tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/skilled-migrants-4317/articlesskilled migrants – The Conversation2024-01-10T01:00:43Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2150682024-01-10T01:00:43Z2024-01-10T01:00:43ZAustralia’s skilled migration policy changed how and where migrants settle<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563888/original/file-20231206-21-3itee.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4392%2C2910&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/cabramatta-new-south-wales-australia-march-1351546931">Slow Walker/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Howard government (1996-2007) shifted migration policy away from family migration and towards skilled migrants. Our <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264275123002949">recently</a> published <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S014362282300245X">research</a> analysed changes in migrant clusters at the level of local neighbourhoods. We also looked at where these clusters are located. </p>
<p>Understanding where cultural diversity occurs and how quickly people are being assimilated can help policymakers to ensure resources are fairly distributed and communities’ resilience enhanced. These issues affect place-based health, urban planning and disaster risk management policies. Better targeting of services is also vital for fostering a sense of belonging, social cohesion and inclusion across Australian society.</p>
<p>In particular, evaluating whether the skilled migration policy has been a success involves understanding whether or not highly educated immigrants are finding jobs that match their qualifications. Our research suggests this hasn’t been the case. </p>
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<h2>How migrants get a foothold in society</h2>
<p>Different theories of settlement and integration make different assumptions about how migrants will settle in society. In our research we found segmented assimilation best characterises migrant experiences from 2001 to 2021. This means there are different “segments”, such as occupations and locations, available to migrants to get a foothold before assimilating. </p>
<p>Using language spoken at home as an indicator, we show diversity is higher in urban areas than in rural areas in all states and territories except the Northern Territory. Diversity is also spread more evenly throughout urban areas. Rural areas have pockets of diversity. </p>
<p>Using language spoken at home, we can see the cultural diversity of protected regions in Northern Territory and Western Australia because of the high populations of Indigenous peoples. A different picture emerges in the cities. </p>
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<p>For example, comparing the picture in Sydney in 2001 to 2021, diversity has grown to encompass most of the inner suburbs. It has fallen away in the outer suburbs or peri-urban areas. </p>
<p>Over the same time in Melbourne, diversity has gone from being evenly spread to becoming patchy in the inner areas. (Our <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264275123002949">research paper</a> maps the diversity changes in the other capital cities.) </p>
<p>While the overall trend of migrant movement is towards the suburbs, we found this trend isn’t statistically significant compared to other trends. For example, other patterns of movement, such as people moving from suburbs towards the city centre, might also be significant.</p>
<p>The graphs below show the clustering of diversity in different cities. Zero in the Moran’s index indicates diversity is randomly spread. The index increases as diversity becomes more clustered. For example, there might be schools or other facilities that encourage clustering. </p>
<p>For most of the larger cities clustering is relatively fixed over time. Levels of clustering in Adelaide and Melbourne have stayed higher than in other cities.</p>
<h2>What features allow clusters of diversity to persist?</h2>
<p>We then examined the features of these clusters across Australia. In other words, what are the physical features of these places? And what are the characteristics of their residents? </p>
<p>Overwhelmingly, people born in Asia and especially China now dominate clusters of diversity. They have replaced European-dominated migration, which was still apparent in 2001. </p>
<p>Another major shift occurred early in the 2000s and came to dominate during the “skilled migrant” era. This has been the ability of migrants to speak good English. The data show migrants tended to be increasingly tertiary-educated and employed in managerial professions. </p>
<p>Surprisingly, despite these skills, these workers tend to have lower incomes than non-migrants. New immigrants with good education and language skills may have difficulties finding jobs that match their education levels. They earn less than their non-migrant counterparts, which suggests they are overqualified for the jobs they do find.</p>
<p>The data also reveal how much physical features may be associated with diversity. Using an AI technique known as SHAP (Shapley Additive exPlanations) on the five census years (2001 to 2021), we showed travel to work by public transport is most strongly associated with diversity. However, the strength of this falls away over time. </p>
<p>Crowded houses are at first linked with diversity, but this trend is reversed in later years. Rented houses also decrease in association, possibly in line with more migrants owning homes in the suburbs.</p>
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<h2>Continually diverse, upwardly and outwardly mobile</h2>
<p>During the “<a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233573553_The_Australian_Society_of_the_State_Egalitarian_Ideologies_and_New_Directions_in_Exclusionary_Practice">Hanson years</a>” of immigration policy in Australia, the country moved away from family-based migration towards a policy that made sense economically, but in its extreme form was anti-humanitarian. </p>
<p>Beneath the signature changes in policy on refugees and asylum seekers, our research papers show a longer-term and arguably more significant groundswell of change in our cities. This was assimilation based on migrant desires that all Australians share: good English, home ownership, suburbanisation and good public transport.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215068/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marco Amati receives funding from the Australian Research Council and Australian Urban Research Infrastructure Network (AURIN). This work was funded by High Impact Project 2022 “Nationwide Longitudinal Database for Emerging CALD Communities and Social-Environmental Inequities”.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joe Hurley receives funding from the Australian Research Council and Australian Urban Research Infrastructure Network (AURIN). This work was funded by the AURIN High Impact Project 2022 “Nationwide Longitudinal Database for Emerging CALD Communities and Social-Environmental Inequities”. Joe is on the technical advisory committee for the Council Alliance for Sustainable Built Environment.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr. Qian (Chayn) Sun receives funding from NCRIS-enabled Australian Urban Research Infrastructure Network (AURIN). She researches and teaches fundamental and applied Geospatial Technology and Science at RMIT University. She is the founder of GISail (Geospatial Informatics and Intelligence) research group. This work was funded by High Impact Project 2022 “Nationwide Longitudinal Database for Emerging CALD Communities and Social-Environmental Inequities”.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Siqin (Sisi) Wang is affiliated with Spatial Sciences Institute, University of Southern California, US as an Associate Professor and double affiliated to RMIT, Australia as a Senior Lecturer and University of Queensland, Australia as a Honorary Research Fellow. </span></em></p>The shift from family migration towards skilled migrants changed settlement patterns in the first two decades of this century. But these skilled migrants still get paid less than non-migrants.Marco Amati, Professor of International Planning, Centre for Urban Research, RMIT UniversityJoe Hurley, Associate Professor, Sustainability and Urban Planning, RMIT UniversityQian (Chayn) Sun, Associate Professor of Geospatial Science, RMIT UniversitySiqin (Sisi) Wang, Associate Professor (Teaching) of Spatial Sciences, University of Southern CaliforniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1946132022-12-12T20:19:02Z2022-12-12T20:19:02ZImmigrants could be the solution to Canada’s labour shortage, but they need to be supported<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500486/original/file-20221212-115672-cv8u59.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=224%2C319%2C5302%2C3509&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">New Canadians take part in a virtual citizenship ceremony in December 2020. Canadians are more supportive of immigration than ever before.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Giordano Ciampini</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Immigration is largely accepted as one of the best <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/220822/dq220822b-eng.htm?CMP=mstatcan">strategic responses to Canada’s declining birth rates, aging population and labour market shortages</a>. In many ways, immigrants are now positioned to be the saviours of Canada’s post-pandemic recovery.</p>
<p>Even with steadily rising numbers and the challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, Canadians <a href="https://www.environicsinstitute.org/docs/default-source/project-documents/focus-canada---fall-2022---immigration-refugees/focus-canada-fall-2022---canadian-public-opinion-about-immigration-refugees---final-report.pdf?sfvrsn=b31e22c9_2">are more favourable towards immigration than ever before</a>. </p>
<p>Canada’s new immigration targets are unprecedented — more than <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/news/notices/supplementary-immigration-levels-2023-2025.html">1.4 million new permanent residents</a> will be admitted by 2025. Setting targets, however, is the easy part. More difficult is ensuring Canada is up to the task of selecting and welcoming the influx of newcomers that will be arriving over the next few years. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-canada-plans-to-break-records-with-its-new-refugee-targets-193880">How Canada plans to break records with its new refugee targets</a>
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<p>But if immigrants are going to be a panacea for our demographic and economic challenges, they must be able to find skills-appropriate employment and settle into communities. Selecting the right mix of newcomers is the first crucial element to consider.</p>
<h2>Barriers for immigrant workers</h2>
<p>Employers across Canada <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11-621-m/11-621-m2022011-eng.htm">have reported labour shortages in a range of skill levels and sectors</a>, including accommodation, food services, skilled trades and health care. </p>
<p>The current economic immigrant selection system, <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/express-entry/works.html">Express Entry</a>, prioritizes “high-skilled” immigrants — those with post-secondary education — in fields like information technology and finance. However, many of these individuals face significant underemployment, with <a href="https://fsc-ccf.ca/research/employment-gaps-and-underemployment-for-racialized-groups-and-immigrants-in-canada/">foreign credentials discounted and the requirement to have Canadian experience</a> preventing many from finding skills-appropriate work.</p>
<p>The new immigration plan <a href="https://canximmigration.com/immigration-news/how-teer-system-will-affect-express-entry-applicants/">will expand the eligible skill levels</a> and ease access to permanent resident status for essential workers who were previously excluded from the selection system, like transport truck drivers, nurse assistants and heavy equipment operators.</p>
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<img alt="A man speaks from behind a 'Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada' branded podium. A Canadian flag stands in the background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498742/original/file-20221202-23-db19es.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498742/original/file-20221202-23-db19es.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498742/original/file-20221202-23-db19es.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498742/original/file-20221202-23-db19es.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498742/original/file-20221202-23-db19es.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498742/original/file-20221202-23-db19es.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498742/original/file-20221202-23-db19es.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Sean Fraser makes an announcement in Ottawa in Oct. 2022. The federal government is planning a massive increase in the number of immigrants entering Canada per year, with a target of 500,000 by 2025.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Patrick Doyle</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Although this is a positive development, it is an open question whether so-called “lower-skilled” newcomers — those without post-secondary education — will find work and stay in their intended occupations. Canada’s focus on high-skilled immigration thus far has been based on research that shows that <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11f0019m/11f0019m2014361-eng.htm#a1">higher-skilled newcomers have better labour market outcomes in the long term</a> than those with lower skills. </p>
<p>In general, less educated workers tend to be <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0959680109355307">more susceptible to unemployment</a> and <a href="https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/canada/employment-social-development/programs/poverty-reduction/backgrounder/backgrounder-toward-poverty-reduction-EN.pdf">poverty</a>. </p>
<p>However, given the rampant <a href="https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1467-8330.2003.00346.x">devaluation of foreign credentials</a> and the <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11f0019m/11f0019m2019024-eng.htm">oversupply of high-skilled workers</a>, it is possible that lower-skilled immigrants in essential sectors will actually face less relative labour market disparity than their high-skilled counterparts.</p>
<h2>Changes to Express Entry</h2>
<p>Another significant change is the introduction of targeted invitations within Express Entry. Currently, Express Entry applicants are <a href="https://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/skilled/crs-tool.asp">evaluated by a comprehensive ranking system</a>. Candidates that meet a certain cutoff score are invited to <a href="https://www.canadavisa.com/express-entry-invitations-to-apply-issued.html">apply in biweekly draws</a>. </p>
<p>Applicants know their chance of being invited based on their ranking system score. However, with targeted invitations, it will be up to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada to determine which characteristics are valued in each draw. This adds significant uncertainty for applicants who may be overlooked even with a high ranking system score. </p>
<p>Government officials have stated that <a href="https://www.ourcommons.ca/Committees/en/CIMM/StudyActivity?studyActivityId=11697570">targeted draws will allow for the prioritization of high demand occupations</a>. While occupation-specific admission has the advantage of potentially addressing talent shortages in certain fields, it may also result in an oversupply of workers in some areas. </p>
<p>If labour demand shifts due to economic downturn, these workers may be left out in the cold, as was the case for <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/46443537_The_Effect_of_Immigrant_Selection_and_the_IT_Bust_on_the_Entry_Earnings_of_Immigrants">tech workers after the dot-com bubble burst in the early 2000s</a>. </p>
<h2>Investing in supports</h2>
<p>For the immigration plan to be successful, the selection system is just one side of the equation. The government must also invest in the infrastructure needed to accommodate the population growth, including <a href="https://theconversation.com/canada-needs-to-build-more-affordable-housing-for-newcomers-184420">affordable housing</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-021-01262-z">access to health care</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/immigrant-families-had-to-fend-for-themselves-during-online-schooling-179550">schooling supports</a>.</p>
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<img alt="A 'For Sale' sign in front of a house" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498745/original/file-20221202-26-vmqdu9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498745/original/file-20221202-26-vmqdu9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498745/original/file-20221202-26-vmqdu9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498745/original/file-20221202-26-vmqdu9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498745/original/file-20221202-26-vmqdu9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498745/original/file-20221202-26-vmqdu9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498745/original/file-20221202-26-vmqdu9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Access to affordable housing is one of the biggest barriers newcomers are facing in Canada.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Evan Buhler</span></span>
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<p>Labour market integration policies and practices are equally important to ensure that immigrants’ skills are recognized and properly utilized. For example, <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/75-001-x/2010102/article/11121-eng.htm">immigrants trained in regulated occupations, like nursing, struggle to enter their professions</a>, even though many of these fields have severe labour shortages. </p>
<p>Although several provinces now have <a href="https://www.fairnesscommissioner.ca/en/About/Pages/Mandate.aspx">fairness commissioners whose mandate is to enhance transparency</a> in occupational licensing processes, significant barriers remain. </p>
<p>The experience is not much better for immigrants seeking employment in unregulated fields. Currently, <a href="https://refugeeresearch.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Li-2003-Deconstructing-Canadas-discourse-of-immigrant-integration.pdf">the burden of integration is placed disproportionately on individual immigrants themselves</a>. However, all stakeholders — including policymakers, occupational regulatory bodies, educational institutions and employers — should play a role in this process. </p>
<h2>Everyone has a role to play</h2>
<p>Settlement services and occupationally relevant language training must be made more accessible for newcomers with lower levels of education, since <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/36-28-0001/2022006/article/00001-eng.htm">official language fluency is among the most important determinants of success</a> and <a href="https://www.piaac.ca/docs/PIAAC%202012%20Immigrants%20Canada%20Final%20EN.pdf">lower-skilled immigrants tend to be less fluent</a>. </p>
<p>It is also more crucial than ever before to implement active labour market policies (ALMPs) that prioritize upskilling, reskilling and on-the-job training for essential workers. </p>
<p>Lastly, employer engagement is vital. Although <a href="https://thebusinesscouncil.ca/report/canadas-immigration-advantage/">Canadian employers demand more immigration</a>, they <a href="https://doi.org/10.3138/cpp.2017-033">tend not to hire permanent immigrants into high quality positions</a>. Instead, they often prefer to recruit temporary foreign workers into low wage, precarious roles. </p>
<p>This is short sighted, particularly in a labour shortage, since <a href="https://hbr.org/2015/12/proof-that-positive-work-cultures-are-more-productive">decent working conditions and fair treatment improve productivity and competitiveness</a>. Employers should work with immigrant-serving organizations, like the <a href="https://triec.ca/about-us/">Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council</a>, to better understand foreign qualifications and experience so they can leverage the skills of immigrant workers more effectively. </p>
<p>Finally, it is important for managers and other decision-makers to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2372732220983840">recognize unconscious bias and improve their own intercultural competence</a>. Without the active participation of employers, even the most enlightened selection policies will fall flat. Canadians currently have a positive view of immigration, and <a href="https://www.unhcr.ca/news/as-decade-long-rise-in-global-displacement-hits-another-record-canada-continues-as-world-leader-in-refugee-resettlement-unhcr-report-shows/">we are seen as a global leader</a>, but there is no guarantee that this will remain if immigrant integration isn’t adequately supported.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/194613/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rupa Banerjee receives funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council</span></em></p>For immigrants to be a panacea for our demographic and economic challenges, they must be able to find skills-appropriate employment and settle into communities.Rupa Banerjee, Canada Research Chair and Associate Professor of Human Resource Management and Organizational Behaviour, Toronto Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1944902022-11-29T20:19:33Z2022-11-29T20:19:33ZThe pandemic created challenges and opportunities for Canadian immigration<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497279/original/file-20221124-14-tlmtqm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C175%2C4013%2C2357&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The pandemic posed serious challenges to Canada's immigration system, but it also provides an opportunity to start creating a system that is fairer for all.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/the-pandemic-created-challenges-and-opportunities-for-canadian-immigration" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Canada has long relied on strong immigration to fulfil the country’s demographic needs, expand its economy and support regional development. </p>
<p>In 2021, <a href="https://www.cicnews.com/2022/02/how-canada-landed-405000-new-immigrants-in-2021-0222072.html#gs.ikh2u8">the country surpassed its ambitious immigration target</a>, admitting more than 405,000 permanent residents amid the COVID-19 pandemic. That was mainly achieved through two temporary measures: <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/tr-pr-pathway.html">the TR (Temporary Resident) to PR (Permanent Resident) pathway</a> and amendments to the <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/express-entry.html">Express Entry program</a>. </p>
<p>These measures were part of a <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11-626-x/11-626-x2020010-eng.htm">two-step immigration selection approach</a> that facilitated transitions from temporary to permanent status for thousands of temporary migrants already in Canada. Two-step immigration refers to the process by which temporary migrant workers can apply to become permanent residents.</p>
<p>Now, the question is: how did these temporary programs impact the lives of temporary work permit-holders and international graduates? And what lessons can be learned from these programs as <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-immigration-500000-2025-1.6636661">Canada aims to welcome 500,000 immigrants a year by 2025?</a></p>
<h2>Flexibility and compassion</h2>
<p>A strong economic rationale for increased immigration and <a href="https://www.cicnews.com/2022/07/survey-international-students-choose-canada-for-its-reputation-as-a-safe-and-inclusive-country-0728732.html#gs.ikl3vp">greater flexibility for international students</a> has resulted in Canada becoming <a href="https://www.cicnews.com/2021/04/will-canada-remain-appealing-to-immigrants-after-the-pandemic-0417728.html#gs.iklevy">an attractive study destination</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.3138/cpp.2022-010">Our ongoing study</a> on skilled migrants and international students’ migration-related decision-making has found that they appreciated the nimbler and more adaptable two-step immigration approach taken by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) since the onset of the pandemic.</p>
<p>Immigrant-friendly policy changes during the pandemic — compared to countries like <a href="https://theconversation.com/covid-halved-international-student-numbers-in-australia-the-risk-now-is-we-lose-future-skilled-workers-and-citizens-175510">Australia</a> and <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/12/06/amid-pandemic-international-student-enrollment-at-u-s-universities-fell-15-in-the-2020-21-school-year/">the United States</a> — have given Canada an edge in the race to attract skilled migrants. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497282/original/file-20221124-23-86na31.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman wearing a face mask carries a large yellow sign with black lettering that reads: Full and permanent immigration status for all." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497282/original/file-20221124-23-86na31.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497282/original/file-20221124-23-86na31.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497282/original/file-20221124-23-86na31.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497282/original/file-20221124-23-86na31.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497282/original/file-20221124-23-86na31.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497282/original/file-20221124-23-86na31.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497282/original/file-20221124-23-86na31.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Relatively open immigration policies have made Canada an attractive destination, but the government must do more to ensure fairness and efficiency in the immigration system.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Tijana Martin</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Perpetuating a dubious promise</h2>
<p>But despite its positive attributes, our findings show that two-step immigration often creates unrealistic expectations among many international students and skilled temporary foreign workers. It perpetuates the idea that everyone with temporary residence in Canada could receive permanent residence. </p>
