The Immigration Situation In Other Countries

This volume examines Canada’s migration policy as part of its foreign policy. It is well known that Canada is a nation of immigrants. However, immigration policy has largely been regarded as domestic, rather than, foreign policy, with most scholarly and policy work focused on what happens after immigrants have arrived in this country. As a result, the effects of immigration to Canada on foreign affairs have been largely neglected despite the international character of immigration. The contributors to this volume underline the extent to which Canada’s relationships with individual countries and with the international community is closely affected by its immigration policies and practices and draw attention to some of these areas in the hope that it will encourage more scholarly and policy activity directed to the impact of immigration on foreign affairs. Written by both academics and policy-makers, the book analyzes some of the latest thinking and initiatives related to linkages between migration and foreign policy.

The dynamics of migration in Europe have changed dramatically over the last few decades. Some countries, such as Ireland, Italy and Spain, are newcomers to an increasingly diverse Europe, having moved from being sources of emigration to destinations for migrants. Others such as France, Germany and the UK have many more years of experience with immigrants. Some of the biggest challenges facing Europe in the context of migration relate to irregular migration and integration by immigrants and refugees. What are the immigration needs of the different European countries? What are their labour needs? Can Europe’s existing population satisfy those labour needs? How can European countries work together to protect and improve the current refugee and asylum system? In the light of these pressing issues, it is vital that academics and NGOs work together to promote debate, research and the publication of reliable information about migration and refugees. To this end, academics, policy-makers and representatives of NGOs met at the University of Deusto in Bilbao, Spain (30 January-1 February 2003) to reflect on and debate the state of immigration in Europe. The results are published in this book.

The ease of transportation, the opening of international immigration policies, the growing refugee movements, and the increasing size of unauthorized immigrant populations suggest that immigration worldwide is a phenomenon of utmost importance to professionals who develop policies and programs for, or provide services to, immigrants. Immigration occurs in both the wealthy nations of the global North and the poorer countries of the global South; it involves individuals who arrive with substantial human capital and those with little. It has far-reaching implications for a nation's economy, public policies, social and health services, and culture. The purpose of this volume, therefore, is to explore current patterns and policies of immigration in key countries and regions across the globe and analyze the implications for these countries and their immigrant populations. Each of its chapters, written by an international and interdisciplinary group of experts, explores how country conditions, policies, values, politics, and attitudes influence the process of immigration and subsequently affect immigrants, migration, and the nation itself. No other volume explores the landscape of worldwide immigration as broadly as this does, with sweeping coverage of countries and empirical research, together with an analytic framework that sets the context of human migration against a wide backdrop of experiential factors that take shape long before an immigrant enters a host country. At once a sourcebook and an applied model of immigration studies, Immigration Worldwide is a valuable reference for scholars and students seeking a wide-ranging yet nuanced survey of the key issues salient to debates about the programs and policies that best serve immigrant populations and their host countries.

Essay from the year 2007 in the subject Politics - Political Systems - General and Comparisons, grade: 1,0 (A), , course: Canada in the World, From Laurier to 21st Century, language: English, abstract: Immigration policy is a crucial element of a country’s policy making. In each country it developed throughout the history of the respective country and, thus, reflects a nation’s historical development. However, immigration policy does not only reflect the past or historical development of a country or nation, it is also continuously adjusted to contemporary economic, cultural and political events and developments (Finley 27). Thus, it suggests itself that this element of policy making is a very vivid one, since it does not discontinue changing. Moreover, it is a well-known fact that the distinct historical pasts of different countries led to varying approaches to and systems of immigration policy. Throughout the past decades countries all over the world have witnessed skyrocketing numbers of migrants. While in 1960 there were 76 million migrants worldwide, their number had more than doubled by 2000 with 175 million and further increased drastically to 200 million migrants in 2005 worldwide. Thus, international migrants, including more than nine million refugees, are now said to account for 3% of the world’s population (Finley 27). It goes without saying that it is primarily the rich western countries such as Canada and Germany that attract immigrants due to the fact they are able to provide sophisticated standards of living. Thus, it suggests itself that the ever-increasing number of migrants into western countries call for well-functioning laws and systems governing the influx and the integration of these migrants. Thus, as already indicated by its topic, this essay will shed some light on how the two countries try to govern the influx of immigrants and compare their policies and policy systems. In order to be able to compare both policies with each other, the essay will begin by providing a brief historical background of Canadian and German immigration and afterwards describe the contemporary immigration policies of both countries briefly. Thereafter, the following distinct elements of these policies in both countries respectively the factors influencing them will be compared: growth of population and economic implications, restrictions, and integration vs. xenophobia. The aim of this essay is to find out whether the two systems are rather similar to each other or completely different.