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The term "immigration" is usually used to mean international immigration. International migration has been split into two types by most governments, based on the UN: long and short term.The United Nations considers a long term international migrant to be

It also considers a short term migrant to be

This specifically excludes "temporary travel abroad for purposes of recreation, holiday, visits to friends and relatives, business, medical treatment or religious pilgrimage". The UN has also directly linked international immigration into one country with emigration from another.

The modern concept of immigration is related to the development of nation-states and nationality law and/or citizenship law. Citizenship in a nation-state confers an inalienable right of residence in that state, but residency of non-citizens is subject to conditions set by immigration law. The emergence of modern nation-states made immigration a political issue: by imagining its populations, in violation of multi-ethnic, multi-'racial', multi-cultural realities 'on the ground', as homogenous blocks, constituting a nation defined by shared, single ethnicity, 'race' and/or culture. Legal and political restrictions on the presence of foreigners is a highly controversial political theme because such restrictions are introduced and maintained by states whose citizens have had a major, sustained and deeply consequential presence in states other than their own (see: colonialism).

Legal immigrants are people who obtain legal status marked, at a minimum, by some form of residence permit that regulates the terms of their employment (see also expatriates). Some, but by no means all, foreign workers and expatriates seek and reach citizenship in the state where they work. Legal immigrants are different from the undocumented labor force in that the latter does not have legal status in the country in which he or she works. Not all undocumented workers are, strictly speaking, illegal, because of the complex history of global migrations.



The United Nations found that, in 2005, there were nearly 191 million international migrants worldwide, 3 percent of the world population. This represented a rise of 26 million since 1990. Sixty percent of these immigrants were now in developed countries, an increase on 1990. Those in less devloped countries stagnated, mainly because of a fall in refugees. Contrast that to the average rate of globalization (the proportion of cross-border trade in all trade), which exceeds 20 percent. The numbers of people living outside their country of birth is expected to rise in the future.

The Middle East, some parts of Europe, small areas of South East Asia, and a few spots in the West Indies have the highest percentages of immigrant population recorded by the UN Census 2005. The reliability of immigrant censuses is, however, lamentably low due to the concealed character of undocumented labor migration. The International Organization for Migration has estimated the number of foreign migrants to be over 200 million worldwide today.

Recent surveys by Gallup found roughly 700 million adults would like to migrate to another country permanently if they had the chance. The United Statesmarker is the top desired destination country.

Understanding of immigration

General theories behind immigration

One theory of immigration distinguishes between push factors and pull factors. Push factors refer primarily to the motive for emigration from the country of origin. In the case of economic migration (usually labour migration), differentials in wage rates are prominent. If the value of wages in the new country surpasses the value of wages in one’s native country, he or she may choose to migrate as long as the travel costs are not too high. Particularly in the 19th century, economic expansion of the U.S. increased migrant flow, and in effect, nearly 20% of the population was foreign born versus today’s value of 10%, making up a significant amount of the labor force. Poor individuals from less developed countries can have far higher standards of living in developed countries than in their originating countries. The cost of emigration, which includes both the explicit costs, the ticket price, and the implicit cost, lost work time and loss of community ties, also play a major role in the pull of emigrants away from their native country. As transportation technology improved, travel time and costs decreased dramatically between the 18th and early 20th century. Travel across the Atlantic used to take up to 5 weeks in the 1700s, but around the time of the 1900s it took a mere 8 days. When the opportunity cost is lower, the immigration rates tend to be higher. Escape from poverty (personal or for relatives staying behind) is a traditional push factor, the availability of jobs is the related pull factor. Natural disasters and can amplify poverty-driven migration flows. This kind of migration may be illegal immigration in the destination country (emigration is also illegal in some countries, such as North Koreamarker, Myanmarmarker, Zimbabwemarker, and Somaliamarker).