<p>Many international students, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/international-students-canada-immigration-ontario-1.6614238">drawn by Canada’s immigrant-friendly reputation and the perceived ease of obtaining permanent residence</a>, spend huge amounts of money to come here. That includes paying thousands of dollars per year on tuition, housing and other expenses.</p>
<p>The TR to PR pathway created a sense of relief for many immigrants and international students. Many became eligible to apply for permanent residence thanks to its relatively lenient language and work requirements. </p>
<p>However, it also caused frustration. Potential applicants lacked clear information about the application process. Many potential applicants struggled to obtain the required documents like language test results on time. A rush to book appointments <a href="https://www.cicnews.com/2021/04/ielts-and-celpip-websites-crash-following-announcement-of-new-canadian-immigration-programs-0417803.html#gs.iy712n">caused testing centre websites to crash</a>.</p>
<p>Furthermore, the requirement of one year of full-time work experience for health care and other essential workers, along with the high application fees, might have resulted in a low number of applications.</p>
<h2>Issues continue after settling in</h2>
<p>Immigrants continue to face challenges even after they attain permanent residence. Finding affordable housing in many cities is a growing challenge for Canadians, newly landed immigrants and international students alike. </p>
<p>A housing crisis has placed newcomers at even more of a disadvantage. <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-india-canada-international-student-recruitment/">Sub-par living conditions</a> and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/international-students-scrambling-to-find-rentals-amid-soaring-prices-and-scams-1.6558805">soaring rental costs</a> have left many struggling to find decent accommodation.</p>
<p>Mental health is another issue that needs to be addressed. Many international students who took part in our study spoke about feeling left out in their institutions, especially during the pandemic. </p>
<p>While many Canadian students were able to go home to their families during the switch to virtual classes, international students were often left even more isolated. In addition, border closures and travel restrictions meant many migrants had not been home or seen their families in more than two years. </p>
<h2>Ethical immigration policies</h2>
<p>As Canada increases immigration over the next few years, there is a need to embrace policies and programs that fulfil immigration targets in an ethical way. Future transition programs could be better designed, eliminating a limited application time frame and quota system. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496943/original/file-20221123-14-nvhjla.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Men wearing face masks and Sikh turbans hold signs that read: we are all essential, permanent residence for all." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496943/original/file-20221123-14-nvhjla.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496943/original/file-20221123-14-nvhjla.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496943/original/file-20221123-14-nvhjla.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496943/original/file-20221123-14-nvhjla.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496943/original/file-20221123-14-nvhjla.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496943/original/file-20221123-14-nvhjla.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496943/original/file-20221123-14-nvhjla.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">People take part in a demonstration calling for permanent residence status for all migrant workers and asylum seekers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>IRCC is currently struggling with staggering <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/mandate/stronger-immigration-system.html">backlogs of more than two million applicants</a>. The department needs to improve processing times based on the urgency of the applications it receives. </p>
<p>IRCC must also be transparent. It needs to disclose information about what types of applications they would prioritize and publish a timetable for <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/express-entry/submit-profile/rounds-invitations.html">Express Entry draws</a> indicating which immigration programs they would focus on in upcoming rounds of invitations. That would provide potential applicants ample time to prepare, as well as reduce wait-induced anxieties.</p>
<p>The transition measures introduced during the pandemic provided greater certainty for international students, essential workers and skilled foreign workers. However, applicants in other schemes, low-skilled immigrants, those applying from abroad and those with undocumented status still face significant challenges and uncertainty. </p>
<h2>Post-grad work</h2>
<p>Studying in a Canadian educational institution allows many international students to be eligible for a <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/publications-manuals/operational-bulletins-manuals/temporary-residents/study-permits/post-graduation-work-permit-program.html">post-graduation work permit</a>. However, there is no guarantee they will find employment that allows them to be eligible for permanent residence.</p>
<p>Canada must view international students as future highly skilled members of the workforce and not just as <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2019/09/27/we-think-of-them-as-cash-cows-international-students-want-to-immigrate-but-colleges-employers-want-to-boost-their-bottom-lines.html">“cash cows.”</a> </p>
<p>More labour market integration programs should be set up to connect international graduates with employers in their field or study. There is a need for a guaranteed pathway to permanent residence to better secure international graduates’ futures. </p>
<p>Institutional changes are necessary to reach the ambitious immigration targets. Sometimes it boils down to communication and getting timely information across to those who need it most. We have seen the government step up its efforts in processing applications, but greater transparency is still needed.</p>
<p>Educational institutions must assume a bigger role in supporting international students by offering advice and services around settling in Canada.</p>
<p>Achieving Canada’s ambitious immigration targets is one thing, but how it is done and at what expense is another. These ambitions should speak to the future Canada we seek: ambitious, diverse, fair and compassionate.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/194490/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ashika Niraula works as a Post-doctoral Fellow at the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Migration & Integration Program at Toronto Metropolitan University. The Skilled Migrant Decision Making Under Uncertainty project has received financial support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Insight Grant (435-2021-0752) and from the wider program of the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Migration and Integration at Toronto Metropolitan University.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rica Agnes Castaneda is a researcher at the CERC in Migration and Integration at Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University) for the Decentering Migration Knowledge Project (DemiKnow), a partnership development grant that receives funding from SSHRC. </span></em></p>As Canada plans to welcome 500,000 new permanent residents a year by 2025, the government must make changes to make the immigration system more fair and transparent.Ashika Niraula, Post-doctoral Research Fellow, Canada Excellence Research Chair in Migration & Integration Program, Toronto Metropolitan UniversityRica Agnes Castaneda, Researcher, CERC in Migration and Integration, Toronto Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1888362022-08-31T20:02:15Z2022-08-31T20:02:15ZAn idea for the jobs summit: axing the ‘business investment’ visa would save Australia $119 billion over three decades<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481944/original/file-20220831-14-7b8kr0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=233%2C443%2C3125%2C1311&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>This article is part of The Conversation’s series looking at Labor’s jobs summit. Read the other articles in the series <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/jobssummit2022-125921">here</a>.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>With the Albanese government facing difficult challenges on many fronts in the lead-up to the summit, one decision should be straightforward. </p>
<p>It’s axing the so-called Business Investment and Innovation Program, which offers permanent visas to migrants that establish businesses or invest in Australia.</p>
<p>The Business Investment and Innovation Program is one of a number of programs offered in the skilled stream, along with employer-sponsored visas, skilled independent visas, state and territory nominated visas, and global talent and distinguished talent visas.</p>
<p>It accounted for <a href="https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/what-we-do/migration-program-planning-levels">one in seven</a> of the 79,620 skilled visas issued during 2021-22.</p>
<h2>Investment is a visa condition</h2>
<p>To be accepted, an applicant needs to meet <a href="https://www.bdo.com.au/en-au/insights/migration-services/articles/business-innovation-and-investment-program-overview">conditions</a> including a minimum level of wealth and a desire to invest in Australia, including by managing a business you own.</p>
<p>Yet we find few of these people finance projects that would not otherwise occur, or provide entrepreneurial acumen that would not otherwise be available. </p>
<p>Instead, the <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/report/rethinking-permanent-skilled-migration-after-the-pandemic/">Grattan Institute</a> finds people who get a business investment visa tend to earn very low incomes in Australia, costing the government more in payments and public services than they pay it in taxes.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481734/original/file-20220830-24376-a56yvn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481734/original/file-20220830-24376-a56yvn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481734/original/file-20220830-24376-a56yvn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=324&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481734/original/file-20220830-24376-a56yvn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=324&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481734/original/file-20220830-24376-a56yvn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=324&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481734/original/file-20220830-24376-a56yvn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481734/original/file-20220830-24376-a56yvn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481734/original/file-20220830-24376-a56yvn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Residents in Australia in 2016 who arrived on a permanent visa between 2012-2016. Visa class is the first permanent visa granted. Overseas visitors are excluded, as are residents with an invalid year of arrival in Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.abs.gov.au/about/data-services/data-integration/integrated-data/australian-census-and-migrants-integrated-dataset-acmid">ABS Australian Census and Migrants Integrated Dataset (2016)</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>They tend to be older, which means they spend fewer years in the workforce (or in business) before they retire, and therefore pay tax for fewer years before they begin to draw heavily on government-provided services. </p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481736/original/file-20220830-10206-2na33e.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481736/original/file-20220830-10206-2na33e.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481736/original/file-20220830-10206-2na33e.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=332&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481736/original/file-20220830-10206-2na33e.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=332&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481736/original/file-20220830-10206-2na33e.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=332&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481736/original/file-20220830-10206-2na33e.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481736/original/file-20220830-10206-2na33e.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481736/original/file-20220830-10206-2na33e.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Residents in Australia in 2016 who arrived on a permanent visa between 2012-2016. Visa class is the first permanent visa granted. Incumbents are residents born in Australia or those who arrived before 2000. Residents with an invalid year of arrival in Australia are.
excluded.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">ABS Census (2016); ABS Australian Census and Migrants Integrated Dataset (2016).</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p><a href="https://treasury.gov.au/publication/p2021-220773">Australian Treasury calculations</a> suggest a business investment visa holder will cost Australian taxpayers $120,000 more in public services than they pay in taxes over their lifetimes. </p>
<p>That compares to an average positive dividend of $198,000 over the lifetime of other skilled migrants. </p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481737/original/file-20220830-18800-phq2k6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481737/original/file-20220830-18800-phq2k6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481737/original/file-20220830-18800-phq2k6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481737/original/file-20220830-18800-phq2k6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481737/original/file-20220830-18800-phq2k6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481737/original/file-20220830-18800-phq2k6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481737/original/file-20220830-18800-phq2k6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481737/original/file-20220830-18800-phq2k6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Primary applicants only.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Treasury model</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>Only one in ten hold a postgraduate qualification, compared to one in three other recent skilled visa holders. Less than half have a university degree, compared to 80% of other skilled visa holders. </p>
<p>And they generally have lower proficiency in English, which makes it difficult for them to play meaningful managerial roles in growing businesses in Australia.</p>
<h2>Little investment</h2>
<p>While investment is important for economic growth, there is little sign these visa holders finance projects that would not otherwise occur. </p>
<p>Most business investment visas are not allocated under the “significant investor” stream which requires visa holders to invest at least A$5 million in Australia. Instead, seven out of ten are issued under the <a href="https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/getting-a-visa/visa-listing/business-innovation-and-investment-188/business-innovation-stream#Overview">“innovation” stream</a> that requires personal wealth of at least $1.25 million and owning a stake in a business with annual turnover of $750,000. </p>
<p>These assets are typically small businesses in retail and accommodation and food services, industries that not likely to assist the stated goal of the program, which is to boost innovation.</p>
<h2>Little innovation</h2>
<p>The cost of allocating scarce permanent skilled visas to business investment applicants is high: each visa granted through the business investment program is one less visa granted to a skilled worker who could typically be expected to make a larger contribution to the Australian community over their lifetime.</p>
<p>Abolishing the business visa, and reallocating its places to other skilled worker applicants would on our estimate boost the fiscal dividend from Australia’s skilled migration program by A$3 billion over the next decade, and by $119 billion (in today’s dollars) over the next 30 years.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481998/original/file-20220831-26-wls7j2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481998/original/file-20220831-26-wls7j2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481998/original/file-20220831-26-wls7j2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481998/original/file-20220831-26-wls7j2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481998/original/file-20220831-26-wls7j2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481998/original/file-20220831-26-wls7j2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481998/original/file-20220831-26-wls7j2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Model projects migrant lifetime wages using wage-age paths from ABS 2016 Survey of Income and Housing; assumes 9,500 BIIP visa places are allocated to independent points tested visa. Tax model includes Stage 3 tax cuts, indexes tax brackets using a 3.5% income growth assumption, and indexes the Medicare levy threshold using a 2.5% CPI assumption. All cash flows deflated using CPI of 2.5%. Assumes three in four points-tested visas visas come from temporary visa holders, one third of which would have left Australia each year in absence of a permanent visa.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Grattan analysis of Department of Home Affairs Continuous Survey of Australia’s Migrants and ABS survey of income and housing</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>The growing saving is driven by the fact that business investment visa holders retire up to 20 years earlier than other skilled migrants and pay less tax and draw on more health, aged care and pension benefits.</p>
<p>Unlike most other changes that would boost the budget bottom line, axing the business investment visa would not require legislation. </p>
<p>The government should act soon. There’s already a wait list of over <a href="https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/research-and-stats/files/report-migration-program-2020-21.pdf">30,000</a> for the business visa. Just clearing it would cost budgets $38 billion in today’s dollars over three decades. </p>
<p>Economists are fond of saying there’s no such thing as a free lunch. We reckon abolishing the business investment visa is a $119 billion free lunch, waiting for the government to tuck into it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/188836/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Grattan Institute began with contributions to its endowment of $15 million from each of the Federal and Victorian Governments, $4 million from BHP Billiton, and $1 million from NAB. In order to safeguard its independence, Grattan Institute's board controls this endowment. The funds are invested and contribute to funding Grattan Institute's activities. Grattan Institute also receives funding from corporates, foundations, and individuals to support its general activities, as disclosed on its website. We would also like to thank the Scanlon Foundation for its generous support of this project.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tyler Reysenbach does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>“Business investment visas” are more likely to fund retail businesses than innovation.Brendan Coates, Program Director, Economic Policy, Grattan InstituteTyler Reysenbach, Research associate, Grattan InstituteLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1820052022-05-15T10:44:42Z2022-05-15T10:44:42ZCanada needs to stop wasting the talent of skilled immigrants<p>Neoliberal democracies across the world <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-canada-is-inspiring-scandinavian-countries-on-immigration-90911">have looked up to Canada</a> as a leader in <a href="https://www.intereconomics.eu/contents/year/2017/number/5/article/canadas-immigration-system-lessons-for-europe.html">economically driven immigration</a>. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/canadas-merit-based-immigration-system-is-no-magic-bullet-9092">merit-based immigration system</a> was used to fill labour market shortages and has been a go-to solution to the <a href="https://www.cihi.ca/en/infographic-canadas-seniors-population-outlook-uncharted-territory">country’s aging population</a> and recently, <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/news/2022/02/new-immigration-plan-to-fill-labour-market-shortages-and-grow-canadas-economy.html">the post-pandemic economic recovery</a>.</p>
<p>We recently undertook a Photovoice project, <a href="https://flipbookpdf.net/web/site/bf8d7baca741cdd4dedb0200a0cdd1064d6ae827FBP24692603.pdf.html"><em>Take a Walk in My Shoes</em></a>, with recent immigrants who shared their experiences of securing professional employment in Durham, Ont., through photographs and interviews depicting their lives. The goal of the project was to explore their experiences, identify gaps in employment services and have skilled immigrants propose solutions to those gaps.</p>
<h2>Labour market integration?</h2>
<p>There is a broad consensus in society that labour market integration of immigrants is <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci7050076">the most critical indicator of their success</a> in their new home country. However, deskilling and underemployment of immigrants <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2435.2009.00531.x">has been well documented</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Photo of a door opening to a brick wall." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460383/original/file-20220428-20-qmd7ap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460383/original/file-20220428-20-qmd7ap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460383/original/file-20220428-20-qmd7ap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460383/original/file-20220428-20-qmd7ap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460383/original/file-20220428-20-qmd7ap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460383/original/file-20220428-20-qmd7ap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460383/original/file-20220428-20-qmd7ap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This photo, called ‘The Other Side,’ is meant to represent the challenges and opportunities one of the study participants, Bushra, experienced while searching for a job.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Bushra)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Perceiving immigrants as unable to get their <a href="https://cjsae.library.dal.ca/index.php/cjsae/article/view/1002">credentials recognized by professional bodies in Canada</a> and their “cultural differences” as standing in the way of their <a href="https://wol.iza.org/articles/skill-based-immigration-economic-integration-and-economic-performance/long">successful career development</a> <a href="https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/esdc-edsc/documents/programs/foreign-credential-recognition/consultations/FINAL_Transforming_Immigrant_Outcomes_WP-197_EN_V2.pdf">have been part of public sentiment</a>.</p>
<p>Research suggests that the Canadian skilled immigration policy is also grounded in the belief that <a href="https://heqco.ca/pub/immigrant-labour-market-outcomes-and-skills-differences-in-canada/">educational and professional credentials guide immigrants toward professional success</a> in Canada. </p>
<p>However, the collective story of immigrants seeking professional employment (illustrated by a photograph by one of the participants, Bushra) suggests that while Canada has opened the door to some, “it only leads to a brick wall on the other side.”</p>
<h2>A catch-22</h2>
<p>A roadblock to securing professional employment for those who permanently moved to Canada — a country <a href="https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/despite-reduction-in-high-skilled-immigrants-canada-will-still-have-the-people-to-fill-jobs-minister">claiming to need their skills</a> — is lack of “Canadian experience,” a condition based on an elusive and often misused concept that tends to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2018.1432872">exclude and discriminate racialized immigrants</a>.</p>
<p>The requirement to have Canadian experience to be hired <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-for-many-newcomers-canadian-experience-remains-a-barrier-to-meaningful">cannot be acquired unless one gets hired</a>. So it is not surprising that skilled immigrants experience labour market integration that is devalued and relegated to precarious, dead-end jobs.</p>
<p>Our research proposes that emphasis on new skilled immigrants’ personal responsibility for integration into the labour market downplays the role of immigration policies and exclusionary attitudes toward them. </p>
<p>The necessity of volunteering services to demonstrate the “fit” for the Canadian work environment, or the ubiquity of the “start from the bottom” narrative as a rite of passage for those who came to Canada with credentials and professional skills, has been captured in the photographs and stories of our research participants. </p>
<p>One participant said a settlement worker told them the accreditation and licensing process is overwhelmingly complicated and long in order to discourage applicants, and that “[v]ery few of our engineer clients pass through the process successfully.” The participant was later offered a survival job in a warehouse: “I realized that [the settlement worker] was completely right about the licensing process and the regulating organizations, so I decided to burn my degree and start from scratch in a field I like.”</p>
<p>Many skilled immigrants <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13557850802227049">experience challenges</a> in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13557858.2016.1180347">job market integration</a> <a href="https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/2700/">as a personal failure</a>
and often <a href="https://toronto.citynews.ca/2022/04/05/3-in-10-young-immigrants-may-leave-canada-in-2-years-survey/">consider leaving the country</a> soon after arriving. </p>
<p>Those who remain regularly end up working dead-end jobs, with many internalizing society’s narrative about their own inadequacy. </p>
