The major debates on immigration have always been linked to issues involving poverty and human rights for migrants entering the U.S., EU and other developed countries such as Canada. There has, however, been a shift in recent policies focusing on obtaining highly skilled and educated immigrants in current discussions on immigration policy. As the upcoming U.S. presidential election becomes increasingly dominated by immigration issues and Europe slowly tries to change its immigration system to one that wants to absorb highly skilled laborers with broad rights via a Blue Card and a smile, a paradigm shift in immigration policy will be the likely outcome. The example of a focus on highly skilled immigrants has already manifested itself in the “Canadian Experience” and is unfortunately a perfect example of how not to approach immigration policy in the future in the U.S. and Europe.
Do Economic Rights Exist?
To its credit, the Canadian immigration system has not shied away from the many issues concerning the rights for many skilled immigrants to work in Canada. Canada has, for example, done a stellar job in affording human rights to foreign nationals, as well as a measured due process in handling issues of refugees. The paramount issue for the U.S. and EU is how to handle skilled laborers and give them rights to make a living while supporting the local economy. Economic rights constitute basic labor and investment rights of people who have a legal standing in a country, balanced with other people's rights in that society. For this reason economic rights must be acquired without arbitrary restrictions. Rights such as employment rights and rights to enjoyment of their investments in their new homeland, while not as well defined and accepted in society as basic human rights, do greatly affect the livelihood of people pioneering a new life in a new country.
Despite the attention given to such issues in Canada, the failures of the immigration system should not go unnoted. The key problem is based on the impression that only refugees and people with very high levels of education and wealth are able to successfully become Canadian citizens via the proper legal channels. This is a problem in that the local economy needs skilled technical laborers and service people who are mostly middle income individuals to build the infrastructure in Canada's healthy economy. These individuals often do not qualify under current policies, and there are few legal immigration methods available to them to become citizens. The practical solution to the systemic issues are for mid-level immigrants to either apply as a refugee and test the limits of the Refugee Tribunal in Canada, or to dramatically increase wealth and education levels, impossible difficult endeavor for any middle income individual, even in Canada.
Effects on Society
The focus of the proposed EU Blue Card, as well as a number of U.S. policy proposals, is to bring in skilled and highly educated immigrants to meet the needs of the ever aging population in order to service the future economy and sustain social services. In Canada this is also the case, but most of these individuals cannot work in Canada since foreign education and credentials are often not recognized as proper methods of employment qualification. With more than 50 percent of the population of Toronto being foreign born, the role of professional immigrants in many larger Canadian cities requires a certain level of rights to work with reasonable restrictions which are not anti-competitive in their nature. When looking for work, the lack of “Canadian experience” is often the response used as an arbitrary barrier to employment for very skilled foreign professionals who come to Canada. The issue is exacerbated with a shortage of skilled labor in medical, certain engineering fields and skilled labor as a whole. Upon applying for employment, even education from European countries, which are on par or more advanced in many ways than their Canadian counterparts, is met with the same arbitrary restrictions.
An example of one job sector facing such crisis, despite the international accolades it is often attributed, is the publicly funded health care system. Of a population of 32 million, more than 5 million Canadians are considered to be “orphaned patients,” which means that they are living without a family physician because there are not enough available in the Canadian health care system. A solution to the issue was to recruit foreign doctors to cover some of the problems plaguing health care in Canada. Many newcomers to Canada have been “headhunted” through government campaigns to bring more professionals and individuals with very high levels of education and acceptable linguistic skills to immigrate to Canada. Many have been recruited and given priority in an immigration points system which values education and skills, but also has an epidemic of unemployment once they arrive for many of those professional people coming to Canada. Its effect is said to contribute to the unacceptably long wait times for access to health care in the Canadian Public Health system, and even has the effect of losing more than $1 billion from the Canadian economy each year
The question that is seldom addressed in the media but requires an answer is: What constitutes “Canadian experience?” We see that while Canada may take in many more skilled immigrants than most countries - four in ten immigrants arrive with a university-level education - there is strong evidence that the arbitrary barriers to employment for these skilled immigrants may dissolve any economic benefits such immigrants bring. In reality, many end up taking jobs in very low-income sectors despite having a university education or higher. The situation in Canada has become so bad for many skilled immigrants that stories of foreign surgeons driving taxis or similar horror stories abound, leading to consensus among many skilled immigrants that Canada has become more of a trap for skilled immigrants than a benefit. Many come to Canada to find that they face the near impossible task of re-qualifying and in addition earn a lower real income than in their country of origin. Evidence that the lack of Canadian experience is affecting immigrants to Canada comes from the Toronto Food Banks, where despite having the lowest unemployment rate in 30 years, 43 percent of the Food Bank's clients are foreign born. Furthermore, 46 percent of foreign born food recipients have a university education or higher. It is becoming increasingly apparent that Canada may be second only to Cuba in being home to the greatest number of university-educated people living near the poverty line.
Practical Outcomes
From the 1960s to the early 1980s many of the immigrants to Canada's cities were able to immigrate with not much money, basic technical skills and an eagerness to become a citizen who would contribute to Canada. Many of these immigrants built small and medium sized companies from the ground up. Small and medium sized businesses currently account for nearly 55 percent of Canada's workforce and have undoubtedly made a great impression on the economy and society. With today's immigration policy, however, it is unlikely that such individuals would have enough points to be welcomed into Canada.
Immigration policy is not only a method to only refugees or solicit investment into a country. Equality of opportunity must be taken on a case-by-case basis and not absorb large sectors of society into arbitrary discussions on “Canadian experience,” which has nothing to do with the skills of an individual nor the economy. Such a policy represents a lose-lose situation for migrants as well as society as a whole. Since the election of the new Canadian federal government in 2005, there have been more policies made to help integrate foreign credentials into the Canadian workplace. The results have yet to be seen in any concrete changes to date.
To survive systemic immigration challenges and gain economic rights in the Canadian, American and European experience, immigrants must often act outside of the parameters of the immigration system. Unless an individual has a clear offer of employment and the government allows the visa, or has previous connection and family in the new country, the only manageable solution for many immigrating is to work well beneath their abilities or simply choose a different country to migrate to. With future immigration policies under discussion in the U.S. and EU, it is hopeful that the lessons of the Canadian experience will lead to better opportunities for skilled migrants hoping to achieve their rights while also contributing to their new countries.
Rich Basas, co-editor of the FPA Migration blog, is currently studying Law focusing on International Commerce and EU-Americas issues. He has worked for numerous commercial and legal organizations as well as within the Refugee Protection Community in Canada. He can be reached at richbasas@hotmail.com