The main problem with push-and-pull theories is three-fold: first, they state the obvious (i.e., people from poorer places will seek to go to richer ones); second, they are unable to explain the emergence of migrant flows (if push and pull were the only things in existence, people from the poorest countries would migrate to the richest ones, when in reality such flows are well-nigh non-existent); third, they are unable to explain the stability of the emerging patterns of migration (i.e., once a flow from country A to country B is established, it will stay on for a relatively long time, even if the initial conditions that had given the push and pull to the migration are not there any more (as the case of the German case of the Gastarbeiter, or guest worker program shows.

Emigration and immigration are sometimes mandatory in a contract of employment: religious missionaries, and employees of transnational corporations, international non-governmental organisations and the diplomatic service expect, by definition, to work 'overseas'. They are often referred to as 'expatriates', and their conditions of employment are typically equal to or better than those applying in the host country (for similar work).

For some migrants, education is the primary pull factor (although most international students are not classified as immigrants). Retirement migration from rich countries to lower-cost countries with better climate, is a new type of international migration. Examples include immigration of retired Britishmarker citizens to Spainmarker or Italymarker and of retired Canadianmarker citizens to the U.S.marker (mainly to the U.S. states of Floridamarker and Texasmarker).

Non-economic push factors include persecution (religious and otherwise), frequent abuse, bullying, oppression, ethnic cleansing and even genocide, and risks to civilians during war. Political motives traditionally motivate refugee flows—to escape dictatorship for instance.



The politics of immigration have become increasingly associated with other issues, such as national security, terrorism, and in western Europe especially, with the presence of Islam as a new major religion. Those with security concerns cite the 2005 civil unrest in France that point to the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy as an example of the value conflicts arising from immigration of Muslims in Western Europe while failing to recognize the fact that most participants of the 2005 civil unrest were citizens of France, not immigrants themselves, and the essence of their protest was denial of equal rights, and blatant racism, on the part of the state. Because of all these associations, immigration has become an emotional political issue in many European nations.

Region-specific factors for immigration

As a principle, citizens of one member nation of the European Union are allowed to work in other member nations with little to no restriction on movement. For non-EU-citizen permanent residents in the EU, movement between EU-member states is considerably more difficult. After new waves of accession to the European Union, earlier members have often introduced measures to restrict participation in "their" labour markets by citizens of the new EU-member states. For instance, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal and Spain each restricted their labour market for up to seven years both in the 2004 and 2007 round of accession.

Due to the European Union's—in principle—single internal labour market policy, societies that have seen relatively low levels of labour immigration until recently—which have sent a significant portion of their population overseas in the past—such as Italymarker and the Republic of Irelandmarker are seeing an influx of immigrants from EU countries with lower per capita annual earning rates, triggering nationwide immigration debates.

Spainmarker, meanwhile, is seeing growing illegal immigration from Africa. As Spain is the closest EU member nation to Africa—Spain even has two autonomous cities (Ceutamarker and Melillamarker) on the African continent, as well as an autonomous community (the Canary Islandsmarker) west of North Africa, in the Atlantic—it is physically easiest for African emigrants to reach. This has led to debate both within Spain and between Spain and other EU members. Spain has asked for border control assistance from other EU states; the latter have responded that Spain has brought the wave of African illegals on itself by granting amnesty to hundreds of thousands of immigrants.


Some states, such as Japanmarker, have opted for technological changes to increase profitability (for example, greater automation), and designed immigration laws specifically to prevent immigrants from coming to, and remaining within, the country. However, globalization, as well as low birth rates and an aging work force, has forced Japan to reconsider its immigration policy. Japan's colonial past has also created considerable number of non-Japanese in Japan. Many of these groups, especially Chinese and Koreans, have faced extreme levels of discrimination in Japan.

In the United States political debate on immigration has flared repeatedly since the US became independent. Some on the far-left of the political spectrum attribute anti-immigration rhetoric to an all-"white", under-educated and parochial minority of the population, ill-educated about the relative advantages of immigration for the US economy and society. While this mentality shows an obvious bias, it is often hard for civil discussion to occur regarding immigration due to its highly emotional underpinnings.