<p>Some immigrants, however, don’t lose sight of their pre-immigration accomplishments and understand the role of the system in their plight. <a href="https://flipbookpdf.net/web/site/bf8d7baca741cdd4dedb0200a0cdd1064d6ae827FBP24692603.pdf.html">One of our participants</a> said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“I feel like red wine inside [that] bottle. [The] wine that has a complex flavour. From where I came from, I was infused with training, skills and experience — and I felt well-seasoned. I thought I was half-full. Ready to offer what I have. But then, employers have viewed me as half-empty. Not bearing the "made in Canada” label, not bearing any Canadian exposure. I needed to be reprocessed and go through quality control despite the richness of my experience.“</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A glass of red wine in front of a bottle" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461311/original/file-20220504-25-3qzxxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461311/original/file-20220504-25-3qzxxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461311/original/file-20220504-25-3qzxxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461311/original/file-20220504-25-3qzxxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461311/original/file-20220504-25-3qzxxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461311/original/file-20220504-25-3qzxxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461311/original/file-20220504-25-3qzxxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">One of the participants, FLS, took a photo of a bottle of wine to illustrate their experience trying to get a job in Canada.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(FLS)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Moving beyond the job search</h2>
<p>The government response to the gap between skilled immigrants’ potential and their professional job integration often includes "job search skills training” programs. </p>
<p>Although an important part of labour market integration, utilizing the training and doing everything by the book did not prevent participants in our study from being judged, dealt with suspicion, ghosted by recruiters and employers or outright exploited during their internships or volunteering efforts.</p>
<p>So, do education and professional credentials lead to the successful integration of skilled immigrants? In short, no.</p>
<p>It is clear that we need to challenge the way we think about skilled immigrants’ employment integration and <a href="https://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/policy-removing-%E2%80%9Ccanadian-experience%E2%80%9D-barrier">remove the barriers such as the “Canadian experience” requirement</a>. We also need to stop expecting immigrants to be resilient to the challenges they experience and search for solutions to problems that no one should need the resilience to survive in the first place.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/182005/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gabriela Novotna receives funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Canadian Institute of Health Research, Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation, and Alberta Gambling Research Institute.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marina Morgenshtern receives funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. </span></em></p>Skilled immigrants need barriers like Canadian experience removed in order for them to successfully integrate into the Canadian economy.Gabriela Novotna, Associate Professor of Social Work, University of ReginaMarina Morgenshtern, Assistant Professor, Social Work, Trent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1803242022-04-01T02:36:15Z2022-04-01T02:36:15ZMore permanent skilled visas is a step in the right direction<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455380/original/file-20220330-6039-14qxwkl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C467%2C2883%2C1464&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Migration didn’t <a href="https://joshfrydenberg.com.au/latest-news/budget-2022-2023/">rate a mention</a> in Treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s budget speech. But the increase in Australia’s permanent skilled intake that Home Affairs Minister Alex Hawke <a href="https://minister.homeaffairs.gov.au/AlexHawke/Pages/2022-23-budget-release.aspx">announced on budget night</a> is a big deal, and one that will leave Australians better off. </p>
<p>The government is shifting the composition of Australia’s permanent skilled migrant intake for 2022-23, moving back towards visas with a track record of selecting younger, skilled migrants best placed to succeed in Australia. At the same time, the total number of skilled visas on offer will rise to 109,900 – about 30,000 more than 2021-22 planning levels. </p>
<p>As the Grattan Institute’s 2021 report <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/report/rethinking-permanent-skilled-migration-after-the-pandemic/">Rethinking permanent skilled migration</a> showed, people who gain a permanent skilled visa to Australia typically live and work here for many decades. This means policy decisions affecting who gains a visa in the first place can have compounding effects over many years. </p>
<p>But there are still more changes needed to fix Australia’s migration program – including abolishing some visas programs that don’t make any economic sense, and simplifying the sponsorship process for businesses and migrants.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455404/original/file-20220331-14-ng8mei.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Australia migration intake by program, 2011 to 2023." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455404/original/file-20220331-14-ng8mei.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455404/original/file-20220331-14-ng8mei.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455404/original/file-20220331-14-ng8mei.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455404/original/file-20220331-14-ng8mei.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455404/original/file-20220331-14-ng8mei.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455404/original/file-20220331-14-ng8mei.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455404/original/file-20220331-14-ng8mei.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<h2>There’s a big increase in skilled worker visas</h2>
<p>The number of skilled worker visas – allocated via employer sponsorship or the points test – rises to 91,652 in 2022-23, up from 50,900 this financial year. </p>
<p>This comes from both the increase in the number of visas and the composition shift described above. Employer sponsorship will increase 8,000 to a total of 30,000 permanent skilled visas, and the points-tested Skilled Independent category has been tripled to 16,652 visas. </p>
<p>Migrants selected through these programs are highly skilled, and typically earn higher incomes than Australians of similar ages. </p>
<p>They also generate a much larger economic benefit to the Australian community. For instance, <a href="https://treasury.gov.au/sites/default/files/2021-12/p2021-220773_1.pdf">Treasury estimates</a> primary holders of permanent employer-sponsored visas pay $557,000 more in taxes than they receive in public services and benefits over their lifetimes. Primary holders of Skilled Independent visas pay $386,000 more in taxes than they can expect to receive in return. </p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455410/original/file-20220331-11-h0gkfr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455410/original/file-20220331-11-h0gkfr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455410/original/file-20220331-11-h0gkfr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455410/original/file-20220331-11-h0gkfr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455410/original/file-20220331-11-h0gkfr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455410/original/file-20220331-11-h0gkfr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455410/original/file-20220331-11-h0gkfr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<hr>
<h2>Business investment visas scaled back</h2>
<p>Australia’s “buy a visa” scheme, the poorly functioning Business Innovation and Investment Program (BIIP), has been cut from 13,500 visas to 9,500. It should be abolished. </p>
<p>Few investors are financing projects that would not otherwise occur. Few are providing entrepreneurial acumen that will benefit the Australian community, because they are typically less skilled and speak little English.</p>
<p>Grattan Institute research shows people who get this visa are older and earn significantly less than other skilled migrants. </p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455409/original/file-20220331-26-mui8mm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455409/original/file-20220331-26-mui8mm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455409/original/file-20220331-26-mui8mm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455409/original/file-20220331-26-mui8mm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455409/original/file-20220331-26-mui8mm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455409/original/file-20220331-26-mui8mm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455409/original/file-20220331-26-mui8mm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<hr>
<p>Treasury <a href="https://treasury.gov.au/sites/default/files/2021-12/p2021-220773_1.pdf">research</a> published in December 2021 showed each primary visa holder costs Australian taxpayers an average of $117,000 over their life in Australia, due to paying less in tax than their draw on government services and benefits. </p>
<p>The government’s decision to shrink the Business Innovation and Investment Program and reallocate places elsewhere will eventually save taxpayers about $1 billion from this year’s intake alone. That’s a valuable gain for a government grappling with the long-term costs of the pandemic and an ageing population.</p>
<h2>Global talent program shrunk</h2>
<p>The Global Talent visa program for highly skilled professionals has also been scaled back, from 15,000 to 8,448 places. </p>
<p>Attracting global talent is a worthy goal, but the mechanisms used to select migrants for the program remain unproven. There are few rules – applicants don’t require a sponsoring employer or a firm salary offer – and the rules that do exist are often arbitrary and hard to administer. We don’t know who is being selected or what their incomes are. </p>
<p>Until a more robust evaluation is conducted, scaling back this visa is a good idea. </p>
<h2>What the government should do next</h2>
<p>The federal government has committed to reviewing the occupation lists that dictate what jobs are eligible for skilled migration visas. It should just scrap them. These occupation lists are cumbersome, vulnerable to lobbying and ineffective. </p>
<p>Instead, employers should be subject to a wage threshold of $70,000 to <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/report/fixing-temporary-skilled-migration/">sponsor workers on a temporary visa</a> and $80,000 to sponsor workers on a <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/report/rethinking-permanent-skilled-migration-after-the-pandemic/">permanent visa</a>. Sponsored workers should be paid the equivalent of what Australian workers are paid, to prevent wages being undermined. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/its-time-australia-dumped-its-bureaucratic-list-based-approach-to-temporary-work-visas-179104">It's time Australia dumped its bureaucratic list-based approach to temporary work visas</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>These changes would better target visas to people with the most valuable skills, and simplify the sponsorship process for firms and migrants.</p>
<p><a href="https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/getting-a-visa/visa-listing/skilled-independent-189/points-table">Points-tested visas</a>, which assess prospective migrants based on their age, qualifications, skills and English proficiency, should be independently reviewed to ensure they give priority to younger, higher skilled workers. </p>
<p>Points should be allocated only for characteristics that suggest an applicant will succeed in Australia. While state-nominated and regional visa holders do better than investors, they still earn substantially lower incomes than employer-sponsored or independent points-tested visa holders.</p>
<p>Australia’s debates about migration policy tend to focus too much on the size of the intake, and not enough on who we choose. But even though it might not have made huge headlines on budget night, our skilled migration program has just taken a big turn for the better.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/180324/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Grattan Institute began with contributions to its endowment of $15 million from each of the Federal and Victorian Governments, $4 million from BHP Billiton, and $1 million from NAB. In order to safeguard its independence, Grattan Institute's board controls this endowment. The funds are invested and contribute to funding Grattan Institute's activities. Grattan Institute also receives funding from corporates, foundations, and individuals to support its general activities, as disclosed on its website. We would also like to thank the Scanlon Foundation for its generous support of this project.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brendan Coates and Will Mackey do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Australia’s debates about migration tend to focus too much on numbers, and not enough on who we choose. Accepting 30,000 more skilled permanent workers is a good move – but there’s more to be done.Henry Sherrell, Deputy Program Director (Migration), Grattan InstituteBrendan Coates, Program Director, Economic Policy, Grattan InstituteWill Mackey, Senior Associate, Grattan InstituteLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1755102022-01-31T19:07:18Z2022-01-31T19:07:18ZCOVID halved international student numbers in Australia. The risk now is we lose future skilled workers and citizens<p>The saying “you don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone” reminds us not to take things for granted. It is often when we no longer have something or someone that we recognise the value of what we’ve lost. This is true of international students in Australia whose <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-international-education-crisis-will-linger-long-after-students-return-to-australia-170360">numbers halved</a> during the pandemic. </p>
<p>Can hindsight help us understand what we had and help to guide our future? That question lingers as <a href="https://minister.homeaffairs.gov.au/AlexHawke/Pages/further-flexibility-for-temporary-migrants.aspx">tens of thousands</a> of new and returning international students arrive back in Australia now that borders have reopened.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/border-opening-spurs-rebound-in-demand-from-international-students-175046">Border opening spurs rebound in demand from international students</a>
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<p>Students pursue international education for a variety of reasons. The main one is to improve their employment prospects. </p>
<p>International students are looking for high-quality, relevant curriculum and credentials that will best serve their career plans. While studying, they also seek social connections that help them to navigate local education and employment systems. </p>
<p>The pandemic created chaos and uncertainty about enrolments, border closures, flight availability and quarantine requirements. Over the past two years, many international students had to put their plans on hold. They hung on to the possibility of studying and working in Australia. </p>
<p>Let’s not forget, they can choose other countries that will be seeking highly educated and skilled graduates. Some have already moved on to countries where borders were open, such as Canada. These countries offered access to high-quality international education with fewer complications and greater certainty about transitioning to work visas.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/international-student-numbers-hit-record-highs-in-canada-uk-and-us-as-falls-continue-in-australia-and-nz-173493">International student numbers hit record highs in Canada, UK and US as falls continue in Australia and NZ</a>
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<h2>Their absence hit us hard</h2>
<p>Consider what Australia lost when so many international students were gone. In 2019, they contributed an estimated <a href="https://www.dese.gov.au/australian-strategy-international-education-2021-2030">$40.3 billion</a> to the economy. International education <a href="https://www.dese.gov.au/australian-strategy-international-education-2021-2030">supported about 250,000 jobs</a> in Australia. </p>
<p>Border closures reduced enrolments by <a href="https://www.dese.gov.au/australian-strategy-international-education-2021-2030">up to 70%</a> in some parts of the higher education sector. </p>
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<p>The financial impacts on Australian universities have been smaller than originally predicted, but the loss of billions in revenue should not be discounted. Universities were exposed to the risks of depending on a never-ending flow of new international students and their tuition fees. The pandemic’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/after-2-years-of-covid-how-bad-has-it-really-been-for-university-finances-and-staff-172405">impacts on university finances</a> led to the loss of as many as <a href="https://theconversation.com/after-2-years-of-covid-how-bad-has-it-really-been-for-university-finances-and-staff-172405">35,000 academic and professional jobs</a>. </p>
<p>Local communities and businesses also missed the consumer power of international students and visiting family members who purchased goods and services. Employers have struggled to find enough local workers for job vacancies that these students would fill.</p>
<h2>Australia must extend the welcome mat</h2>
<p>The Australian government recently <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-19/backpackers-internatonal-students-visa-fee-rebate-covid-workers/100765716">announced incentives</a> for international students to return soon to help overcome labour shortages and stimulate market growth. Visa fee rebates and relaxed restrictions on allowable working hours are aimed at recovery in the international student market, while filling gaps in the workforce. What remains to be seen is how well entry-level and part-time jobs in service and hospitality will translate into future employment opportunities that match these students’ qualifications.</p>
<p>The fall in international student numbers also meant losing key resources for intercultural learning. Although many of us are longing to travel abroad for a dose of intercultural exposure, learning at home between local and international students is a relatively untapped resource. Increasing the numbers of international and local students studying together is part of the solution identified by the <a href="https://www.dese.gov.au/australian-strategy-international-education-2021-2030">Australian Strategy for International Education</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-strategy-to-revive-international-education-is-right-to-aim-for-more-diversity-172620">Australia's strategy to revive international education is right to aim for more diversity</a>
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<p>Many international students will need extra <a href="https://theconversation.com/as-international-students-return-lets-not-return-to-the-status-quo-of-isolation-and-exploitation-173489">support to develop social capital</a> – the friendships, community contacts, mentors and networks that help to build a sense of belonging now and in the future.</p>
<p>International students have been treated like commodities for higher education and the labour market. But they are people, whose choice of international education is connected to their hopes and plans after graduating. </p>
<p>The global pursuit of talent will increase graduates’ opportunities to decide which country they choose for education, for employment and for permanent migration. Not every international graduate will choose to stay in Australia. Fluctuating immigration policy makes it difficult to predict who will be allowed to stay and who will not.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442435/original/file-20220125-13-w6eagx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Chart showing type of visa held by international graduates working in Australia by year of course completion" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442435/original/file-20220125-13-w6eagx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442435/original/file-20220125-13-w6eagx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=604&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442435/original/file-20220125-13-w6eagx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=604&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442435/original/file-20220125-13-w6eagx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=604&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442435/original/file-20220125-13-w6eagx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=759&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442435/original/file-20220125-13-w6eagx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=759&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442435/original/file-20220125-13-w6eagx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=759&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.dese.gov.au/australian-strategy-international-education-2021-2030">Source: Australian Strategy for International Education 2021-2030</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/as-international-students-return-lets-not-return-to-the-status-quo-of-isolation-and-exploitation-173489">As international students return, let's not return to the status quo of isolation and exploitation</a>
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<h2>This is not a short-term issue</h2>
<p>Many countries, including Australia, need to attract talented graduates to make up for low birth rates, low immigration due to the pandemic and skilled worker shortages. International students are preferred immigrants because they combine experience from their home countries with experience studying and living locally.</p>
<p>As international students return to Australia, the welcome mat needs to stay out longer. It matters how we support them, not only upon arrival, but throughout their academic programs and as they prepare for their future employment. </p>
<p>International students invest in their education and the country where they study. We in turn need to recognise their many contributions and invest in their potential. </p>
<p>The longer-term view requires strategy for supporting them as students, employees and future associates, within and beyond Australia’s borders. Let’s think carefully about what can be improved as international students return to Australia. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-international-education-crisis-will-linger-long-after-students-return-to-australia-170360">Why the international education crisis will linger long after students return to Australia</a>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nancy Arthur received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for research on the education to employment transitions of international students. </span></em></p>Having international students in Australia gives us a head start in the global race to attract skilled migrants. COVID border closures that halved their numbers could have very long-term costs.Nancy Arthur, Dean of Research, UniSA Business, University of South AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1709432021-11-21T13:20:56Z2021-11-21T13:20:56ZHow skilled newcomers can stave off major career sacrifices when job-seeking<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431994/original/file-20211115-17-p700jn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C6000%2C3817&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Skilled migrants often face big challenges trying to find work that matches their credentials.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Nicola Barts/Pexels)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many people experience career interruptions at some point in their lives. But <a href="https://izajodm.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/2193-9039-3-4">the interruptions that result from immigrating to other countries</a> involve entirely different challenges.</p>
<p>The move to a new country requires skilled migrants to make decisions not just about work but also about their family’s needs and their overall well-being as newcomers. <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0018726715580865">It’s very common for them to be forced into sacrificing their careers</a> in order to work in their new home, especially if their credentials are <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/public-service-commission/jobs/services/gc-jobs/degree-equivalency.html">deemed not transferrable.</a></p>
<p>A pediatrician, for example, may take on a job as an ultrasound technician, or a teacher may instead take a job as a caregiver to the elderly. </p>
<p>While some countries — like Canada, for example — <a href="https://www.oecd.org/els/mig/migration-policy-debates-19.pdf">rate highly for their appeal to skilled migrants</a>, settling still poses major career barriers. One of the major paradoxes that skilled migrants face is that despite gaining entry into a host country based on their credentials (for example, accumulated foreign capital), <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09585192.2014.990398">that doesn’t guarantee success in the local labour market</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/job.2550">In our quantitative study</a>, we examine how skilled migrants cope with this problem and the strategies they use to deal with career sacrifice. </p>
<h2>Seeking a better life</h2>
<p><a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/job.2550">Motivations for migration vary</a>, but many people migrate with their families seeking better opportunities for their children and a better quality of life. Upon arrival, they learn that many of their career expectations may not materialize, and they must rethink how to re-establish themselves and make sense of the new situation.</p>
<p>Often, many of these professionals <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0018726721992854">will end up underemployed</a>. That means they take jobs that are lower quality and dissatisfying since their career prospects don’t match their expertise. They often experience some type of career sacrifice in the hope of providing opportunities and a better life for their families. </p>
