april 7, 2006 www.fondapol.org Policy Brief immigration: how advanced is the debate? The reflections of foreign think tanks It is in the United States, in Germany, in the United Kingdom and in Denmark that the think tanks are especially active in the debate on immigration. The common point between all the proposals is to welcome the highly qualified workers much better and to make their immigration easier. a few tendencies 1 There is a real competition between the Western countries concerning the highly qualified workers. Many European countries are worried about their being behind the United States, Canada and Australia, and they discuss about the improvement of their capacities to attract this category of migrants tax incentives, easier procedures, a better welcome for the husband or the wife. The French system has still to be improved in this field. 2 Many proposals have been studied by think tanks to adapt much better labour immigration to the employment sectors and basins, which need a labour force. The French law about immigration and integration currently under discussions, which puts into question the very principle of job attributions under certain conditions, is part of this tendency. 3 The Canadian point system is at the heart of discussions in Western countries (Australia has adopted it, Germany has discussed it, Great Britain is thinking about it): the point system leads to a better efficiency and clarity in labour immigration, than the American quotas. 4 In order to improve the integration of immigrants, notably those who have arrived thanks to the help of family reunion, the conditions of integration are debated in almost all the countries: the Netherlands and Denmark have already defined their demands in this fields, others are thinking about it. t You will find more informations on this subject on www.fondapol.org
immigration: how advanced is the debate? By Anna STELLINGER Researcher at the Fondation pour l innovation politique, Paris. 1/The United States: towards a labour immigration The powerful Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) is the first American think tank specialized in the research and analysis of the economic, social, demographic and taxing impact of immigration in the United States. The CIS advocates a new orientation in the current American policy, which it considers to be an anti-immigration policy. The high level of immigration is opposed to the small payments given to immigrants once they arrive in the country. The CIS offers a policy in favour of immigration based on a more selective choice for those who enter the country and, in return, a better welcome and integration. The system must be based on the competences of each migrant and not on the fact of having a family member in the United States. The CIS wishes to make the public debate progress around questions on immigration by giving a prize to a journalist who distinguishes himself by improving the level of the investigations and the reports on this theme: the Katz Award for Excellence in the Coverage of Immigration is awarded each year. The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) is more polemical. It is the most important organization working for a reform in American immigration. It offers a revision of the current policy. The reform must be based on 7 principles: 1) the current level of one million immigrants per year implies too important costs; 2) the regularization of 1986 has not diminished illegal immigration, on the contrary, and this experience must not be repeated; 3) labour immigration must be limited to the sectors which need a labour force;
4) sanctions must be reinforced against employers who voluntarily hire illegal workers; 5) the involvements of the United States on asylum attributions must be respected but not enlarged; 6) the number of migrants in the American society must become stabilized; 7) any discrimination policy whether positive or negative must be excluded from public policies. The Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) studies a great number of subjects linked to immigration in California, the American state, which register the highest immigration rates in the United States (one fourth of the Californians are born outside American frontiers). The effects on the birth rates, education, labour market, and more generally on the Californian society and policy are important. The PPIC insists particularly on the role played by school: the different groups of migrants are not equal when it comes to education and training and hence to jobs. But, the school results of a migrant child who is under 10 are close to those of an American child, born on the American land with American parents. According to the PPIC, the successful immigration of future generations is linked with the integration of children in schools. 2/Canada: institutional innovations to guarantee the immigration of young qualified foreigners The Institut de recherche en politiques publiques (IRPP) (the Research Institute in Public Policies) criticizes the current American policy, finding it too centered on the humanitarian aspect and not enough centred on the economic aspect. According to the IRPP, Canada has chosen a point system, which successfully manages to adapt immigration to the economic needs of the country. The Institute wishes to see Canada keep all its independence towards the United States in this field: whereas the Americans will have to continue their struggle against illegal immigration, Canada must continue to refine its political immigration which aims at attracting young qualified workers. For this reason, the IRPP wishes to see the current system simplified, as it is considered to be too complex with a great number of heterogeneous persons implied.