Economic Migrant

The term economic migrant refers to someone who has emigrated from one country to another country for the purposes of seeking employment or improved financial position. An economic migrant is distinct from someone who is a refugee fleeing persecution. An economic migrant can be someone from the United States immigrating to the UK or vice versa.

Many countries have immigration and visa restrictions that prohibit a person entering the country for the purposes of gaining work without a valid work visa. Persons who are declared an economic migrant can be refused entry into a country.


Although freedom of movement is often recognized as a civil right, the freedom only applies to movement within national borders: it may be guaranteed by the constitution or by human rights legislation. Additionally, this freedom is often limited to citizens and excludes others. No state currently allows full freedom of movement across its borders, and international human rights treaties do not confer a general right to enter another state. According to Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, everyone has the right to leave or enter a country, along with movement within it (internal migration). Some argue that the freedom of movement both within and between countries is a basic human right, and that the restrictive immigration policies, typical of nation-states, violate this human right of freedom of movement. Such arguments are common among anti-state ideologies like anarchism and libertarianism. As philosopher and "Open Borders" activist Jacob Appel has written, "Treating human beings differently, simply because they were born on the opposite side of a national boundary, is hard to justify under any mainstream philosophical, religious or ethical theory."

Where immigration is permitted, it is typically selective. Ethnic selection, such as the White Australia policy, has generally disappeared, but priority is usually given to the educated, skilled, and wealthy—which is in direct contradiction to the needs of the labour market (demanding un-skilled and poor people with low levels of education, willing to do jobs wealthier locals refuse to do). Less privileged individuals, including the mass of poor people in low-income countries, cannot avail of the legal and protected immigration opportunities offered by wealthy states. This inequality has also been criticised as conflicting with the principle of equal opportunities, which apply (at least in theory) within democratic nation-states. The fact that the door is closed for the unskilled, while at the same time many developed countries have a huge demand for unskilled labour, is a major factor in undocumented immigration. The contradictory nature of this policy—which specifically disadvantages the unskilled immigrants while exploiting their labour—has also been criticised on ethical grounds.


By country


According to Eurostat, Some EU member states are currently receiving large-scale immigration: for instance Spainmarker, where the economy has created more than half of all the new jobs in the EU over the past five years. The EU, in 2005, had an overall net gain from international migration of +1.8 million people. This accounts for almost 85% of Europe's total population growth in 2005. In 2004, total 140,033 people immigrated to Francemarker. Of them, 90,250 were from Africa and 13,710 from Europe. In 2005, immigration fell slightly to 135,890.many problems can form, like in the book The Shifting Heart.British emigration towards Southern Europe is of special relevance. Citizens from the European Union make up a growing proportion of immigrants in Spainmarker. They mainly come from countries like the UK and Germany, but the British case is of special interest due to its magnitude. The British authorities estimate that the British population in Spain at 700,000.


In recent years, immigration has accounted for more than half of Norwaymarker's population growth. In 2006, Statistics Norway's (SSB) counted a record 45,800 immigrants arriving in Norway—30% higher than 2005. At the beginning of 2007, there were 415,300 persons in Norway with an immigrant background (i.e. immigrants, or born of immigrant parents), comprising 8.3 per cent of the total population.


Italy now has an estimated 4 million to 5 million immigrants — about 7 percent of the population.Since the expansion of the European Union, the most recent wave of migration has been from surrounding European nations, particularly Eastern Europe, and increasingly Asia, replacing North Africa as the major immigration area. Some 900,000 Romanians are officially registered as living in Italy, replacing Albanians and Moroccans as the largest ethnic minority group, but independet estimates put the actual number of Romanians at double that figure or perhaps even more. Others immigrants from Eastern Europe are Ukrainians ( 200 000 ), Polish ( 100 000 ), Moldovans ( 90 000 ), Macedonians ( 81 000 ), Serbs ( 75 000 ), Bulgarians ( 54 000 ) East german people ( 41 000 ), Bosnians ( 40 000 ), Russians ( 39 600 ), Croatians ( 25 000 ), Slovakians ( 9000 ), Hungarians ( 8600 ). ( [37] As of 2009, the foreign born population origin of Italy was subdivided as follows: Europe (53.5%), Africa (22.3%), Asia (15.8%), the Americas (8.1%) and Oceania (0.06%). The distribution of foreign born population is largely uneven in Italy: 87.3% of immigrants live in the northern and central parts of the country (the most economically developed areas), while only 12.8% live in the southern half of the peninsula.