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<img alt="A young boy in a tuxedo raises his right arm." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432017/original/file-20211115-13-1fydsxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432017/original/file-20211115-13-1fydsxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432017/original/file-20211115-13-1fydsxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432017/original/file-20211115-13-1fydsxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432017/original/file-20211115-13-1fydsxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=556&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432017/original/file-20211115-13-1fydsxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=556&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432017/original/file-20211115-13-1fydsxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=556&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A young boy takes the oath as he attends a citizenship ceremony at Acadia University in Wolfville, N.S., in March 2020. Many immigrants choose to migrate to provide a better life for their families but that sometimes requires sacrificing their career trajectory.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan</span></span>
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<p>Our study shows that to improve their chances of finding quality employment, migrants must engage in career self-management. This involves weighing the pros and cons of various career options and carefully planning the next steps in their career, while at the same time learning about their new situation and any potential career barriers in the job market where they’ll be looking for employment.</p>
<p>It requires hard work in the absence of any organizational support structures, and it means <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/321163466_Can_I_come_as_I_am_Refugees'_vocational_identity_threats_coping_and_growth">migrants must become active career agents for themselves</a>. </p>
<p>Our research illustrates that migrants who are proactive and engage in career self-management may have better chances of finding quality work that aligns with their expertise. One of the most important ways to do this is to engage in career planning in their new country. Even though <a href="https://www.jvstoronto.org/find-a-job/career-exploration-services/">some city-based settlement programs and agencies</a> may help during career planning, those efforts are largely left to the job-seekers themselves.</p>
<h2>Learning new routines</h2>
<p>While skilled migrants are often experienced job-seekers, they must learn new career routines that are characteristic of their new local working environment. That means understanding the unspoken rules and norms that are common in their new labour market and adjusting their career goals and strategies accordingly. These may vary from learning new networking routines and even how to engage in informal work conversations.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/as-city-life-is-restricted-by-the-covid-19-pandemic-new-residents-find-creative-ways-to-manage-139532">As city life is restricted by the COVID-19 pandemic, new residents find creative ways to manage</a>
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<p>It also involves weighing the pros and cons of various career options and understanding what type of sacrifice, if any, they’ll have to make to secure local employment and restart their careers. </p>
<p>This kind of analysis may require them to give up some parts of their work routines and redefine their professional lives, but they can also gain new knowledge and networks. Once they’re in the midst of this major transition, <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fbul0000297">often characterized by career sacrifice</a>, our study found that supportive social networks play a big role in successful employment. </p>
<p>Newcomers leave behind their established social networks and relationships when they migrate to a new country. So support in their adopted home is critically important to helping them explore local job options and pursue new careers.</p>
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<img alt="A bearded man sits next to a woman as they look at a laptop" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431997/original/file-20211115-19-j1oanv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431997/original/file-20211115-19-j1oanv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431997/original/file-20211115-19-j1oanv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431997/original/file-20211115-19-j1oanv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431997/original/file-20211115-19-j1oanv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431997/original/file-20211115-19-j1oanv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431997/original/file-20211115-19-j1oanv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Skilled migrants must become more active career agents.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Anna Shvets/Pexels)</span></span>
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<h2>Career planning is critical</h2>
<p>Finally, <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2F0021-9010.84.6.897">contrary to popular wisdom about more job searches leading to better outcomes</a>, we conclude with somewhat different advice.</p>
<p>Based on our findings, it may not be the intensity of someone’s job search, but instead the type and quality of their career planning that may matter more when it comes to finding quality employment.</p>
<p>Skilled migrants may have to let go of aspects of their original career path and sacrifice some of their professional goals and plans. But proactive approach to job searches, social support and engaging in specific career planning activities from the start can help them succeed. This could involve <a href="http://costi.org/programs/program_details.php?stype_id=0&program_id=211">making connections and reaching out to local organizations and employers even before they arrive</a>.</p>
<p>This can give newcomers a realistic preview of employment prospects even before they leave their native country, and can create more realistic expectations — and perhaps even result in a lesser degree of career sacrifice once they arrive.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/170943/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jelena Zikic receives funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Council of Canada (SSHRC)</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ute-Christine Klehe does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>One of the major paradoxes that skilled migrants face is that despite gaining entry into a host country based on their credentials, that doesn’t guarantee success in the local labour market.Jelena Zikic, Associate Professor, School of Human Resource Management, York University, CanadaUte-Christine Klehe, Full Professor of Work and Organizational Psychology, University of GiessenLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1592072021-04-21T05:38:25Z2021-04-21T05:38:25ZMigration is a quick fix for skills shortages. Building on Australians’ skills is better<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395918/original/file-20210420-23-1be4a4e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C9%2C6221%2C4100&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/team-mechanic-engineers-face-mask-celebrate-1809222430">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Prime Minister Scott Morrison has <a href="https://www.pm.gov.au/media/address-wa-chamber-commerce-and-industry">highlighted</a> workforce skills as the “single biggest challenge facing the Australian economy” in recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic. <a href="https://cciwa.com/business-pulse/skills-shortages-top-concern-for-wa-businesses/">Employer surveys</a> also show it’s a top concern.</p>
<p>Adding to these concerns is an <a href="https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/national/morrison-net-overseas-migration-to-fall-by-85-per-cent-in-2021/video/0ef7c3ef6575c7e4af3aeac9cd98fbc2">expected 85% fall in net overseas migration in 2020-21</a> from 2018-19 levels because of COVID-related border closures. The Committee for Economic Development of Australia (<a href="https://www.ceda.com.au/About">CEDA</a>) has stressed the urgency of increased and more flexible temporary and permanent migration as global competition for skills and talent intensifies in the post-pandemic recovery. Australia also risks losing talented individuals to more attractive destinations.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/there-may-not-be-enough-skilled-workers-in-australias-pipeline-for-a-post-covid-19-recovery-140061">There may not be enough skilled workers in Australia's pipeline for a post-COVID-19 recovery</a>
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<p>Federal Immigration Minister Alex Hawke is more optimistic. He <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/immigration-minister-says-australia-s-reputation-as-migrant-destination-not-harmed-by-coronavirus-pandemic">says</a> the pandemic hasn’t harmed Australia’s reputation as a migrant destination. At a <a href="https://events.ceda.com.au/Events/Library/Past-Events1/LS210420">CEDA livestream discussion</a> yesterday, Hawke said migration would be crucial for Australia’s recovery from the pandemic.</p>
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<p>What is being overlooked in this debate is that, as a recent <a href="https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/skills-workforce-agreement/report">Productivity Commission report</a> notes, Australia might not really have a skills shortage. Rather, the problem is a skills mismatch. </p>
<h2>Why migration matters now</h2>
<p>Australia typically relies on immigration for almost <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/population/national-state-and-territory-population/latest-release">two-thirds of its population growth</a>, and skilled migrants are an important source of talent.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-01-17/wa-border-restrictions-creating-skills-shortages-for-business/13061886">COVID-related closures</a> of national and state borders added to the problems of industry sectors that rely on temporary and permanent migrants to overcome skills shortages. Many have had trouble finding workers (e.g. fruit-picking) or will have trouble as the economy recovers (e.g. hospitality, digital and data opportunities).</p>
<p>CEDA recently launched <a href="https://www.ceda.com.au/ResearchAndPolicies/Research/Population/A-good-match-Optimising-Australia-s-permanent-skil">a report</a> calling for an increase in permanent skilled migration. This report and a <a href="https://www.ceda.com.au/ResearchAndPolicies/Research/Population/Effects-of-temporary-migration">2019 CEDA report</a> aim to show recent waves of migrants have not reduced wages or jobs of Australian-born workers. </p>
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<p>CEDA’s latest report calls on the federal government to:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>set up a government-regulated online platform for matching skills to jobs</p></li>
<li><p>update the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations Codes to ensure people with essential or cutting-edge skills can immigrate</p></li>
<li><p>be more transparent about how it assesses what occupations are in demand and included on the skilled occupation lists.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>CEDA describes the Global Talent Scheme (<a href="https://www.globalaustralia.gov.au/">GTS</a>) as “very restrictive”. Minister Hawke acknowledged post-COVID Australia’s migration policies have to be more flexible and responsive. He pointed to the increased GTS intake of 15,000 spots in 2020-21, a tripling of last year’s allocation. </p>
<p>Yet the shape and make-up of the migration program remain unclear. Questions during yesterday’s discussion elicited few new details.</p>
<h2>What are the issues with this approach?</h2>
<p>According to the Productivity Commission, the way to modernise and grow the economy is via the <a href="https://www.pc.gov.au/research/ongoing/productivity-insights/2015-/2-contributions-to-output-and-income-growth">three Ps: population, participation and productivity</a>. As well as the population impacts of migration, CEDA claims to be offering solutions for both participation, as skilled migrants have “lower unemployment rates and higher labour-force participation rates”, and productivity, as skilled migrants are younger and contribute to human capital accumulation.</p>
<p>In practice, increased migration works by growing the population, increasing numbers of taxpayers and producing so-called spillover effects in housing, retail and domestic tourism etc. </p>
<p>CEDA cites an <a href="https://crawford.anu.edu.au/files/uploads/crawford01_cap_anu_edu_au/2015-12/dibp_final_report.pdf">Australian National University study</a> that found migrants account for 7% of the average rate of labour productivity growth between 1994–95 and 2007–08. However, the Productivity Commission reports <a href="https://www.pc.gov.au/research/ongoing/productivity-insights/recent-productivity-trends/productivity-insights-2020-productivity-trends.pdf">productivity has slowed</a> since the mid-2000s despite high migration. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.adelaide.edu.au/saces/ua/media/451/saces-economic-issues-52.pdf">Evidence</a> indicates employers are not nurturing talent from migration to its full potential. Nearly one in four permanent skilled migrants work in a job beneath their skill level. Research also highlights the need to tackle the disconnect between identified skills shortages and the <a href="https://theconversation.com/theres-one-big-problem-with-australias-skilled-migration-program-many-employers-dont-want-new-migrants-125569">unwillingness of employers to employ new migrants</a>.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1376262821357314052"}"></div></p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/theres-one-big-problem-with-australias-skilled-migration-program-many-employers-dont-want-new-migrants-125569">There's one big problem with Australia's skilled migration program: many employers don't want new migrants</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>How to fix these problems</h2>
<p>The solutions CEDA proposes are largely quick fixes and echo previous recommendations from CEDA and employer groups like <a href="https://www.australianchamber.com.au/news/acute-skills-shortage-arising-from-blocked-migration-pipeline/">the Australian Chamber of Commerce</a>. Stop-gap government measures to help employers fill shortfalls include a <a href="https://www.dese.gov.au/supporting-apprentices-and-trainees">50% wage subsidy</a> for apprentices or trainees and <a href="https://coronavirus.tas.gov.au/media-releases/tasmania-and-victoria-play-to-their-strengths">tailored quarantine arrangements for seasonal workers</a>. But the systemic problem of skills matching, leading to underemployment and unemployment, has been neglected. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1380028136021237763"}"></div></p>
<p>This problem is not unique to Australia. Migrants do essential work in many countries. <a href="https://publications.iom.int/books/covid-19-and-transformation-migration-and-mobility-globally-covid-19-and-systemic-resilience">Research</a> has found many countries have designated these migrants – including those typically considered “low-skilled” such as crop pickers, care assistants and hospital cleaners – as “key” or “essential” workers whose supply needs to be protected and even expanded during the health emergency. </p>
<p>In Australia, some analysts have pointed to the skills shortage as <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-19/verrender-the-great-skilled-worker-shortage-wages-oecd/100077706">a policy ruse</a> to distract attention from the lack of infrastructure investment to cope with rapid population growth as well as employers wishing to restrict wages growth.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/1-in-4-unemployed-australians-has-a-degree-how-did-we-get-to-this-point-156867">One in four unemployed Australians are graduates</a>. But Australian employers <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jan/30/new-underclass-labor-warns-on-australias-reliance-on-short-term-migration">might not want to employ and train them</a> if they can get similarly skilled employees from overseas who are willing to work for lower pay. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/1-in-4-unemployed-australians-has-a-degree-how-did-we-get-to-this-point-156867">1 in 4 unemployed Australians has a degree. How did we get to this point?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The problem is worse among international graduates and students – <a href="https://www.unionsnsw.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/NWLB_survey_results_aug_2020.pdf">60% of the latter lost their jobs during the pandemic</a>. Yet they studied in universities and through VET providers that were supposedly providing them with the skills Australian employers need.</p>
<p>The Business Council of Australia (BCA) has recognised the need to improve skills matching and development. It has <a href="https://www.afr.com/business-summit/why-your-next-career-course-should-be-a-micro-apprenticeship-20210308-p578po">called for</a> a more flexible vocational education and training (VET) system that emphasises life-long learning with innovations like micro-apprenticeships. This allows for employees and apprentices to be rapidly trained and regularly upskilled in response to technology and market changes.</p>
<p>This is similar to <a href="https://melbourne-cshe.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/2263137/MCSHE-Visions-for-Aust-Ter-Ed-web2.pdf">micro-credentials</a> – qualifications based on smaller blocks of learning. These can formalise soft and hard skills attained at work, such as teamwork, critical thinking and problem solving. They can also help fill skill gaps such as working with big data. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="man and woman working in robotics laboratory" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396190/original/file-20210421-21-1relpq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396190/original/file-20210421-21-1relpq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396190/original/file-20210421-21-1relpq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396190/original/file-20210421-21-1relpq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396190/original/file-20210421-21-1relpq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396190/original/file-20210421-21-1relpq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396190/original/file-20210421-21-1relpq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Vocational education and training should focus on skills needed to capitalise on the opportunities of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/robotics-development-laboratory-chief-female-engineer-1837865740">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There are other gaps in the CEDA proposals. For example, when the federal government announced its <a href="https://www.industry.gov.au/data-and-publications/make-it-happen-the-australian-governments-modern-manufacturing-strategy">Modern Manufacturing Strategy</a> in October 2020, it recognised that not enough manufacturers have experience in scaling up in areas that provide good returns. Despite a brief mention of data scientists in regard to skilled occupation lists not being updated since 2013, the CEDA report largely focuses on traditional industries. </p>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.ncver.edu.au/research-and-statistics/publications/all-publications/the-fourth-industrial-revolution-the-implications-of-technological-disruption-for-australian-vet">research</a> shows Australia needs to develop new skills in disruptive technologies to capitalise on the opportunities of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/jobs-are-changing-and-fast-heres-what-the-vet-sector-and-employers-need-to-do-to-keep-up-118524">Jobs are changing, and fast. Here's what the VET sector (and employers) need to do to keep up</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The pandemic has simply added to the urgency of increased collaboration between the higher education and VET sectors, employer organisations, industry and government to deliver more targeted and flexible skills development programs.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/159207/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>While skilled migration can help fill short-term gaps, Australia needs a more sustainable, long-term approach to skills matching and development to make the most of the people who are already here.Pi-Shen Seet, Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Edith Cowan UniversityJanice Jones, Associate Professor, College of Business, Government and Law, Flinders UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1377832020-05-04T19:52:53Z2020-05-04T19:52:53ZYes, it is time to rethink our immigration intake – to put more focus on families<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/332220/original/file-20200504-83740-3h3484.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Joel Carrett/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Kristina Keneally, Labor’s home affairs spokesperson, is calling for a <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/do-we-want-migrants-to-return-in-the-same-numbers-the-answer-is-no-20200501-p54p2q.html">reset on migration</a> as we emerge from the coronavirus crisis. </p>
<p>She noted in an article over the weekend that migration had been responsible for “over half of Australia’s economic growth” since 2005. </p>
<p>However, she argued that in a post-COVID environment with a sluggish economy, we need to focus instead on skilling up Australian workers to perform the jobs in the health, hospitality and other industries that have been the focus of skilled migration in recent times. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/is-slowing-australias-population-growth-really-the-best-way-out-of-this-crisis-137779">Is slowing Australia's population growth really the best way out of this crisis?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Many economists <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/migrants-don-t-actually-threaten-australian-workers-jobs-new-analysis-reveals">disagree</a> with Keneally’s connection between migration and the availability of local jobs. They point out that migrant workers contribute to overall economic growth, leading to a net increase in new jobs available for local workers. </p>
<p>There is also a risk that, despite her best intentions, Keneally’s rhetoric of “Australians first” will feed nationalist, anti-immigration sentiments that have no relationship to the economy and job opportunities. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1257225954612502529"}"></div></p>
<h2>A review of our migration intake is overdue</h2>
<p>Keneally is right to call for a review of “the shape and size” of our migration intake, although not in the way she was suggesting. </p>
<p>At the top of this review should be a consideration of the balance between the two major streams of our migration program – skilled migrants and family migrants. </p>
<p>Current immigration policy favours skilled over family migrants, significantly underestimating the importance of family for the well-being and potentially the productivity of new migrants, as well as Australia’s long-term national interests. </p>
<p>There was a substantial shift in the balance between these streams from the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-canadas-immigration-system-has-been-a-success-and-what-australia-can-learn-from-it-107283">Why Canada's immigration system has been a success, and what Australia can learn from it</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/BriefingBook45p/MigrationFlows">1995-96</a>, permanent migration was comprised of 58% family, 25% skilled and 17% humanitarian migrants. A decade later, the overall migrant make-up had changed dramatically: 62% skilled, 29% family and 9% humanitarian. </p>
<p>These proportions have remained about the same ever since. In <a href="https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/research-and-stats/files/report-migration-program-2018-19.pdf">2018-19</a>, there were 109,713 migrants (62%) in the skilled stream, 47,247 (27%) in the family stream and 18,762 (11%) in the humanitarian stream. </p>
<p>At the same time, <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/language/english/all-work-no-stay-australia-s-shift-towards-temporary-migration">temporary migration</a> of short-term skilled workers, working holiday makers, international students and New Zealanders on temporary special category visas has risen dramatically to over 1.2 million in <a href="https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/research-and-stats/files/temp-entrants-aust-31-dec-2016.pdf">December 2016</a>. </p>
<p>If all temporary migrants with work rights had a job, they would constitute over <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-27/fact-check-one-in-ten-workers-temporary-visas/9572062?nw=0">10% of the Australian workforce</a>.</p>
<h2>Immigration is about relationships</h2>
<p>Preferencing skilled migrants over family migrants is the inverse of the US, where most migrants come via <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/05/17/key-facts-about-u-s-immigration-policies-and-proposed-changes/">family connections</a>. Unlike Australia, this also includes the potential for migrants to <a href="https://www.uscis.gov/family/family-us-citizens/bringing-siblings-live-united-states-permanent-residents">sponsor siblings</a>. </p>
<p>What is sometimes lost in Australia, with a single-minded focus on migration to boost the economy, is that immigration is not only about economic growth. It is also about relationships. </p>
<p>Permanent migrants are future citizens. Migration builds community, and the ability of migrants to sponsor their broader family will deepen their connections and commitment to Australia.</p>
<p>The family migration program enables Australians to sponsor parents and children living overseas, partners, and in some cases their remaining relatives. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-research-shows-immigration-has-only-a-minor-effect-on-wages-74546">New research shows immigration has only a minor effect on wages</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>One of the effects of our focus on skilled migration has been the increase of new migrants with no extended family in Australia. </p>
<p>Although skilled worker visas allow for partners and children to accompany them, there is no provision for extended family. This makes these migrants potentially more vulnerable and isolated, less committed to Australia and, <a href="https://www.iom.int/sites/default/files/our_work/ICP/IDM/RB24ENGWEB.PDF">some have suggested</a>, less productive as workers. </p>
