remained constant over time, while a converging trend was observed among those with college or above degrees. Our findings suggest that immigrant economic integration may be accelerated when the socioeconomic linkage is closer between the origins and destination of migration, although some groups may benefit more than others.

LABOUR MIGRATION FROM UKRAINE UNDER THE GLOBAL ECONOMIC TURBULENCE

The purpose of the article is to analyse the trends of labour migration from Ukraine under the global economic crisis caused by COVID-19. The subject of the research is international labour migration in Ukraine. The study should predict the consequences of the coronavirus crisis for labour migration and place of Ukraine in the world labour market in the nearest future. Methodological basis of the research comprised the list of theoretical and empirical methods of research; there was provided the analysis of recent research publications subject under the discussion, compared the results obtaining with statistical data, suggested the practical recommendations that were received on the base of survey results. Researches in a number of OECD countries have found that the risk of infection among migrants is at least two times higher as among locals. The number of international migrants is declined in 2020 for the first time in recent history, as the number of new migrants slows down and re-emigration rates substantially increased. Ukraine has the highest rates of permanent immigrants among European countries. In 2019, there was among approximately 5 million people of foreign origin in Ukraine, the largest migration groups were from Belarus, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Russia, and Uzbekistan. At the same time, Ukraine ranked 8th in the world and 2nd in Europe for emigration in 2019. Ukraine was the largest country of origin of refugees in Europe amounted to 93 thousand people at the end of 2018. In 2019, as in previous decades, the largest migration corridors in Europe were in Ukraine, including the Russia-Ukraine and Ukraine-Russia corridors, which held the first positions in the volume of migration in this part of the world. The military conflict in the East of Ukraine has strengthened the current trend towards reorienting of Ukrainian migration to the West. The employment structure of Ukrainian labour migrants is mostly inefficient, as only 26.8% of Ukrainian workers are employed abroad according to the qualifications obtained. The COVID-19 pandemic has affected virtually all spheres of public life; it has affected emigration from Ukraine, a crucial factor of which has been the introduction of lockdown in key host countries of Ukrainian labour migration, in particular, in the EU. However, the existence of an unconditional demand for Ukrainian workers in the labour-importer countries has led to the solution of problems with access of workers in an ad hoc manner in the first half of 2020, in particular, through the organization of workers transportation from Ukraine for seasonal work. The results of the study have shown that despite the fact that the structure of permanent migration from Ukraine is dominated by migration to the Russian Federation, trends in long-term and especially in temporary labour migration since 2014 and until now, clearly indicate a change in the vector of labour movement towards the EU. Labour emigration is not able to solve the problem of Ukraine’s economic development; it just solves the task of maintaining the welfare of the migrant families and provides the opportunities to develop the human capital of migrant children, primarily through funding by means of migration capital their education in Ukraine. Analysis of the current global and national economic situation, regulatory measures, both in Ukraine and in the countries of migration destination, which directly or indirectly affect migration flows, indicates that in the medium term we cannot predict that the COVID-19 pandemic will significantly affect large-scale labour migration.

Decentering methodological nationalism to survey precarious legal status trajectories

ABSTRACT We examine how the politics of knowledge production limit research on the relationship between immigration status and social inequality. We centre the practices of methodological nationalism in Canada, a traditional country of permanent immigration in which temporary migration has become a core feature of the immigration system. In this case, state classification and counting of populations, and the careful curation of data on nominally permanent and temporary migrants limits research on immigration status. We also document the research design process and survey instrument we developed to work towards methodological autonomy from the state categorization of people on the move. The research design included community consultations, democratization of the research process, and a commitment to experiential knowledge. The resulting survey offers a parsimonious instrument to study complex and indeterminate precarious legal status trajectories and their relationship to social inequality.

International Student Flows from Developing Countries: Do Donors Have an Impact?

International student flows from emerging and developing countries have grown tremendously over the last decades. In this paper, we address the question of whether donors, who might care about the potential brain drain effects student emigration entails in the countries of origin, can affect the student outflows through their foreign aid activities. Employing standard gravity-type approaches of international migration, we separately analyse the impact of scholarships for students from developing countries, and of development projects in recipient countries aimed at improving the local quality of tertiary education. We find that these two types of post-secondary aid lead to opposite effects on student mobility. Investing in the quality of tertiary education in recipient countries appears to be associated with lower outflows of tertiary educated students to donor countries, which corroborates previous research showing that aid may reduce emigration from developing countries if it improves public services. The provision of in-donor scholarships obviously raises student mobility for the duration of the university education abroad, but our results suggest that the student inflows also translate into permanent immigration of highly educated people.

Copying Europe? Integration as a Citizenship Requirement in Australia

Recent decades have seen a significant expansion of so-called “integration requirements” for citizenship applicants in many countries. Though led by European states, the trend now seems to be reaching traditional settler states such as Australia. This article examines the integration requirement proposed for citizenship applicants in Australia in 2017. According to the proposal, applicants for citizenship by conferral would have been required to show that they had “integrated into the Australian community,” for instance, through employment, involvement in community organizations, and the absence of conduct inconsistent with Australian values. Although the proposal failed, it is noteworthy because of its far-reaching nature and novelty in a traditional country of immigration. This article analyzes the implications of the proposed legislation with reference to the diverse groups of permanent immigrants entering Australia, demonstrating its discriminatory potential in terms of gender, nationality, and visa category. It argues that the proposal failed because despite its significant implications, the government did not put forward a convincing case for its introduction and may even have initiated it as a symbolic gesture. The article contributes to understanding why integration requirements that are popular in some states and regions may fail to gain favor in others. It suggests that, given the rapid spread of restrictive immigration policies, scholars should pay more attention to the specific local conditions under which immigration and citizenship policy transfers succeed or fail.

Do Employer-Sponsored Immigrants Fare Better in Labor Markets Than Family-Sponsored Immigrants?

Debates about revising U.S. legal immigration policies tend to question the economic value of immigrants sponsored by family members rather than by employers. To date, little evidence has been cited. This article uses the latest data to measure legal immigrants’ characteristics and economic outcomes by class of entry, comparing employment rates, self-employment rates, and occupational outcomes of family-sponsored immigrants, humanitarian migrants, and diversity visa immigrants with those of employer-sponsored immigrants. It finds that most legal, permanent immigrants to the United States show high employment rates relative to the overall U.S. population after several years in the country, but that employment-sponsored immigrants and their spouses bring the highest education and English proficiency and work in the most highly skilled occupations both initially and over time.