United Kingdom

In 2007, net immigration to the UK was 237,000, a rise of 46,000 on 2006. In 2004 the number of people who became Britishmarker citizens rose to a record 140,795—a rise of 12% on the previous year. This number had risen dramatically since 2000. The overwhelming majority of new citizens come from Asia (40%) and Africa (32%), the largest three groups being people from Pakistanmarker, Indiamarker and Somaliamarker. In 2005, an estimated 565,000 migrants arrived to live in the UK for at least a year, most of the migrants were people from Asia (particularly the Indian subcontinent) and Africa, while 380,000 people emigrated from the UK for a year or more, with Australia, Spainmarker and Francemarker most popular destinations. Following Polandmarker's entry into the EU in May 2004 it is estimated that by the start of 2007, 375,000 Poles have registered to work in the UK, although the total Polish population in the UK is believed to be 500,000. Many Poles work in seasonal occupations and a large number are likely to move back and forth over time. The current UK Immigration Minister is Phil Woolas.


Spain is the most favoured European destination for Britons leaving the UK.Since 2000, Spainmarker has absorbed more than three million immigrants, growing its population by almost 10%. Immigrant population now tops over 4.5 million. According to residence permit data for 2005, about 500,000 were Moroccanmarker, another 500,000 were Ecuadorianmarker, more than 200,000 were Romanianmarker, and 260,000 were Colombianmarker. In 2005 alone, a regularisation programme increased the legal immigrant population by 700,000 people.


Portugalmarker, long a country of emigration, has now become a country of net immigration, and not just from the former colonies; by the end of 2003, legal refugees immigrants represented about 4% of the population, and the largest communities were from Cape Verdemarker, Brazilmarker, Angolamarker, Guinea-Bissaumarker, UKmarker, Spainmarker and Ukrainemarker.


Canadamarker has the highest per capita net immigration rate in the world, driven by economic policy and family reunification. In 2001, 250,640 people immigrated to Canada. Newcomers settle mostly in the major urban areas of Torontomarker, Vancouvermarker and Montrealmarker. Since the 1990s, the majority of Canada's immigrants have come from Asia. Accusing a person of racism in Canada is usually considered a serious slur. All political parties are now cautious about criticising of the high level of immigration, because, as noted by the Globe and Mail, "in the early 1990s, the old Reform Party was branded 'racist' for suggesting that immigration levels be lowered from 250,000 to 150,000."


Jewish immigration to Palestine during the 19th century was promoted by the Austro-Hungarian journalist Theodor Herzl in the late 19th century following the publication of "Der Judenstaat". His Zionist movement sought to encourage Jewish migration, or immigration, to Palestine. Its proponents regard its aim as self-determination for the Jewish people.The percentage of world Jewry living in the former Palestinian Mandate has steadily grown from 25,000 since the movement came into existence. Today about 40% of the world's Jews live in Israel, more than in any other country. The Israeli Law of Return, passed in 1950, gives those born Jews (having a Jewish mother or grandmother), those with Jewish ancestry (having a Jewish father or grandfather) and converts to Judaism (Orthodox, Reform, or Conservative denominations—not secular—though Reform and Conservative conversions must take place outside the state, similar to civil marriages) the right to immigrate to Israel. A 1970 amendment, extended immigration rights to "a child and a grandchild of a Jew, the spouse of a Jew, the spouse of a child of a Jew and the spouse of a grandchild of a Jew". The Ethiopian Jewish community's integration to Israeli society has been complicated by racist attitudes on the part of some elements of Israeli society and the official establishment. Over 16,000 African asylum seekers have entered Israel in recent years.