<p>If they were allowed to enter Australia, these extended family members could offer emotional support and practical assistance to their loved ones working here, such as child care. </p>
<p>Most temporary migrant workers, meanwhile, have no entitlement to be accompanied by any family at all. Only some international students can have family accompany them as a support person while they <a href="https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/getting-a-visa/visa-finder/study">study</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/332277/original/file-20200504-83779-o1m3c3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/332277/original/file-20200504-83779-o1m3c3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332277/original/file-20200504-83779-o1m3c3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332277/original/file-20200504-83779-o1m3c3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332277/original/file-20200504-83779-o1m3c3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332277/original/file-20200504-83779-o1m3c3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332277/original/file-20200504-83779-o1m3c3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Kristina Keneally says Australia needs ‘a migration program that puts Australian workers first’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lukas Coch/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A growing waiting list for partners and parents</h2>
<p>The difficulty skilled migrants have sponsoring their parents to migrate to Australia provides a dramatic example of just how restrictive current family migration options are.</p>
<p>In 2018-19, just 1,218 non-contributory parent visas were granted out of tens of thousands of applicants. The waiting period is <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/language/english/new-twist-to-parent-visa-waiting-periods-will-get-longer_1">at least 30 years</a>, longer than many of these parents have left to live. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/getting-a-visa/visa-listing/parent-103#About">home affairs website</a> no longer provides waiting times, stating only </p>
<blockquote>
<p>family migration visas are in high demand. It might take many years for this visa to be granted. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The waiting time for partner visas for all Australian citizens and permanent residents has also grown as the number of allocated placements has been cut. The home affairs <a href="https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/getting-a-visa/visa-listing/partner-onshore/permanent-801">website</a> currently says 90% of applicants will be processed in 21 months. </p>
<p>Migration numbers are destined to drop dramatically as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020-21. When the economy and our borders open up, there is an opportunity to reflect on what is the best balance of skilled and family migration. </p>
<p>Attracting the most accomplished skilled migrants will undoubtedly continue to be a driver of migration policy. </p>
<p>However, in choosing numbers in the skilled and family streams, it is also vital the government factor in the role of extended family for the well-being and productivity of migrant workers, as well as the importance of family for community cohesion and a migrant’s sense of connection and commitment to Australia.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/137783/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alex Reilly receives funding from the Department of Social Security for a project investigating Refugee Women and Work in Australia.</span></em></p>Australia used to prioritise family migrants over skilled workers. But now, it takes up to 21 months for partner visas to be approved – and 30 years for parents.Alex Reilly, Professor, University of AdelaideLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1172642019-07-24T04:38:23Z2019-07-24T04:38:23ZMigrants who adapt to Australian culture say they’re happier than those who don’t<p>In a multicultural country like Australia, it’s easy for migrants to keep their heritage culture alive. But <a href="https://reader.elsevier.com/reader/sd/pii/S0147176718303602?token=80A6973CFD60758D6A11B73943A5226DAACEF4650A44E824417B75767703380F664B8452D3019005002B371A92267731">our recent research</a> that surveyed more than 300 migrants found those who adapt to Australian society, called “Australian acculturation”, have greater personal well-being than those who don’t.</p>
<p>Personal well-being refers to a person’s quality of life, measured at two levels. The first: how satisfied they are with their life overall. And the second: how satisfied they are with specific life domains, such as achievements, relationships, health, safety, community connectedness and security.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-do-we-measure-well-being-70967">How do we measure well-being?</a>
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</em>
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<p>We looked at the relationships between time in the host country, acculturation and personal well-being among non-Western skilled migrants in Australia. We found that migrants who reported having a higher personal well-being also had:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>acculturated more to the Australian culture than to their heritage culture </p></li>
<li><p>higher English language competency and </p></li>
<li><p>an Australian identity</p></li>
</ul>
<p>And we found that more time spent in Australia doesn’t necessarily lead to more personal well-being if skilled migrants don’t adapt to Australian culture.</p>
<h2>Social connectedness</h2>
<p>We measured personal well-being using the Australian Unity <a href="https://www.australianunity.com.au/media-centre/wellbeing">Personal Well-being Index</a> (PWI), which measures the level of a person’s satisfaction using a points system from 0 to 100. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/276926/original/file-20190529-126256-1ggdqm6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/276926/original/file-20190529-126256-1ggdqm6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=374&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276926/original/file-20190529-126256-1ggdqm6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=374&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276926/original/file-20190529-126256-1ggdqm6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=374&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276926/original/file-20190529-126256-1ggdqm6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276926/original/file-20190529-126256-1ggdqm6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276926/original/file-20190529-126256-1ggdqm6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A chart from our study comparing the well-being of our sample of skilled migrants with the general population of Australia.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The average PWI of the Australian general population ranges from 74.2 to 76.8 out of 100, whereas the average PWI of our skilled migrant sample is higher, at 77.27.</p>
<p>Given the present study involved skilled migrants, it’s possible that their higher education, skills and salaries may have contributed to higher levels of personal well-being, compared to the Australian population as a whole.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/migrants-are-healthier-than-the-average-australian-so-they-cant-be-a-burden-on-the-health-system-79753">Migrants are healthier than the average Australian, so they can't be a burden on the health system</a>
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<p>Skilled migrants recorded the lowest score for the “community connectedness” domain, along with the rest of the Australian population. Community connectedness refers to the number and strength of connections a person has with others in their community.</p>
<p>Community connectedness may be lower because: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>skilled migrants maintain close contact with ethnic and extended families</p></li>
<li><p>there are few opportunities for them to be involved in the wider Australian community or </p></li>
<li><p>they feel excluded from the wider community.</p></li>
</ul>
<h2>Biculturalism</h2>
<p>Rather than acculturation, some skilled migrants will maintain their own culture, and add layers of cultural practices from their host country. For them, “biculturalism” – or being able to switch between host and heritage cultures – is more realistic.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/settling-migrants-in-regional-areas-will-need-more-than-a-visa-to-succeed-114196">Settling migrants in regional areas will need more than a visa to succeed</a>
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<p>For example, an Indian family who moved to Melbourne will keep their culture alive through food, language and friendship circles, but might also go to the footy and support an AFL team.</p>
<p>Full acculturation, on the other hand, is when migrants abandon their heritage cultural practices and values when they adapt to the host culture. </p>
<p>For a first generation non-Western migrant, adapting to the Australian culture is even harder. Research <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1038411110391709">has shown</a> that acculturation into a Western country is unlikely for these people. </p>
<p>This is for a number of reasons, such as pride in their heritage culture, maintaining strong connections with relatives and friends, and the societies they move to allow them to maintain heritage cultural practices through multicultural policies.</p>
<h2>Poor Australian acculturation can lead to social isolation</h2>
<p>Most people migrate when they’re young, so they’re able to contribute to the socioeconomic well-being of the host country by bringing in much needed skills, knowledge, technology and investment to Australia.</p>
<p>But in any case, migrants grow old in a culture that’s not heritage to them, so Australian acculturation is important to help combat social isolation in their old age. </p>
<p>In fact, a <a href="http://fecca.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/AgedCareReport_FECCA.pdf">2015 study</a> found older people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds are at a greater risk of depression than Anglo-Australians.</p>
<p>So if our skilled migrant sample, with the average age of 38, are low-scoring in the “community connectedness” domain, they could fall into a social isolation trap as they age.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-cities-help-immigrants-feel-at-home-4-charts-97501">How cities help immigrants feel at home: 4 charts</a>
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<p>Australia should make ageing in a new culture a more comfortable <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/topics/life/health/article/2016/07/18/are-we-doing-enough-support-our-ageing-migrant-population">experience</a>, and organisations – such as Australian Multicultural Community Services and Australian Multicultural Foundation – and the government should take more responsibility for their Australian acculturation, and encourage social <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/01/stop-telling-immigrants-to-assimilate-and-start-helping-them-participate/">participation</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/117264/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Asanka Gunasekara does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A resent research survey found assimilation can not only help migrants be happy in the short term, but it can help combat social isolation in their old age.Asanka Gunasekara, Lecturer in Management, Swinburne University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1090942018-12-19T19:06:29Z2018-12-19T19:06:29ZUK’s new post-Brexit immigration plan is surreal and cynical<p>The publication of the British government’s <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/766465/The-UKs-future-skills-based-immigration-system-print-ready.pdf">white paper</a> for a post-Brexit immigration system is long overdue. But coming so late in the day, with such uncertainty continuing about what Brexit will look like, much of what’s being proposed feels quite surreal.</p>
<p>The UK’s immigration system is currently a malfunctioning mess. It’s overly complicated, opaque and weighed down with political and social expectations that cannot be met. It’s been <a href="https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201617/ldselect/ldeucom/82/82.pdf">consistently castigated</a> by senior legal figures for being so labyrinthine that even immigration lawyers have difficulty navigating it. It’s expensive, intrusive, and places unreasonable burdens on citizens, including landlords, health service workers and lecturers, to act as if they were <a href="https://theconversation.com/compliant-environment-turning-ordinary-people-into-border-guards-should-concern-everyone-in-the-uk-107066">employed as border guards</a>. The current system can also end up <a href="http://www.irr.org.uk/news/the-windrush-scandal-exposes-the-dangers-of-scaremongering-about-illegal-immigrants/">unfairly discriminating</a> by ethnicity. </p>
<p>Many of these shortcomings are acknowledged in the Home Office’s white paper, and the potential clarity the eventual publication of this document brings to the debate on the UK’s future immigration policy is welcome. </p>
<p>In the immediate aftermath of the white paper’s publication, much was made of the absence of a numerical target <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-eu-immigration-javid/uks-post-brexit-immigration-system-will-not-include-net-migration-target-idUSKBN1OI0OI">for net migration</a>. But this is a red herring. The target has been politically dead in the water since before the 2016 referendum. </p>
<h2>Devil in the detail</h2>
<p>There are other, rather more fundamental changes in the government’s new plans for both migrants and employers. The resident labour market test will be scrapped, meaning employers can recruit directly from outside the UK without having to advertise in the UK first. Migrants on “skilled-employment” visas will also be able to stay for five years, and bring dependants with them. A system of new temporary visas will be created that are not tied to a single employer, enabling migrants to move between employers in precarious and flexible sectors of the labour market. At the same time, these temporary migrants will be prevented from renewing their status or continuing their employment even if they and their employers would prefer it. </p>
<p>What happens to these proposals as they are consulted on, translated into legislation, and then into guidance and Home Office practices will be key. </p>
<p>In UK immigration policy, the devil is always in the detail. Restrictions often become clear in the non-legislative detail of immigration paperwork and key questions must await those technical documents. How high will the health service fee be for migrants on temporary visas? What will the level of the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/uk-visa-sponsorship-employers/immigration-skills-charge">“skills charge</a>” be to employers? What checks on prospective qualifications of employees will employers have to make in order to employ someone on a skilled visa?</p>
<p>Nonetheless, the policy outlined in the new white paper has three striking characteristics that shed light on its overall weaknesses. It is in turns, rather surreal, cynical and in places, potentially quite sinister.</p>
<h2>Problems with an earnings threshold</h2>
<p>There is much weight given within the white paper to the <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/718237/EU_Settlement_Scheme_SOI_June_2018.pdf">settlement scheme</a> for EU citizens currently living in the UK that will be in place until the end of the Brexit “implementation period” in December 2020. Yet without parliament’s approval of the Brexit withdrawal agreement, which includes a reciprocal arrangement with the EU on the rights of citizens, the political basis for that scheme is void. That means the proposals in the white paper might be dead by March if there is a no-deal Brexit – at least as far as EU citizens are concerned.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/brexit-draft-withdrawal-agreement-experts-react-107027">Brexit draft withdrawal agreement – experts react</a>
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<p>Much is made in the white paper of the “skills” basis for the new immigration system. Yet the skilled employment route has two problems. First, it’s likely such a route will be tied to an earnings threshold. The government will consult on a proposal, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/migration-advisory-committee-mac-report-eea-migration">made by the independent Migration Advisory Committee</a> (MAC) in September, to set that threshold at £30,000 a year, just above median earnings. This is politically contentious as there are many skilled workers who earn well below this. Second, it treats “skilled employment” as if this is an objectively measurable attribute – it isn’t. </p>
<p>The policy proposals are also pretty cynical. The MAC report found <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-eu-migration-has-done-for-the-uk-103461">little evidence</a> of large effects of migration on employment and wages. Yet it explicitly made reference to such pressures when it proposed keeping the £30,000 per year earnings threshold for skilled employment, arguing that such a high level might encourage employers to pay their skilled workers – librarians, care workers, physiotherapists, teachers – more. For the same reason, it opposed lowering the income threshold for public sector workers, on the grounds that upward pressure on their wages would be a good thing. </p>
<p>Yet, under current public expenditure levels, skilled public sector workers will not have wage increases to match these requirements. In the face of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/dec/02/cbi-warns-low-skill-visa-cap-carolyn-fairbairn">employer complaints</a>, the government has explicitly invited employers to discuss the rate at which the threshold will be set in a year-long consultation. It’s likely the threshold will go down, directly undermining the MAC’s rationale for having it at all, and continuing to endorse the UK’s low-wage economy. Meanwhile, the <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/bulletins/genderpaygapintheuk/2018">gender pay gap</a>, and the differential treatment of skills in typically male and female employment, means that women migrants are less likely to meet whichever threshold is set. </p>
<h2>Selecting ‘immigrants’</h2>
<p>One of the rather understated, but politically telling, elements of the Home Office’s plans is that they permit two possible divergences from the new employment visa regimes they are proposing. First, new trade agreements after Brexit may open new routes for migrants from preferred countries and the UK will <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-special-migration-rules-in-free-trade-deals-work-103709">trade access to its labour market</a> for those willing to do a deal. Yet it’s unclear how this constitutes “taking back control”, being open, or having a skills-led immigration policy.</p>
<p>The second, is that immigration policy may diverge in future if more immigration routes are closed on the basis of “risk”. “Low-risk nationalities” and “low-risk countries” will have access to the UK. Migrants – however skilled – that do not conform to this “risk” assessment are always vulnerable to exclusion. “Risks” can be defined in many ways and give governments wide powers to select which countries the skilled migrants may come from. And the government is specifically proposing to automate such assessments. This opens the possibility for a return to the outright discriminatory and racist immigration policy of the past. </p>
<p>Overall, the timing of the white paper’s publication is surreal, it presents proposals that rather cynically reproduce existing inequalities in the UK’s precarious labour market and its casts a rather sinister light on how the government thinks about selecting “immigrants” after Brexit.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/109094/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emma Carmel received funding from the Economic and Social Research Council and European Union for a research project, TRANSWEL, completed in July 2018.</span></em></p>The British government’s immigration plans may be long-awaited, but they have not come at a good time.Emma Carmel, Senior Lecturer, Department of Social and Policy Sciences, University of BathLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/964452018-05-16T09:03:48Z2018-05-16T09:03:48ZParagraph 322(5): what the Home Office uses to refuse highly skilled migrants leave to remain in Britain<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/218980/original/file-20180515-122928-1w0z7k0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A protest outside the Home Office in early May against the immigration regime. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/wdm/42061327572/sizes/l">Global Justice Now/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Amid the many recent criticisms of the British Home Office have come <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/may/06/at-least-1000-highly-skilled-migrants-wrongly-face-deportation-experts-reveal">reports</a> that “at least 1,000 highly skilled migrants” have been refused indefinite leave to remain in the UK. They face removal from the country on the basis of “bad character” under paragraph 322(5) of the Immigration Rules. </p>
<p>The 1971 Immigration Act created a power to make rules which are intended to be a complete statement of who is eligible for leave to enter or remain in the UK and on what grounds. But those who meet the requirements for a particular category can still be refused on one or more of the “<a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration-rules/immigration-rules-part-9-grounds-for-refusal">general grounds for refusal</a>” contained in paragraphs 320, regarding entry, and 322 regarding remaining.</p>
<p>Paragraph 322(5) says that applications for leave to remain “should normally be refused” if it is “undesirable” to let them remain because of “conduct … character or associations or the fact that he represents a threat to national security”. It also covers those with previous convictions who are not facing deportation as foreign national criminals. The core of these policies is to exclude people whose presence is “not conducive to the public good”.</p>
<h2>Used for tax errors</h2>
<p>On the face of it, the reference to convictions and threats to national security imply that there is a fairly high threshold for refusal. But the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/HighlySkilledUK/">Highly Skilled Migrants support group</a> reports that the Home Office is refusing large numbers of applications under paragraph 322, especially subsection (5), over minor and non-criminal tax issues. They also <a href="https://www.ein.org.uk/blog/highly-skilled-migrants-protest-against-injustice-home-office">complain of inconsistency</a>, arguing that “people with the same immigration history are successful with one application and unsuccessful with another”. It leaves them with no right to work and searching for the money for legal bills. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"993773967872811008"}"></div></p>
<p>The most common basis for refusal appears to be that the person rectified a tax return error – which is not an offence – or that there was a difference between the income declared on their tax return and that on their application to remain. This, of course, is <a href="https://www.freemovement.org.uk/doctors-deported-visas-tier-1-general-dr-syed-kazmi-birmingham/">generally for legitimate reasons</a>: income in the tax year is not necessarily the same as income in any other 12-month period. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/general-grounds-for-refusal-considering-leave-to-remain">Guidance</a> for Home Office decision-makers advises that: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The main types of cases you need to consider for refusal under paragraph 322(5) or referral to other teams are those that involve criminality, a threat to national security, war crimes or travel bans. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>There is nothing in the guidance to indicate that “character” is intended to cover making a mistake on a tax return. </p>
<p>The best evidence available on the intentions behind this rule is set out in a 2016 <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0ahUKEwio4rfBt4fbAhXIWBQKHVkzATEQFggnMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fresearchbriefings.files.parliament.uk%2Fdocuments%2FSN07035%2FSN07035.pdf&usg=AOvVaw02vIhL3e5EYnq6vZU0kEqe">Parliamentary briefing (PDF)</a> by researcher Melanie Gower on powers to exclude or refuse leave to foreign nationals. <a href="https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cmhansrd/cm140402/halltext/140402h0002.htm#14040266000074">Debates</a> indicate that the powers were very much aimed at prevention of terrorism, hate speech and criminality – including suspected criminality such as gang membership, for which it might be difficult to secure individual convictions. </p>
<h2>A target culture</h2>
<p>The use of these powers in an apparently arbitrary way and against people they were not designed to target suggests this is part of the wider <a href="https://theconversation.com/hostile-environment-the-uk-governments-draconian-immigration-policy-explained-95460">“hostile environment”</a> which was originally declared for “illegal immigration”. This includes people being asked to prove their immigration status before they can access rental accommodation, health services, bank services, marriage and so on – policies which compel landlords, registrars and receptionists to act as immigration officials. </p>
<p>But it also includes the determined effort to reduce immigration even when immigration is obviously in the UK’s interests, particularly to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/jan/23/doctors-blocked-by-home-office-from-taking-up-vital-nhs-jobs">employers such as the NHS</a>. Meanwhile, legal aid for the majority of these cases has been abolished – a real problem for those losing jobs as a result of bad decisions.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/hostile-environment-immigration-policy-has-made-britain-a-precarious-place-to-call-home-95546">'Hostile environment' immigration policy has made Britain a precarious place to call home</a>
