Immigration

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Immigration is the movement of human population, other than temporary movements such as those of casual visitors or travellers, across national borders. Therefore, immigration is only as old as the nation state. Prior to the nation state, the movement of human population is regarded as migration.

Immigration is the reverse of emigration. However, the bringing in of slaves was not usually considered immigration. The long term and/or permanent movement of human population in general, whether into, out of, or within countries (or before the existence of recognised countries) is regarded as migration; this is often hard to distinguish from nomadic or seasonal movement.

Throughout the world immigration is a controversial issue. All developed nations put severe restrictions on who can immigrate to them. These are usually justified on economic grounds with worries that many poor workers would lower wages and the nation's standard of living as well. Sometimes the actual reason for limiting immigration is cultural. This is felt most strongly in homogenous old world nations where citizenship was long tied to a person having deep historical roots in the country. Western European nations, Japan, and other countries have long been deeply concerned about their national culture being subsumed by a tide of immigrants. This concern is especially high when the immigrants are of differing race or religion than the majority. Most European nations have relatively modest levels of immigration, but concern is so high that many of them have political parties almost solely concerned with the immigration issue. Immigration has become an increasingly controversial topic among environmental activists in recent years, especially within the Sierra Club in the United States. Some environmentalists concerned with overpopulation favor limiting immigration as a means of isolating human population growth, while others believe that immigration should not be an environmental concern.

Only five countries in the world actively encourage large numbers of immigrants. Israel, Canada, the United States, New Zealand, and Australia. These nations still have strict requirements insisting immigrants demonstrate employable skills or economic clout before being permitted to immigrate. Many other countries permit immigration in particular circumstances, e.g., to fill jobs where a skill is not available locally, for wealthy investors or business leaders, in cases of marriage, multiple citizenship or asylum, or under multilateral agreements such as within the European Union or between New Zealand and Australia.

Much immigration occurs for economic reasons. Wage rates vary greatly between different countries and individuals of third world countries in particular can have far higher standards of living in developed countries than in their homes. The economic pressure to migrate can be so high that when legal means are restricted illegal immigration can become an important industry.

Some economists argue that a free global labour market with no restrictions on immigration would, in the long run, boost global prosperity and would have a more beneficial economic impact than free trade of goods and capital. Others disagree and argue that unrestricted immigration can serve to depress wages and circumvent unionization, and contribute to unsustainable levels of population growth.

Immigration

General Immigration topics

US Immigration topics

British Immigration topics

Australian Immigration topics

Immigration Activist Topics

Further Reading