In the early 1990s, Japan relaxed its relatively tight immigration laws to allow special entry permits for foreigners of Japanese ancestry in South America to make up for a labor shortage. According to Japanese immigration centre, the number of foreign resdents in Japan has been steadily increased, and the number of foreign residents (including permanent residents, but excluding illegal immigrants and short-term visitors such as foreign nationals staying less than 90 days in Japan ) were more than 2.2 million people in 2008. The biggest groups are, Koreans (both south and north), Chinese (including Taiwanmarker, Hong Kongmarker, Macaumarker nationalities), and Brazilians (Many of Brazilians in Japan have some Japanese ancestry). Among the immigrants, Japan accepts steady flow of 15,000 new Japanese citizens by naturalization (帰化) per year. Indeed, the concept of the ethnic groups by the Japanese statistics is different from the ethnicity census of North American or some Western European statistics. For example, the United Kingdommarker Census asks ethnic or racial background which composites the population of the United Kingdom, regardless of their nationalities. The Japanese Statistics Bureau, however, does not have this question yet. Since the Japanese population census asks the people's nationality rather than their ethnic background, naturalized Japanese citizens and Japanese nationals with multi-ethnic background are considered to be ethnically Japanese in the population census of Japan.

Also, according to Japanese Association for Refugees, (or JAR for short), the number of refugees who applied to live in Japan rapidly increased since 2006, and there were more than a thousand applications from all over the world, who seek refugee status to live in Japan in the year of 2008. However, the refugee policy of Japanese government has been criticized both domestically and internationally, because the number of refugees in Japan is still small compared to the countries like Canada in North America or France in Western Europe. For example, according to the UNHCR, in 1999 Japan accepted 16 refugees for resettlement, while the United Statesmarker took in 85,010, and New Zealandmarker, which is smaller than Japan, accepted 1,140. Between 1981, when Japan ratified the U.N. Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, and 2002, Japan recognized only 305 persons as refugees.


The overall level of immigration to Australia has grown substantially during the last decade. Net overseas migration increased from 30,000 in 1993 to 118,000 in 2003-04. The largest components of immigration are the skilled migration and family re-union programs. In recent years the mandatory detention of unauthorised arrivals by boat has generated great levels of controversy. During the 2004-05, total 123,424 people immigrated to Australia. Of them, 17,736 were from Africa, 54,804 from Asia, 21,131 from Oceania, 18,220 from United Kingdommarker, 1,506 from South America, and 2,369 from Eastern Europe. 131,000 people migrated to Australia in 2005-06 and migration target for 2006-07 was 144,000.

New Zealand

New Zealandmarker has relatively open immigration policies. 23% of the population was born overseas, mainly in Asia, Oceania, and UKmarker, one of the highest rates in the world. In 2009-2010, a target of 45,000±5000 immigrants was set by the Immigration New Zealand.

United States of America

From 1850 to 1930, the foreign born population of the United States increased from 2.2 million to 14.2 million. The highest percentage of foreign born people in the United States were found in this period, with the peak in 1890 at 14.7%. During this time, the lower costs of Atlantic Ocean travel in time and fare made it more advantageous for immigrants to move to the U.S. than in years prior. Following this time period immigration fell because in 1924 Congress The Immigration Act of 1924 favored immigrant source countries that already had many immigrants in the U.S. by 1890. Immigration continued to fall throughout the 1940s and 1950s, but it increased again afterwards. but was still low by historical standards.

The Immigration and Nationality Act Amendments of 1965 (the Hart-Cellar Act) removed quotas on large segments of the immigration flow and legal immigration to the U.S. surged. In 2006, the number of immigrants totaled record 37.5 million. After 2000, immigration to the United States numbered approximately 1,000,000 per year. Despite tougher border scrutiny after 9/11, nearly 8 million immigrants came to the United States from 2000 to 2005 – more than in any other five-year period in the nation's history. Almost half entered illegally. In 2006, 1.27 million immigrants were granted legal residence. Mexicomarker has been the leading source of new U.S. residents for over two decades; and since 1998,Chinamarker, Indiamarker and the Philippinesmarker have been in the top four sending countries every year. The U.S. has often been called the "melting pot"(derived from Carl N. Degler, a historian, author of Out of Our Past), a name derived from United States' rich tradition of immigrants coming to the US looking for something better and having their cultures melded and incorporated into the fabric of the country. Emma Lazarus, in a poem entitled "The New Colossus," which is inscribed on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty tells of the invitation extended to those wanting to make the US their home.