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<p>Some of this is deliberate policy. But some of it is chaos: the Home Office employs too few staff and imposes unmanageable work targets on them with too little training. <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/stories-43555766">Whistleblowers</a> in <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/visa-application-service-delays-profit-guardian-home-office-denied-a8128616.html">recent months</a> have described making the easiest and quickest decision under threat of losing their jobs if they fail to meet targets. </p>
<p>The Home Office disputes this, insisting that training, support, workloads and internal quality assurance are adequate. But reports by the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/independent-chief-inspector-of-borders-and-immigration">Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration</a> suggest otherwise, at least in overseas entry clearance posts, where staff report being given only five minutes to review some applications. </p>
<p>And it appears the immigration minister, Caroline Nokes, knew about some of the problems faced by highly-skilled migrants in February, but she <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/may/15/home-office-skilled-migrants-caroline-nokes-immigration?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other">chose not to reveal this</a> to the Home Affairs Select Committee in May. </p>
<p>It seems the hostile environment also extends to the internal workings of the Home Office and it’s that – rather than the presence of highly skilled migrants – which is not conducive to the public good.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/96445/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jo Wilding is a barrister at Garden Court Chambers, specialising in immigration and asylum law. </span></em></p>The UK’s general grounds for refusal of highly skilled migrants – explained.Jo Wilding, PhD candidate, University of BrightonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/909442018-02-07T19:08:34Z2018-02-07T19:08:34ZAustralia’s jobs and migration policies are not making the best use of qualified migrants<p>Australia’s skilled migration system has helped us <a href="https://wol.iza.org/articles/using-a-point-system-for-selecting-immigrants/long">attract hundreds of thousands</a> of highly qualified immigrants since 1988. But one side effect of the policy is that we seem to waste many of these skills.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272775706000446">Up to 40%</a> of recent immigrants in Australia are over-educated (having more qualifications than necessary), making it hard for them to find suitable employment. This is almost four times the level of over-education seen in native-born Australians. </p>
<p><a href="http://ftp.iza.org/dp11241.pdf">The problem</a> could be a lack of coordination between Australia’s migration system and employment policies. The migration system is devoted to supplying immigrants for perceived labour market skill shortfalls but employment policies pay less attention to getting the most out of every immigrant. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/governments-play-flawed-skilled-jobs-guessing-game-22527">Governments play flawed 'skilled jobs' guessing game </a>
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<p>As a result we can simultaneously have a skill shortage and qualified migrants who are unable to fill these positions. This often occurs because, for example, they do not have relevant Australian experience.</p>
<p>This is an issue not only for the migrants themselves - who are under-used as employees - but for the rest of Australian society as well. The government receives less tax revenue than it otherwise would have from the migrants, which in turn has implications for public funding, savings, consumption and investment expenditure. </p>
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<p>Australia’s <a href="https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/trav/work/work/skills-assessment-and-assessing-authorities/skilled-occupations-lists">skilled migration program</a> favours immigrants with particular characteristics - namely, they are young, university-educated, and English-speaking. </p>
<p>Australia still admits people who do not possess these characteristics, but in streams that are not directly motivated by economics – for example via family reunification or humanitarian visas.</p>
<p>The current system can lead to mismatches between the skills available in the market and those that employers actually need. One possible reason is the lag between the time employers inform immigration authorities about the skills they most need (or envisage needing in the future) and when migrants enter the labour market, which can be years later. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-has-outsourced-migration-policy-to-the-private-sector-30347">Australia has outsourced migration policy to the private sector</a>
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<p>Addressing this gap requires tighter coordination between immigration and employment policies. But this is at odds with the current practice.</p>
<p>Australia’s skilled migration policy is currently informed by employers (who say what skills are needed) but ultimately focuses on population management. Whether new immigrants find adequate employment to use their skills to the full is the responsibility of a different area of government, if at all. </p>
<p>No Australian employer has an incentive to be the first in offering new migrants the local labour market experience they so critically need. This seems especially so for professional jobs that are subject to occupational licensing. For example, migrants get accredited shortly after settlement but if they cannot acquire relevant Australian experience they either delay entering their desired field or move into a different one.</p>
<h2>Coordinating immigration and employment</h2>
<p>Coordinating Australia’s immigration and employment policies could reduce some of this skill wastage. </p>
<p>For example, data on the employment outcomes of recent migrants could be compared to skill shortages identified by employers. This should be carried out jointly by an immigration-employment task force. </p>
<p>This would help to pinpoint the most serious cases of migrant over-education. The reasons could be identified (whether it is because of too many skilled migrants, skills of poor quality, or a lack of demand), and solutions developed. </p>
<p>Using these data, Australian immigration and employment policies could include targets related to migrants’ skills. Doing so would rebalance the current focus of both immigration and employment policies so that Australia more efficiently uses all the resources we have available, and for which it competes internationally, as in the case of highly qualified migrants.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/employers-playing-crucial-role-in-skilled-migration-screening-33136">Employers playing crucial role in skilled migration screening</a>
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<p>Since 1988, when the points-based system was introduced, Australia has been at the forefront of designing immigration policies that are attuned to the needs of the labour market. Immigration policy has focused on attracting migrants that could be immediately employed. </p>
<p>But the evidence shows we are wasting skills in levels <a href="https://www.oecd.org/eco/growth/Skill-mismatch-and-public-policy-in-OECD-countries.pdf">similar to those of countries</a> that do not implement selective immigration policies. </p>
<p>This suggests that immigration policy by itself is not the only tool responsible for migrants’ labour market outcomes. Better coordination between immigration and employment policies is needed if we want to use skills from abroad to fill gaps and become more productive.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/90944/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Massimiliano Tani received funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p>Hundreds of thousands of migrants have come through Australia’s skilled migrant program. But we are wasting many of their skills.Massimiliano Tani, Professor of Finance and Economics, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/909262018-02-05T18:05:26Z2018-02-05T18:05:26ZThe rise of the super-diverse ‘ethnoburbs’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204360/original/file-20180201-157491-vh7kpx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Point Cook is an example of the 'super-diverse ethnoburbs' that are home to new migrants of relatively high socioeconomic status from a mix of many countries.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shilpi Tewari</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Since the early 1990s, Australia’s skilled migration scheme has brought a new category of migrants into the country. They have higher educational qualifications and economic capabilities than previous migrants. They come from affluent as well as economically disadvantaged countries around the world. </p>
<p>The mass immigration of professionals and entrepreneurs has given rise to different and distinct residential settlement patterns in all major cities, including Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide. As a result, many suburbs in these cities have become demographically multicultural. Notable examples include Redfern and Ashfield in Sydney, Point Cook and Caroline Springs in Melbourne, Sunnybank in Brisbane and Ferryden Park in Adelaide.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/three-charts-on-australias-population-shift-and-the-big-city-squeeze-75544">Three charts on Australia's population shift and the big city squeeze</a>
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<h2>What has our research found?</h2>
<p>Melbourne and Victoria are the city and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com.au/australias-population-growth-just-hit-the-accelerator-2017-9">state with the fastest population growth</a>. A more detailed analysis of demographic changes in suburbs of Melbourne demonstrates a new urban phenomenon in migrant settlement patterns. Higher-income professional migrants of higher socioeconomic status now tend to live close to each other in the suburbs, rather than in <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-to-australia-good-luck-migrants-can-no-longer-afford-gateway-suburbs-75201">more traditional migrant settlement areas</a>. </p>
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<p>The result of this shift in settlement patterns is suburbs with large migrant populations of diverse ethnic origins. We have called these “super-diverse ethnoburbs”. </p>
<p>For example, new migrants have increasingly chosen to settle in outer suburban locations of Melbourne. They, like many other home buyers, see the outer suburbs as more affordable than inner-city areas where property prices have skyrocketed in recent years. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-to-australia-good-luck-migrants-can-no-longer-afford-gateway-suburbs-75201">New to Australia? Good luck! Migrants can no longer afford 'gateway' suburbs</a>
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<p>Secondly, these new migrants seem to find greater satisfaction in living in more private and physically separated environments. Here they are surrounded by people of similar socioeconomic status and they and their families feel more secure.</p>
<p>This trend is giving rise to suburbs which have professional middle-class young families living within master-planned estates. Point Cook, Tarniet, Craigieburn, Caroline Springs and Glen Waverley are examples of such suburbs in Melbourne. </p>
<h2>Where did the idea of ‘ethnoburbs’ come from?</h2>
<p>Geographer-researcher Wei Li has explored a similar phenomenon of ethnic segregation in the US. There, ethnic minority populations of educated, professionally employed new migrant groups and second-generation migrants tend to disperse to and settle in suburbs rather than living in the traditional inner-city areas. </p>
<p>To retain their cultural identity in the host society, these ethnic groups tend to settle near to people of their cultural background. Drawing on the example of San Gabriel Valley in California, Li has shown how strong ethnic clusters of Chinese populations have completely altered the architectural styles, street signs, commercial streets and businesses of a suburb. They have turned it into what Li has termed an “ethnoburb”. </p>
<p>Reflecting on Li’s model of ethnoburbs and comparing it with the suburbs in Australia, a question arises. How comparable are these to Li’s ethnoburbs? </p>
<h2>What makes our ethnoburbs different?</h2>
<p>A comparison between the US model of ethnoburbs with outer suburbs such as Point Cook, Tarniet and Caroline Springs showed a few key differences. Li’s ethnoburbs were suburbs with one ethnic group dominating and concentrating in one suburb. They eventually transform the physical as well as social environment within these suburbs to reflect the dominant ethnic culture. </p>
<p>Suburbs of Melbourne are different in that they are a cultural mosaic. Many different ethnic groups co-exist, even though a few cultural groups are much larger than others. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/interculturalism-how-diverse-societies-can-do-better-than-passive-tolerance-72874">Interculturalism: how diverse societies can do better than passive tolerance</a>
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<p>Using Point Cook as an example, analysis of <a href="http://www.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getproduct/census/2016/quickstat/SSC22074?opendocument">demographic data</a> shows that residents come from many different destinations. The most common countries of origin are England, New Zealand, China, India and Philippines (Figure 1), although this suburb is home to people from 160 different ethnic backgrounds. A great variety in the countries of origin and ethnicity of migrant population has been described by sociologist Steven Vertovec as “<a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01419870701599465">super-diversity</a>”.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204391/original/file-20180201-123829-15x9cqw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204391/original/file-20180201-123829-15x9cqw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204391/original/file-20180201-123829-15x9cqw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204391/original/file-20180201-123829-15x9cqw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204391/original/file-20180201-123829-15x9cqw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204391/original/file-20180201-123829-15x9cqw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204391/original/file-20180201-123829-15x9cqw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204391/original/file-20180201-123829-15x9cqw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Figure 1: Most common countries of birth for residents of Point Cook.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getproduct/census/2016/quickstat/SSC22074?opendocument">Quick Stats 2016, Australian Bureau of Statistics</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>While the population in Point Cook comes from many different countries, they are all mostly professionals and managers with high educational qualifications and economic status (Figure 2). This means Point Cook is super-diverse in an ethnic/cultural sense but not in an economic/class sense. Point Cook has more high-income earners than the average for Victoria and Australia. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204393/original/file-20180201-123852-jtf782.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204393/original/file-20180201-123852-jtf782.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204393/original/file-20180201-123852-jtf782.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204393/original/file-20180201-123852-jtf782.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204393/original/file-20180201-123852-jtf782.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204393/original/file-20180201-123852-jtf782.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204393/original/file-20180201-123852-jtf782.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204393/original/file-20180201-123852-jtf782.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Figure 2: Employment by occupation type in Point Cook.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getproduct/census/2016/quickstat/SSC22074?opendocument">Quick Stats 2016, Australian Bureau of Statistics</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>Nevertheless, combining the theories of ethnoburbs and the concept of super-diversity and applying them to the outer suburbs of major cities of Australia, a new phenomenon is evident: super-diverse ethnoburbs. Instead of being dominated by a population of Anglo-Celtic origin or by any particular ethnic group, these communities are comprised of many different ethnic minority groups existing together.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/migrants-are-stopping-regional-areas-from-shrinking-80740">Migrants are stopping regional areas from shrinking</a>
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<p><em>This article has been updated to correct a reference to Ashwood instead of Ashfield.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/90926/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Australia has had a large influx of skilled migrants in recent decades. Better educated and more highly paid than past generations of migrants, they are also creating a different sort of community.Shilpi Tewari, Lecturer, Deakin UniversityDavid Beynon, Senior Lecturer and Architect, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/688052016-11-21T23:38:57Z2016-11-21T23:38:57ZTrump’s immigration policy would push legal US workers down the occupational ladder<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/146688/original/image-20161121-32267-60o1o2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The 8 million illegal workers currently in the US workforce contribute to US output, mainly in low-skilled jobs.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>US President-elect Donald Trump has proposed deporting millions of undocumented immigrants, which proved appealing to large blocs of US voters in key states. Many voters appear to believe that deporting illegal immigrants would boost job opportunities and wages for US workers. </p>
<p>But <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1465-7287.2010.00208.x/full">economic</a> <a href="http://create.usc.edu/sites/default/files/publications/restrictingemploymentoflow-paidimmigrants.pdf">modelling</a> we carried out for the US departments of Commerce, Homeland Security and Agriculture suggest different conclusions. </p>
<h2>Fewer jobs for legal residents</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.numbersusa.com/news/pew-8-million-illegal-aliens-us-workforce-2014">8 million illegal workers</a> currently in the US workforce contribute to US output. They do this mainly by working in low-skilled jobs, in roles such as farm labourers, construction workers, and landscape gardening.</p>
<p>If all the illegal workers left the US, our modelling found, then the US economy would be <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1465-7287.2010.00208.x/full">3% to 6% smaller</a>. </p>
<p>A smaller US economy would need fewer workers in all occupations. The US would employ fewer public servants, fewer teachers, fewer economists, fewer journalists, fewer farm labourers and fewer construction workers. </p>
<p>And fewer public service jobs would mean fewer public service jobs for legal US residents. This is because the departure of the illegals would not open up vacancies for legal workers in the public service. Why? Undocumented workers can’t get jobs in the US public service, so there are no illegal workers in the public service to be deported. </p>
<p>It is a similar story with teachers, economists and journalists, all of whom work in industries usually closed off to undocumented workers.</p>
<h2>A different story for lower-paid jobs</h2>
<p>But the story is different with farm labourers and construction workers. Although there would be fewer jobs overall in these occupations, there would be more jobs for legal US residents. This is because deporting illegal workers would open up vacancies. </p>
<p>For example, there are 1 million farm labourers in the US, of which about <a href="http://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/in-the-news/immigration-and-the-rural-workforce.aspx">500,000</a> are illegal workers.</p>
<p>If illegal workers were deported, then there would be plenty of vacancies for legal workers. Perhaps not 500,000, but plenty nonetheless. The 3% to 6% shrinkage in the size of the US economy and increases in labour costs to farmers might reduce total employment of agricultural labourers to around <a href="https://ajae.oxfordjournals.org/content/94/2/477.full">800,000</a>. That still leaves 300,000 vacancies to be filled by legal residents. </p>
<p>In general terms, eliminating illegal workers from the US workforce would change the structure of employment for legal workers away from skilled occupations towards low-skilled, low-wage occupations. This effect is akin to shuffling down a ladder – moving from a higher tier in the jobs market to a lower one. </p>
<h2>Shuffling down the occupation ladder</h2>
<p>How does this ladder-shuffle look in practice? Would we see trained economists switching industries to become farm labourers?</p>
<p>Not quite – the transfer of individuals from one occupation to another is not really the right picture. The people most affected by this shift would be new entrants to the jobs market, and people returning to work after a spell of not working (after an illness or caring for children or elders, for example).</p>
<p>As illegal workers leave, vacancies open up at the low end of the labour market and close off at the high end. New entrants and people returning to the labour market are then faced with a less favourable mix of vacancies. This is what produces a shuffle down the occupational ladder. </p>
<p>Young people hoping to become police officers may find that the only vacancies are for security guards. Those hoping to become chefs might wind up as fast-food cooks, and people wanting to be teachers may settle for positions as administrative assistants. </p>
<p>In this way, the inevitable deterioration in the occupational mix of the legal residents takes place with no one actually switching occupation.</p>
<p>Migration-induced changes in the occupational mix of incumbent workers has happened before. As described by US policy analyst <a href="https://www.cato.org/publications/free-trade-bulletin/immigrants-move-americans-move">Daniel Griswold</a>, an influx of low-skilled migrants in the early 20th century changed the occupational mix of incumbent US workers towards skilled occupations, driving them <em>up</em> the occupational ladder. </p>
<p>What Trump now advocates would generate the opposite experience. Departure of low-skilled immigrants would send legal residents down the occupational ladder.</p>
<h2>How should the US handle illegal immigrants?</h2>
<p>As Trump has pointed out, the Obama administration <a href="http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/oct/21/donald-trump/trump-right-deportation-numbers-wrong-talks-about-/">deported many millions</a> of undocumented immigrants. </p>
<p>The Obama administration also proposed a broader approach to undocumented immigrants, which had four key elements. </p>
<p>First, most of the existing illegals should be legalised. </p>
<p>Second, border security should be tightened to control future supply of illegals. </p>
<p>Third, employers of illegals should be stringently prosecuted to control demand. </p>
<p>Finally, flexible temporary work visas should be used to deal with shortages of unskilled workers in agriculture. Unfortunately, these measures couldn’t get through the US Congress.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/68805/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Dixon has conducted for the U.S. Departments of Commerce and Homeland Security. He has also undertaken research for the Cato Institute and is affiliated with the Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Maureen Bleazby has conducted research for the U.S. Departments of Commerce and Homeland Security. She has also undertaken research for the Cato Institute and is affiliated with the Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University. </span></em></p>Many US voters appear to believe that deporting illegal immigrants would boost job opportunities and wages for US workers. But economic modelling suggests different conclusions.Peter Dixon, Professor, Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria UniversityMaureen Rimmer, Professor, Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/416442015-05-26T04:11:57Z2015-05-26T04:11:57ZHarnessing the potential of Africa’s global academic diaspora<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/81363/original/image-20150512-22539-1hivvcc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Africa has produced some incredible academics who are based elsewhere but want to contribute to their home continent.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">From www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>There is a rich crop of African-born academics in North America. In both Canada and the US, those born in Africa enjoy <a href="http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=2014101521150498">higher levels of education</a> than locals or those from elsewhere in the world.</p>
<p>In 2008, 297 African-born academics were <a href="http://www.iie.org/%7E/media/Files/Programs/Carnegie-African-Diaspora-Fellows-Program/Carnegie-Engagements-between-African-Diaspora-Academics-and-Africa-Paul-Zeleza.ashx">employed</a> as full-time faculty in Canada’s 124 universities and colleges. In the US, the same research shows, there are between 20 000 and 25 000 African-born academics employed as faculty in colleges and universities. </p>
<p>The numbers alone suggest that African academics play an important role in North America’s academy. Many <a href="http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20150313093523872">want</a> to share their skills and knowledge with universities on their home continent.</p>
<h2>The evolution of African diasporas</h2>
<p>African diasporas have played a major role in the continent’s affairs since the <a href="http://www.padeap.net/the-history-of-pan-africanism">development of Pan-Africanism</a>. At first Pan-Africanism focused largely on decolonisation and fighting for civil rights in the diaspora.</p>
<p>The Pan-Africanist project shifted from the turn of the 21st century. It is no longer solely about the politics of independence and inclusion. Instead it seeks to incorporate <a href="http://www.theafricareport.com/North-Africa/pan-africanism-is-more-important-than-ever-dlamini-zuma.html">social, economic and intellectual empowerment</a>.</p>