The IRPP has presented many institutional innovations necessary to assure a high quality labour immigration, essential to the Canadian economy: a better information, notably on the Internet, addressed to migrants, before and after their arrival in Canada; the launching of training programmes so as to complete or to develop the competences of the newly arrived; trainings and sponsors offered to migrants; exploiting the best practices of employers in this field; becoming more sensitive to the problems that qualified workers encounter when they try to integrate the Canadian labour market. The Frontier Centre for Public Policy (FCPP) has launched the Immigration Frontiers Project, so as to offer new solutions to promote a chosen immigration, beneficial to the national society and economy. The figures shown by the FCPP argue in favour of a high labour and student immigration: Canada can save much money as the average cost of a trained worker (until adult age) would have been around 150 000 dollars if Canada had paid his training; the initial costs to welcome migrants (lodging, social helps, etc.) are much lesser than this cost; the financing of retirement and health will only be assured if labour and student immigration is higher than humanitarian immigration and family reunion (the latter represent only 20% of immigration in Canada). 3/Germany: how to reconcile the land of welcome with the migrants The Institute for the Study of Labour (IZA) is convinced that a controlled immigration and an encouraged integration are the two aspects of the same policy and it studies, notably, the assimilation of immigrants and the way the newly arrived are welcomed in many OECD countries. The conclusions of the Institute focus on the advantages of a labour
immigration in the positive perception on immigration by the citizens on the land of welcome: usually, the citizens are worried about the social impact of immigration in the countries where humanitarian immigration or family reunion are important; labour immigration rises a few worrying questions about the difficulties that it is supposed to create for the citizens wishing to find a job; on the contrary, IZA admits that there is a positive opinion on immigration if it is based on the needs in the labour market. The social tensions are less important and the economic benefits are higher. Two programmes have been launched by the Anglo-German Foundation for the Study of Industrial Society (AGF) on the theme of immigration: Reconciling the demands of labour immigration with public policies and Jobs, salaries and economic cycles: the differences between the migrants and the other citizens. The Foundation tries to find a way to reconcile the increasing demands of labour immigration and employment policies a path that must be paved with a more active public employment policy. 4/Denmark: simplifying the integration of motivated migrants The Think tank on Integration in Denmark was created by the Danish government in 2000 to think about the various problems linked with immigration. It offers several tracks for reforms added to the already accepted reforms (a minimum age of 24 in the case of family reunion for husbands and wives, so as to struggle against unconsummated marriages, a linguistic knowledge required to obtain the Danish nationality, etc.). The proposals aim at simplifying the integration of migrants who wish to work, of the qualified workers and those who have been particularly well integrated in the Danish society: letting the asylum seekers work if the treatment of the demand may last several months;
intensifying the learning of the language in the land of welcome among migrant children, possibly with an obligation to stimulate the language from the age of 3; compulsory Danish language and culture courses for religious leaders; creating a rating system so that the qualified workers can obtain a residence permit more easily, not only in the sectors of activity lacking workers; giving more easily the residence permit and nationality to the foreigners who have been especially well integrated. The INDEA project of the Institut for Historie, Internationale Studier og Samfundsforhold (IHIS) aims at examining the integration on the labour market, of foreigners who have come to Denmark (a group that has doubled the last 20 years). The first results show that the migrants who have come from relatively neighbouring countries have very largely been integrated through their jobs, whereas migrants from Pakistan, Lebanon, Iraq or Turkey are very far from the labour market. Many factors are indicated: the social links, the human capital and the competences of the migrants largely determine the success or the failure of their integration. Thus, the foreigners without a Danish husband or wife, who have a less important professional experience and a relatively low level of studies are integrated with more difficulties. So as to create a better integration, which is necessarily reached through jobs, one should increase the level of competences of this category. 5/Great Britain: a better definition of the needs in immigration The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) deplores that the impact of immigration on jobs and the economic growth has not been studied enough in Great Britain. The consequences of this omission are important: the public policies have unfortunately reduced a labour immigration that the country needs. The IEA considers that the British laws have not managed to answer the expectations of citizens or companies, on the very contrary, as they have especially given way to an important misuse of the plans of asylum.
The Institute offers a labour immigration based on the demands of companies and not on the very quickly expired lists of the government, which often do not take into account the evolution of techniques and the needs of companies. The parallel is made between the Canadian point system, which, according to the IEA, is not efficient enough to follow the quick changes in the market. The only ones who can define the competences which the British companies look for are the companies themselves. The IEA proposal is expressed around four directions: the companies which define the labour force; the agencies, with an international range, spreading the offers and the demands; the State, which controls the way immigration functions and defines its great principles (without entering the details of the competences needed); the migrant, who obtains a work permit only if companies need him. The Social Market Foundation (SMF) questions the fact that Great Britain suffers from immigration: the migrants have not cost much to the tax payers and they have not taken the jobs of British workers. Yet, the centralised policy that is too centralised according to the SMF has not managed to integrate immigration policy in the economy and in the labour market. The SMF offers an immigration policy that is not reduced to a simple discussion around the thresholds of each type of immigration, but one that is based on the real demands of both economy and British companies. Politicians have neither the knowledge nor the necessary time to determine the economic needs in terms of qualified or less qualified labour force. A point system defining the competences of migrants and their attractivity on the market should be established according to three criteria: transparency; flexibility; the predominance of economy over politics so as to notice the needs in foreign labour force.
reflections around immigration and integration European immigration policies: is harmonization in sight? Newsletter no. 20 of the Fondation pour l innovation politique (April 2006). Integration and community in North America The mission report of the Foundation in New York and in Washington, by Cécile Chavel, Franck Debié and Jérôme Monod (March 2006). The communal action serving civil rights. The example of the Council of American-Islamic Relations Policy Brief, by Nihad Awad, General Manager of the Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Washington, (May 2006). From the struggle against criminality to integration. The American district safety measures Policy Brief, by Annie Russell, Consultant in the policy of communal safety measures, Washington, district of Columbia, (May 2006). For a policy of migration concerning highly qualified workers Policy Brief by Carine Chaix, Researcher at the Fondation pour l innovation politique (December 2005). The European visa for the researcher Policy Brief, by David Mascré, Official representant in the Foreign Ministry, PhD in philosophy and mathematics (May 2006) Immigration: towards a French point system? Policy Brief, by Anna Stellinger, Researcher at the Fondation pour l innovation politique (May 2006) The reasonable accommodation Policy Brief, by Jocelyn Maclure, moral and political philosophy Professor, University Laval, Canada (May 2006). t These publications are available online at www.fondapol.org fondation pour l innovation politique 137, rue de l Université 75007 Paris France Tel: 33 (0)1 47 53 67 00 Fax: 33 (0)1 44 18 37 65 www.fondapol.org e-mail: contact@fondapol.org