Since September 11, 2001, the politics of immigration has become an extremely hot issue. It was a central topic of the 2008 election cycle. The Mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg is noted for having a pro-immigration stand.

Since World War II, more refugees have found homes in the U.S. than any other nation and more than two million refugees have arrived in the U.S. since 1980 (representing less than 1% of the entire United States population). Of the top ten countries accepting resettled refugees in 2006, the United States accepted more than twice as much as the next nine countries combined. Some smaller countries, however, accept more refugees per capita.

See also


  2. . United Nations. Key Findings. Retrieved on 30 October 2009.
  3. Global Estimates and Trends. International Organization for Migration. 2008. Retrieved on 30 October 2009.
  4. " 700 Million Worldwide Desire to Migrate Permanently".
  7. See, e.g., EU Enlargement in 2007: No Warm Welcome for Labor Migrants, by Catherine Drew and Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah, Institute for Public Policy Research
  8. see, e.g., or
  10. The Ethical Case for an Open Immigration Policy
  11. Eurostat News Release on Immigration in EU
  12. Immigration and the 2007 French Presidential Elections
  13. BBC NEWS | UK | UK Politics | UK net immigration up to 237,000
  14. 1,500 immigrants arrive in Britain daily, report says
  15. Indians largest group among new immigrants to UK
  17. Phil Woolas - Minister of State | Home Office
  19. Charis Dunn-Chan , Portugal sees integration progress, BBC
  20. Is the current model of immigration the best one for Canada?, Globe and Mail, 12 December 2005. Retrieved 16 August 2006.
  21. Walter Laqueur (2003) The History of Zionism Tauris Parke Paperbacks, ISBN 1860649327 p 40
  22. A national liberation movement: Rockaway, Robert. Zionism: The National Liberation Movement of The Jewish People, World Zionist Organization, January 21, 1975, accessed August 17, 2006). Shlomo Avineri:( Zionism as a Movement of National Liberation, Hagshama department of the World Zionist Organization, December 12, 2003, accessed August 17, 2006). Neuberger, Binyamin. Zionism - an Introduction, Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, August 20, 2001. Retrieved August 17, 2006.
  23. accessed Feb 2009
  24. " Ethiopian Israelis love their country but not the racism". February 15, 2006.
  25. " Why Jews see racism in Israel". September 1, 2009.
  26. " Israel Struggles With African Refugee Dilemma". ABC News. August 12, 2009.
  27. " Japan paying jobless foreigners to go home". April 1, 2009.
  29. Japan Immigration,Alien Registration,One-Stop Solution for Corporates and individuals for Immigration procedures
  30. 帰化許可申請者数等の推移
  31. 2008年9月19日－日本での難民申請数　初の1000人突破に関するリリース (People seeking refugee status to stay in Japan are more than 1000 this year (September 19, 2008 article)
  32. " Japan's refugee policy"
  33. " Questioning Japan's 'Closed Country' Policy on Refugees". Isozaki Yumi, Journalist, Mainichi Shimbun.
  34. Australian Bureau of Statistics, International migration
  35. Australian Bureau of Statistics, 3101.0 Australian Demographic Statistics
  36. Settler numbers on the rise
  38. Stephen Ohlemacher, Number of Immigrants Hits Record 37.5M, Washington Post

Further reading

  • Sirkeci, Ibrahim The Environment of Insecurity in Turkey and the Emigration of Turkish Kurds to Germany, ISBN 978-0-7734-5739 New York, Edwin Mellen Press, 2006.

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