<p>African diasporas located in the north are <a href="http://www.sarua.org/files/Internationalization%20of%20Higher%20Education%20Final%20Paper%20-%20Prof%20Paul%20Tiyambe%20Zeleza.pdf">potential assets</a> for developing and democratising their home countries. They can be a powerful force for globalisation. The migration of skilled labour used to be decried as a brain drain. Then it became a brain gain. Now it’s known as <a href="http://blogs.sciencemag.org/sciencecareers/2012/09/brain-circulati.html">brain circulation</a>. There has been extensive research into the role of diasporas in <a href="http://blogs.worldbank.org/peoplemove/growing-role-diaspora-development-discussed-ministerial-conference-geneva">economic development</a>.</p>
<h2>The existing exchange system</h2>
<p>There are a number of programmes at North American universities that offer diaspora academics the chance to engage with Africa. To understand whether these programmes are working or not, we interviewed 105 African-born academics who now live and work in North America. Many said that they wanted to work with African institutions but struggled with issues like weak institutional infrastructure in both regions, incompatible academic systems and practical problems of citizenship which can make travel difficult.</p>
<p>They also have to operate on their own institution’s terms and in its context. This is challenging because Africa remains at the bottom of the pile when it comes to most North American universities’ internationalisation strategies and priorities. </p>
<p>North American universities are under <a href="http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21567373-american-universities-represent-declining-value-money-their-students-not-what-it">increasing financial pressure</a>. Their internationalisation efforts will increasingly be driven by economic considerations. African countries also tend not to produce as many foreign fee-paying students as Asian countries like China, Japan and India. </p>
<p>Some diaspora academics consider their relationships with African universities a national service. They enjoy a sense of well-being when working with institutions on their home continent. Others find it very rewarding to teach African students whom, they say, are far more interested in learning than many of their North American counterparts.</p>
<h2>Could a different model ease the path?</h2>
<p>We found that existing exchange programmes tend to place North American universities in the driver’s seat. In this system, a faculty member submits a proposal for a project to be conducted at the receiving institution in Africa. The recipient institution may have some input but often, it is not considered an equal partner in the process.</p>
<p>This body of research led to the creation of the Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship (ADF) Programme in early 2014. It is a model that seeks to correct the power balance. Accredited institutions in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda approach the foundation seeking diaspora scholars for research collaboration, curriculum co-development or graduate student teaching and mentoring. </p>
<p>The relevant academics are then paired with institutions. One hundred and ten African-born scholars have been funded for exchanges since the programme started and the model has been <a href="http://www.codesria.org/spip.php?article2175">replicated</a> by the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa. </p>
<p>There is a huge demand for collaboration from host institutions and diaspora academics alike and the model is evolving. In March this year recommendations by African academics living in North America were discussed at the <a href="http://summit.trustafrica.org/declaration-and-action-plan/">African Higher Education Summit</a> in Dakar, Senegal.</p>
<p>These discussions led to the creation of the 10/10 programme. In the next ten years it aims to send <a href="http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20150313093523872">1 000 African diaspora scholars</a> a year from all academic disciplines to universities and colleges on the continent. They will collaborate on research, curriculum development, graduate student teaching and mentoring and also be involved in leadership development. </p>
<p>The positive response to this project by governments and university networks suggests the model could be a catalyst for engagement on a significantly larger scale. That can only be good news for both North American and African academies.</p>
<p>Authors’ note: This article was made possible in part by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The statements made and views expressed are solely the authors’ responsibility.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/41644/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kimberly Foulds works for the Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship Program at Quinnipiac University. Quinnipiac receives funding from IIE for this program as part of the CCNY grant.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Zeleza is the chairperson of the advisory council for the Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship Program</span></em></p>There is a powerful African- born diaspora in North America and its members have much to offer their home continent. How should this relationship be crafted?Kimberly Foulds, Co-ordinator for the Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship Program, Quinnipiac UniversityPaul Zeleza, Vice President of Academic Affairs, Quinnipiac UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/411682015-05-07T06:35:16Z2015-05-07T06:35:16ZAustralia should not auction off migrant places to highest bidders<p>Should Australia <a href="https://theconversation.com/tariffs-could-fix-both-immigration-policy-and-people-smuggling-40972">auction scarce immigration places</a> to the highest bidder as canvassed by the Australian Productivity Commission’s current <a href="http://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/current/migrant-intake">review of immigration policy</a>? In per capita terms, Australia is arguably the <a href="http://www.oecd.org/migration/international-migration-outlook-1999124x.htm">world’s greatest immigration nation</a>, so it’s sensible to regularly review the immigration experience and policy. The problem with a suggestion to auction immigration places is that it puts the focus on short-term revenue-raising, rather than immigration’s more important medium- to long-term nation-building role.</p>
<p>The proposal also reflects a misplaced belief that the free market is the most efficient and effective solution to all areas of Australia society.</p>
<h2>How does immigration work now?</h2>
<p>Australia sets annual targets for the permanent immigration program and within it targets for skilled, family and business visas. It separately sets an annual humanitarian immigration quota for the refugee intake. As the Productivity Commission’s <a href="http://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/current/migrantb-intake/issues">Issues Paper</a> notes, the 2014-15 migration program is for 190,00 people: 128,500 skilled, 7,260 business and investment, 60,855 family, 565 special eligibility and 13,750 humanitarian.</p>
<p>Since the 1970s, Australia has followed Canada in allocating these places by merit, with non-humanitarian merit decided by a points test. Points are allocated for an applicant’s education qualifications, skills and employment history, age, English language ability and other factors. </p>
<p>A “<a href="http://www.immi.gov.au/Work/Pages/skilled-occupations-lists/sol.aspx">skilled occupations list</a>” already gives priority to those applicants with skills in demand. These are revised over time.</p>
<p>In contrast the temporary immigration program is demand-driven and hence uncapped. It depends mainly on international student demand for Australian university degrees, the number of 457 skilled temporary worker visas that employers demand because they claim that they can’t fill job vacancies and the number of working holidaymakers who decide to spend a year or two travelling and working in Australia. </p>
<p>According to <a href="http://www.immi.gov.au/pub-res/Documents/statistics/migration-trends-2012-13-glance.pdf">Immigration Department data</a>, over 700,000 immigrants entered under the temporary program in 2012-13. They vastly outnumbered the permanent program of 190,000 in that year.</p>
<h2>How would the market decide intakes?</h2>
<p>Economic rationalists believe that the market is an infallible and efficient way of allocating all goods and services. <a href="http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/bios/Friedman.html">Milton Friedman</a>, father of the Chicago school of monetarism and champion of the free market, favoured the auction as the best way to allocate public goods such as education. </p>
<p>More recently, Gary Becker, a Nobel laureate in economics who coined the term “<a href="http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/HumanCapital.html">human capital</a>”, <a href="http://www.economist.com/node/16424085">argued that</a> the US immigration places set by targets or quotas should be allocated by auction to those most willing to pay. Becker argued that charging US$50,000 per visa would attract those who would gain the most by migration. Assuming that the current annual quota of 1 million immigrants was maintained, that would raise US$50 billion. This revenue could be used to improve US public finances and hence garner more public support for immigration.</p>
<p>Not surprisingly, the Centre for Independent Studies in Australia has embraced these free-market immigration ideas. In this instance the good in the market is a visa to enter Australia as a permanent residence. Certainly this is a scarce good: some million people or more inquire each year about getting a permanent residence visa. Many more would come if they could. </p>
<p>The assumption is that those who are willing to pay the most will be the best migrants. Following <a href="http://www.cis.org.au/publications/policy-monographs/article/1200-sustainable-immigration-and-cultural">Kasper (2002)</a>, <a href="http://www.cis.org.au/images/stories/policy-monographs/pm-123.pdf">Kirchner (2011) argues</a> for Australian immigration places, including humanitarian or refugee places, to be auctioned. Kirchner is in favour of larger immigration intakes and also argues that the auction may increase popular support for immigration.</p>
<p>To some extent, this system operates at present. Since the late 1970s, Australia has set targets for business migrants – millionaires who want to set up a business in Australia. The government recently introduced an “<a href="https://www.immi.gov.au/faqs/Pages/What-is-the-significant-investor-visa.aspx">investor visa</a>” with looser age and residency requirements to attract more “rich” people. But these business migrant targets are always under-subscribed: everyone wants rich migrants and Australia competes with the United States, Canada and European countries for them.</p>
<h2>Why the auction model is wrong</h2>
<p>This auction immigration model presents many problems.</p>
<p>The first is that it derives from the economic rationalist’s fervent belief in the efficient and rational free market in the national and international context. It is quickly forgotten how the folly of the free market in practice, not in theory, led inexorably to the global financial crisis. Free-market economics simply doesn’t appeal as a solution for such an interdisciplinary phenomenon as contemporary immigration.</p>
<p>Second, excluding all but the richest applicants raises serious ethical questions. One possibility raised by Becker is that employers will lend immigrants the money to be repaid over time. This smacks of indentured labour in a modern form. It is even more unethical when applied to choosing which refugees enter Australia.</p>
<p>Third, the richest do not necessarily make the best migrants. Australia has a long history of <a href="http://www.brw.com.au/p/business/we_came_by_boat_how_refugees_changed_pHm96uKvMaQT2B2NFCdcRJ">“rags to riches” immigration stories</a>. <a href="http://www.uniken.unsw.edu.au/features/conversation-frank-lowy">Frank Lowy</a>, for example, arrived in Australia as a penniless refugee.</p>
<p>Most immigrants don’t become billionaires, but if the experience of the past is anything to go by many relatively impoverished refugees and immigrants – and their subsequent second, third and fourth-generation Australian families - make a great contribution to Australia society. Immigrants from southern Europe or Britain who arrived with little capital in the decades after the Second World War could not have afforded to come under an auction model.</p>
<p>Fourth, immigration policy is not about short-term revenue-raising. It should instead promote medium- to long-term nation-building. Immigration has economic, social, political, religious and cultural impacts and dimensions.</p>
<p>Neoclassical economics always reduces things to material-maximising decision-making of individuals. It has never been able to predict or explain contemporary patterns of global migration. It can’t handle unmeasurable, multi-faceted social costs or externalities.</p>
<p>It is for this reason that economic rationalists and their econometric analyses of the impact of immigration on the Australian economy have been incapable of measuring its true impact. They have underestimated the positive economic and social impacts of immigration, concluding that it is “benign” – neither strongly positive or negative. Because immigration and immigrants have changed every dimension of life in Australia it is simply not possible to quantify and simplify these dimensions into a “market price”.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/80748/original/image-20150507-10961-1ihns4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/80748/original/image-20150507-10961-1ihns4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/80748/original/image-20150507-10961-1ihns4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=456&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/80748/original/image-20150507-10961-1ihns4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=456&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/80748/original/image-20150507-10961-1ihns4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=456&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/80748/original/image-20150507-10961-1ihns4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=573&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/80748/original/image-20150507-10961-1ihns4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=573&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/80748/original/image-20150507-10961-1ihns4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=573&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Immigrants become neighbours as well as workers, a point made by these migrants wearing national costumes to greet Princess Alexandra in Wangaratta in 1959.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.nma.gov.au/collections/highlights/latvian-national-dress">National Museum of Australia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Fifth, immigrants not only become workers but also neighbours. Social cohesion is as important a measure of the success of an immigration policy as is economic growth, standard of living or productivity. </p>
<p>Racism is a key barrier to immigration. This is one reason that freeing up international labour markets has not been as successful as freeing up flows of capital and trade under the neo-liberal globalisation agenda.</p>
<p>Sixth, immigration is controversial politically. As a consequence, racism and political opportunism influence immigration policy, whatever free-market purists might desire. John Howard’s “<a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Former_Committees/scrafton/report/c02">Children overboard</a>” election of 2001 or Tony Abbott’s “<a href="https://www.liberal.org.au/its-time-take-stand-and-stop-boats">Stop the boats</a>” election of 2013 are examples of this, as is the rise of far-right anti-immigration parties across Europe today.</p>
<p>Economic rationalists attempt to treat labour as a commodity no different from goods and services or capital. Their view of immigration is a narrow market-oriented one with a fixation on price and a blindness to the social and political realities of contemporary cosmopolitan Australian and global society. </p>
<p>The current policy of a points-test selection for permanent immigrants – tried successfully over the past four decades of Australia immigration policy - may not be perfect, but it is meritocratic, ethical and efficient.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/41168/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jock Collins receives funding from the Australian Research Council, the Rural Industries Research and Development Council and Settlement Services International.</span></em></p>The problem with auctioning immigration places is that it puts the focus on short-term revenue-raising, rather than immigration’s more important medium- to long-term nation-building role.Jock Collins, Professor of Social Economics, UTS Business School, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/347412014-12-17T10:35:09Z2014-12-17T10:35:09ZUS seen losing its share of world’s highly skilled migrants<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67397/original/image-20141216-14147-1ioac6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">These documents have become less sought after among the ranks of the world's highly skilled migrants. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The United States has always been known as a nation of immigrants and a top destination for scientists and other highly skilled professionals. That ability to attract the world’s most educated and innovative people to its shores has often been credited with powering the US economy. </p>
<p>But strikingly, a <a href="http://zagheni.net/uploads/3/1/7/9/3179747/migration_professionals_linkedin.pdf">new study of worldwide migration patterns</a> suggests the US is losing its reputation as a mecca for professionals as its global share of the most highly educated migrants declines. The result raises the question of whether the country can remain competitive in attracting top talent in an increasingly globalized economy.</p>
<p>Colleagues and I analyzed recent trends in international migration of highly skilled workers – those with bachelor’s degrees or higher – using a data set of unprecedented detail, extracted from <a href="https://www.linkedin.com">LinkedIn</a>, the social networking website for professionals. </p>
<p>LinkedIn counts more than 200 million members in more than 200 countries and territories. People typically use their LinkedIn profiles to post their employment and educational history. That information provides the most comprehensive and up-to-date picture of the international flows of highly skilled migrants. </p>
<p>Respecting the privacy of LinkedIn’s members was a primary concern for us. We removed all personally identifiable information from our data set before conducting the study and only analyzed data in aggregate.</p>
<p>The study leveraged various aspects of <a href="http://economicgraphchallenge.linkedin.com">LinkedIn’s Economic Graph</a> – a digital map of the world economy based on member profiles – to understand trends in migration patterns. The research is the result of a collaboration between Bogdan State, who at the time was a Sociology PhD student at Stanford University, Mario Rodriguez, a Senior Data Scientist at LinkedIn, Dirk Helbing, a Professor at ETH Zurich and Emilio Zagheni, an Assistant Professor at the University of Washington, Seattle. </p>
<h2>A topic ignored</h2>
<p>Most of the public discussion on immigration reform has focused on the issue of undocumented immigrants living in the US and the potential consequences of highly-skilled immigrations on jobs and wages of Americans. Less attention has been paid, however, to the changing position of the United States as a destination of the world’s most sought after migrants. </p>
<p>Our study, which comes at a time when the country is mired in a divisive fight over such reform, counters conventional wisdom that the US is the incontestable top choice for professionals migrating from other countries. </p>
<p>We tracked the proportion of migrants whose destination was the United States, out of all migrants observed during a particular calendar year, covering the period from 1990 to 2012. In our sample of LinkedIn users, we observed a slight increase of the fraction of migrants who went to the US during the 1990s, followed by a sharp downward trend after the year 2000. </p>
<p>While 27% of migrating professionals chose the US in 2000, just 13% did in 2012. The decline was seen across education levels, from bachelor’s to doctorates. The biggest drop was among those in the science, technology, engineering and math fields, from 37% to 15%. </p>
<p>The biggest beneficiaries of the change were Asian countries, which witnessed the highest increase in professional migrants, attracting a cumulative 26% in 2012, compared with just 10% in 2000.</p>
<h2>Increasing opportunities or a drop in demand?</h2>
<p>The patterns that we observed could be tied to a variety of factors from improved career opportunities across the globe to a drop in demand for highly skilled migrants in the US or inefficiencies in its immigration system. </p>
<p>During the first decade of the 21st century, for example, the US experienced two major economic crises: the collapse of the “<a href="http://www.nethistory.info/History%20of%20the%20Internet/dotcom.html">dot-com bubble</a>” from 1999 to 2001 and the financial crisis of 2008. These crises adversely affected opportunities for immigrants in the US. </p>
<p>Nonetheless, our findings indicate more than a reaction to short-term crises. Long-term structural changes are taking place in the global system of employment-based, highly skilled migration. </p>
<p>Skilled immigrants have been a source of innovation and economic strength for the United States. One of the implications of the study is that, in the increasing global competition for talent, the US will have to work harder to attract and retain the world’s best and brightest. That may be an issue Americans will have to ponder as they debate the best way to implement immigration reform.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/34741/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emilio Zagheni does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The United States has always been known as a nation of immigrants and a top destination for scientists and other highly skilled professionals. That ability to attract the world’s most educated and innovative…Emilio Zagheni, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of WashingtonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/331362014-10-20T02:38:18Z2014-10-20T02:38:18ZEmployers playing crucial role in skilled migration screening<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/62185/original/h3pdg2ts-1413765684.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Skilled migration policy benefits from a targeted approach.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Norbert Löv/Flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Ask anyone on the street or in the pub about immigration and they’ll invariably say it’s all about boats, 457s and more boats. But immigration policy is obviously about more than just that, and in parallel to the eye catching headlines of Australia’s attempts to dissuade unwanted visitors or the jobs taken by temporary migrant workers, there has been an ongoing reform process that has dramatically affected Australian society. </p>
<p>In contrast to the often haphazard impression made by many policy reforms, the last two decades have seen a systematic transformation of Australia’s approach to managing skilled migrants; and encouragingly, this bipartisan effort seems to have changed things for the better.</p>
<p>On 1 July 1996, then Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock announced Australia would be taking in more skilled migrants to respond to our ageing population. Since then, the number of permanent additions to the country has increased from 99,000 in the year to July 1996 to 190,000 in 2006/7, a rate of migrant arrival not matched outside of two brief peaks in 1949/50 and 1969/70. </p>
<p>After that, the number of permanent additions to Australia has continued to grow, and exceeds 254,000 in the most recently available data (2012/13). The vast majority of this increase in Australia’s migrant intake was administered through the <a href="https://www.immi.gov.au/media/fact-sheets/24overview_skilled.htm">skill stream</a>, which now accounts for around 6 out of every 10 permanent settlers admitted into the country.</p>
<p>Countries around the world currently rely on two main approaches for selecting skilled migrants. The government can select migrants from a pool of applicants on the basis of criteria that it sets, or it can subcontract the job of selecting migrants to employers. </p>
<h2>Employers know best?</h2>
<p>In the mid-2000s, countries including Australia tended to rely predominantly on one or the other of these approaches: in the case of Australia, the government selected four skilled migrants for every one selected by employers. Since then, Australia has instituted a range of reforms that tightened the conditions it uses to select skilled migrants at the same time as it promoted employer sponsored migration, so that by 2009/10 the numbers of skilled migrants selected by government and sponsored by employers were approximately equal.</p>
<p>The set of reforms that transformed the Australian system of skilled migration in the five years to 2010 were primarily motivated by the desire to achieve improved labour market outcomes among skilled migrants. When these reforms were implemented, however, it was unclear what effects they would have. Using the benefit of hindsight, and the availability of two good quality datasets (the<a href="http://www.immi.gov.au/pub-res/Pages/research/continuous-survey.aspx"> Continuous Survey of Australia’s Migrants</a> and the <a href="http://www.immi.gov.au/media/research/lsia/">Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Australia</a>), this shift in policy can now be evaluated.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/62061/original/qnv9jmqr-1413520595.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/62061/original/qnv9jmqr-1413520595.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/62061/original/qnv9jmqr-1413520595.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/62061/original/qnv9jmqr-1413520595.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/62061/original/qnv9jmqr-1413520595.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/62061/original/qnv9jmqr-1413520595.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/62061/original/qnv9jmqr-1413520595.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Note: A: approximate timing of Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Australia.
