Abstract
One of the most fascinating aspects of immigration control policy is the fact that the policies of the major receiving countries have been extraordinary similar for over a century. What explains these similarities? What explains their differences between the immigration policies? And why do some countries prefer permanent immigration, while others prefer migrant workers?
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Notes
For example, Australia introduced the Structured Selection Assessment System (SSAS) in 1973, the Numerically-Weighted Multi-Factor Assessment System (NUMAS) in 1979, and announced its intention to “shift away from some of the family category into the skilled area” in 1996; Canada introduced a point system in 1967, and unveiled a ten-year program to attract more business immigrants from Taiwan in 1994; the United States gave preference to skilled labor, prof essionals, and investors in the 1990 Immigration Act; and Britain created an entrepreneurial business immigration category in 1994 (Hawkins, 1991:105; Jenness, 1974; Migration News 1(7), August 1994; 1(5), June 1994). During recent years, Britain, Germany, the United States, and other countries have devised programs to recruit high-skill foreign workers for their IT industry.
Thedegree to which trade and immigration are substitutes for one another is a matter of debate among economists. According to Collins et al. (1997), there has been little empirical research on the issue of whether trade and factor flows have in fact been substitutes, e.g., trade in goods is a substitute for the migration of labor. Using 700 data indicators from the United States and Europe between 1870 and 1940, they conclude that trade and migration were not substitutes in the North Atlantic economy and that policymakers did not treat them as substitutes (Migration News 5(2), February 1998).
Vernon Briggs (1995) divides U.S. immigration and trade policy into three periods: mass immigration and high tariffs from the 1780s until 1914; low immigration and high tariffs from 1914 until 1965; and mass immigration and low tariffs since 1965 (Migration News 5(2), February 1998). Also according to this division, U.S. trade and immigration policies did not coincide prior to 1914.
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© 2004 Eytan Meyers
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Meyers, E. (2004). Global Patterns in Immigration Control Policy. In: International Immigration Policy. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781403978370_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781403978370_7
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