B: approximate timing of Continuous Survey of Australia’s Migrants</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Department of Immigration and Citizenship</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The data reveals employment rates for skilled migrants increased by between 11 and 13 percentage points as a result of the shift in policy. Approximately 5 percentage points of this effect can be attributed to the increased use of employer sponsorship, with the remainder attributable in part to the tighter selection criteria imposed by government.</p>
<p>Of course, one concern is that increased employment rates for skilled migrants have been purchased at the cost of decreased job quality. Focusing exclusively on employed skilled migrants selected by the government, we found that the incidence of employment as managers or professionals increased by 5 percentage points as a result of the policy change. In contrast, we found no significant improvement in the incidence of employment as managers or professions among all skilled migrants.</p>
<p>This suggests that Australia’s shift towards a more equal sharing of skilled migrant selection by government and employers has had a broadly positive impact on average migrant labour market outcomes in their first year of permanent residency. </p>
<p>The findings for just the skilled migrants selected by government and the findings for all skilled migrants combined are consistent with a narrative where the government skims the cream of the pool of skilled migrant applicants, and requires weaker applicants to seek employer sponsorship as a pre-condition to settling in Australia. </p>
<p>Our estimates suggest this approach to policy has significantly improved the short-run employment outcomes of skilled migrants without an overall decline in occupational prestige. Something that Australia should be proud of.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/33136/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This article is based on the discussion paper When General Skills Are Not Enough (melbourneinstitute.com/downloads/working_paper_series/wp2014n21.pdf) joint with Sarah Voitchovsky and Justin van de Ven, which itself was inspired by the report Graduate Employment Outcomes for International Students (melbourneinstitute.com/downloads/labour/1-12_FINAL_REPORT.pdf) commissioned and funded by the then Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR). Hielke Buddelmeyer came to Australia on a 457 temporary visa in 2003, obtained permanent residency under the employer nominated scheme in 2005 and later became an Australian citizen. Hielke is a member of the Institute of Public Affairs.</span></em></p>Ask anyone on the street or in the pub about immigration and they’ll invariably say it’s all about boats, 457s and more boats. But immigration policy is obviously about more than just that, and in parallel…Hielke Buddelmeyer, Senior Research Fellow, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/320442014-09-24T01:53:56Z2014-09-24T01:53:56ZSenate set to decide if family visas will go only to the rich<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/59828/original/93qg3374-1411519413.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Federal government plans to axe several types of family visas could mean that for some, being able to reunite their families in Australia could become a thing of the past.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/33/Poston%2C_Arizona._Arrival_of_evacuees_of_Japanese_ancestry_at_this_War_Relocation_Authority_center._._._._-_NARA_-_536302.tif">Clark Fred/Wikimedia Commons</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>This afternoon, the Australian Senate will be asked to vote on <a href="http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/chamber/orderofbusiness/2014924_SR55/upload_pdf/Wednesday,%2024%20September%202014.pdf;fileType=application/pdf">a Greens disallowance motion</a>, which seeks to stop the Abbott government <a href="http://www.comlaw.gov.au/Details/F2014L00622">repealing several types of family visas</a>. These include: the Parent Visa (non-contributory); Aged Parent Visa; Aged Dependent Relative Visa; Remaining Relative Visa; and the Carer Visa.</p>
<p>These visas allow Australian permanent residents or citizens to sponsor their parents and dependent relatives to come to Australia or, in the case of a carer visa, to sponsor a relative to care for them if they have a long-term or permanent medical condition.</p>
<p>The government <a href="http://www.comlaw.gov.au/Details/F2014L00622/Explanatory%20Statement/Text">has justified the repeal</a> of these visas sub-classes as necessary to focus the Family Migration Program on the entry of “partners, children and those parents who are able contribute financially to the cost of their migration and settlement”.</p>
<p>It has left open for application the contributory parent visa, amongst others, which requires applicants to pay a significantly higher visa application charge and assurance of support or bond. An application for a contributory parent visa can cost anywhere up to A$47,000 per applicant. This is significantly higher than the cost of non-contributory parent visas.</p>
<p>As University of Sydney law experts Mary Crock and Kate Bones have warned, the changes would make family reunions a <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/comment/coalitions-new-visa-laws-make-family-reunion-a-preserve-of-the-rich-20140611-zs3wd.html">“preserve of the rich”.</a></p>
<p>The move forms part of the government’s <a href="http://www.comlaw.gov.au/Details/F2014L00622/Explanatory%20Statement/Text">broader objective</a> to “ensure that skilled people comprise at least two-thirds of the Migration Program”. According to the regulation’s explanatory memorandum, “skilled migrants have the lowest rate of unemployment and strongest English skills – keys drivers of successful labour market participation and integration into society”. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/59829/original/wcrpy2d8-1411519667.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/59829/original/wcrpy2d8-1411519667.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/59829/original/wcrpy2d8-1411519667.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59829/original/wcrpy2d8-1411519667.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59829/original/wcrpy2d8-1411519667.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59829/original/wcrpy2d8-1411519667.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59829/original/wcrpy2d8-1411519667.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59829/original/wcrpy2d8-1411519667.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Immigration Minister Scott Morrison.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Stefan Postles/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Immigration Minister <a href="http://www.minister.immi.gov.au/media/sm/2013/sm208937.htm">Scott Morrison’s message</a> is clear: “immigration is an economic policy, it is not welfare policy”.</p>
<p>There is no doubt that, in the short term, the repeal of these visas will lighten the Department of Immigration’s workload and result in additional revenue from forcing applicants to apply for more expensive visas. </p>
<p>However, even apart from lacking compassion for families, this is a short-sighted approach to immigration policy. It ignores the significant, but indirect, contribution that carers and parents make to the Australian economy. In the long run, the repeal of these visas is likely to result in a net loss for Australia.</p>
<h2>Unpaid but invaluable family care</h2>
<p>Consider, for example, the role that parents can play in reducing the opportunity cost of childcare to Australian families. </p>
<p>The National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling and AMP recently reported that the <a href="http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/childcare-affordability-report-some-mums-return-to-work-for-344-an-hour/story-fnet085v-1226962488365">cost of childcare has outstripped petrol prices in the last five years</a>. For some families, the cost of childcare is so great that it makes little economic sense for parents re-enter the workforce.</p>
<p>Grandparents relieve the burden of rising childcare costs, allowing parents to work more often and contribute to the economy. Without familial support, Australian citizens will rely heavily on government subsidies to meet these rising costs.</p>
<p>Australia has a rapidly ageing economy in which more people will require assistance. There is scant justification for denying Australian permanent residents or citizens access to a relative who can provide them with much-needed support.</p>
<p>The carer visa is available only when an Australian with a long-term or permanent medical condition cannot obtain that help from hospital and community services or other relatives in Australia. That is, the visa is granted only where there is a genuine need for assistance.</p>
<h2>Attracting and keeping skilled workers</h2>
<p>Ironically, the loss of these visas may also reduce Australia’s ability to compete with other economies to attract the best skilled migrants. </p>
<p>Family remains a fundamental unit of society and many skilled migrants will want to bring their families to Australia at some point. Imposing further barriers to family reunification may deter prospective skilled migrants, who may consider taking their skills elsewhere.</p>
<p>Alternatively, those who are already in Australia and who cannot afford the high visa fees may decide go offshore to look after their elderly parents. The result is an outflow of skilled labour from Australia for potentially long periods of time.</p>
<p>The repeal of these family visas will also have a disproportionate effect on refugees, especially if other measures proposed by the government fall into the place. The <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/Bills_Search_Results/Result?bId=r5303">Migration Amendment (Protection and Other Measures) Bill 2014 (Cth)</a> – currently before the Senate – proposes amendments to the Migration Regulations that would limit the ability for family members of a person who has been granted a protection visa to apply for a protection visa.</p>
<p>The government suggests that family reunification should occur only through the Family Migration Program. Yet, at the same time, it is seeking to limit the number of visas available and put the cost of obtaining such visas beyond the reach of newly arrived refugees.</p>
<p>It is also worth noting these <a href="https://www.immi.gov.au/media/statistics/statistical-info/visa-grants/migrant.htm">family visas form a relatively small proportion</a> of Australia’s migration program. The planning level for the financial year 2014-2015 for the Other Family visas is 500, and only <a href="https://www.immi.gov.au/migrants/family/parent-visa-processing-priorities.htm">1500 places had been allocated for non-contributory parent visas</a> prior to the repeal. That means that from a total migration program of 190,000, the visas being repealed represent just 2,000 – or around 1%.</p>
<p>The question for the Senate will be: do the short-term benefits of repealing these visas outweigh the long-term social and economic losses?</p>
<p>The answer is clearly “no” – so today’s disallowance motion should be supported.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/32044/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Khanh Hoang does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>This afternoon, the Australian Senate will be asked to vote on a Greens disallowance motion, which seeks to stop the Abbott government repealing several types of family visas. These include: the Parent…Khanh Hoang, Associate Lecturer, ANU College of Law - Migration Law Program, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/189892013-10-28T03:22:45Z2013-10-28T03:22:45Z‘Good’ migrants and ‘bad’ migrants: the Coalition’s policy paradox<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/32628/original/tjvbc7nx-1381195402.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Backpackers make up a hidden stream of labour in Australia. But what makes a 'good' migrant for policy-makers, and why is there a distinction?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Siim Teller</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In his short period in office so far, prime minister Tony Abbott has been taken to task on two issues with important neighbours: <a href="https://theconversation.com/grattan-on-friday-abbott-needs-quick-results-on-boat-arrivals-for-very-practical-reasons-18888">asylum seeker boats</a> arriving from Indonesia, and the <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/no-change-to-new-zealanders-rights-20131002-2uswa.html">rights of New Zealanders</a> living in Australia on temporary visas. A recent <a href="http://artsonline.monash.edu.au/cpur/files/2013/08/Scarce-Jobs.final_.pdf">Monash University report</a> also warns that the increase in the Working Holiday Maker (WHM) program is contributing to the unemployment of local Australian youth. </p>
<p>Constructing migrants as “good” or “bad” for Australia is a complex process. In the populist imagination, “bad” migrants are welfare-dependent, unskilled, and culturally different. “Good” migrants, on the other hand, are highly skilled, wealthy, independent and either culturally similar or willing to assimilate. </p>
<p>So, what do contentions around these very different types of migrants tell us about the way immigration may be framed in Australia over the next three years?</p>
<p>Conservative governments in general face a paradox when it comes to immigration policy. Although their support base favours a “tough on immigration” stance, business and industrial lobbies push for fewer restrictions on importing foreign workers. In the US, this paradox has led to harsh levels of border security, such the <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/05/15/immigration/">militarisation</a> of the Mexico-US border during the Bush administration, alongside very limited controls on the employment of undocumented workers, whose labour has become vital to particular industries. </p>
<p>Resolving the paradox in Australia involves some key political moves. Political parties tend to create simplistic discourses around desirable or “good” migrants and undesirable or “bad” migrants, and maintain streams of foreign labour that remain somewhat hidden from public view. </p>
<p>International students, backpackers, former students on temporary graduate visas and New Zealanders all fall into this second category of “invisible” streams of foreign labour. Election debates on immigration focused solely on asylum seeker boat arrivals and <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-457-scheme-is-changing-australian-immigration-13000">457 skilled visas</a>. Migrants in these other categories effectively bypass many of the stringent control mechanisms of skilled migration programs. However, they provide increasingly valuable skilled and unskilled labour to various industries. </p>
<p>Media focus on the “bad” migrants serves to deflect attention from these hidden migration schemes and from an overall “liberalisation” of immigration policy. The Howard government generally focused on demonising asylum seeker arrivals: a strategy that was <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gove.12043/full">highly effective</a> in deflecting attention from its record skilled immigration intakes and its expansion of work rights for international students and working holiday makers.</p>
<p>The recent <a href="https://theconversation.com/wheres-the-choice-bro-kiwis-in-australia-get-a-raw-deal-18545">calls for New Zealanders</a> to gain more rights to social welfare and permanent residence have been based on the idea that they are <a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/comment/editorials/9241297/Editorial-Unloved-Kiwis-should-come-back">“good workers”</a> and have a shared <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-10-10/an-nz-minister-says-kiwis-in-aus-discriminated-against/4306178">social and cultural history with Australia</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/32632/original/cvs8sy7b-1381196840.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/32632/original/cvs8sy7b-1381196840.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=657&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/32632/original/cvs8sy7b-1381196840.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=657&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/32632/original/cvs8sy7b-1381196840.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=657&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/32632/original/cvs8sy7b-1381196840.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=825&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/32632/original/cvs8sy7b-1381196840.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=825&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/32632/original/cvs8sy7b-1381196840.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=825&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many recent migrants work in poorly paid jobs which locals are unwilling to do.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Heikof</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At the coalface of the labour market, however, the realities of what makes a “good” foreign worker can differ from the public image of an elite, highly-skilled and English-speaking migrant. Particular industries in Australia desire migrants who are cheap, expendable, and willing to do dirty and dangerous work. Temporary visa statuses and weak language skills can be a boon to unscrupulous employers, as they mean that workers are more likely to put up with poor conditions and low pay.</p>
<p>Despite arguments from the Monash report that backpackers are “taking jobs” from local young people, it remains a very hard sell for employers to convince Australian youth to stay in small towns and work in abattoirs and orchards when they have the alternative options of studying or receiving unemployment benefits. </p>
<p><a href="http://jrs.oxfordjournals.org/content/19/2/203.short">Research</a> shows that recent refugees end up in the low status and low-paid jobs that locals avoid. These include jobs such as cleaning, aged care, meat processing, taxi driving and construction. Those taking working holidays in Australia similarly fill gaps in insecure and seasonal agricultural and construction work, which is particularly important in the context of a resources boom that has drawn away local sources of labour.</p>
<p>So what can we expect on immigration from an Abbott government? Most likely, continued political grandstanding about asylum seeker policy. There will be little mention of the rights of migrant workers who are already here, and very little immigration policy reform that could genuinely be described as “tough”.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/18989/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shanthi Robertson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In his short period in office so far, prime minister Tony Abbott has been taken to task on two issues with important neighbours: asylum seeker boats arriving from Indonesia, and the rights of New Zealanders…Shanthi Robertson, Research Fellow, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.