Immigration in Europe
Ministry of education and
science of Ukraine
Immigration in Europe
Country studying
Kyiv 2007
Contents
Chapter 1. General information on immigration
1.1. Immigration
1.2. Global statistics
1.3. Causes
1.4. Supporting arguments
1.5. Opposing arguments
1.6. Political issue
1.7. Ethics
Chapter 2. Immigration in Europe
France
2.2. Germany
2.3. Spain
2.4. United Kingdom
2.5. Greece
Chapter 3. Conclusion
References
Chapter 1. General information
on immigration
1.1.
Immigration
Immigration is the movement of people into one
place from another. While human
migration has existed throughout human history, immigration implies
long-term permanent or forced indefinite residence (and often eventual citizenship) by the
immigrants: tourists and
short-term visitors are not considered immigrants. However, seasonal labor
migration (typically for periods of less than a year) is often treated as a
form of immigration. The global volume of immigration is high in absolute
terms, but low in relative terms. The International Integration and Refugee
Association estimated 190 million international migrants in 2005, about 3 percent of global population.
The other 97 percent still live in the state in which they were born, or its
successor state. The Middle East, some parts of Europe, little areas of South
East Asia, and a few spots in the West Indies have the highest numbers of
immigration population recorded by the UN Census 2005.
The modern
idea of immigration is related to the development of nation-states and nationality law. Citizenship of a
nation-state confers an inalienable right of residence in that state, but
residence of immigrants is subject to conditions set by immigration law. The
nation-state made immigration a political issue: by definition it is the
homeland of a nation defined by
shared ethnicity and/or culture. Illegal
immigration refers to immigration across national borders in a way
that violates the immigration laws of the destination country. Under this
definition, an illegal immigrant is a foreigner who either illegally crossed an
international political border, be it by land, sea or air, or a foreigner who
legally entered a country but nevertheless overstay their visa in order to live
and/or work therein.
1.2.
Global statistics
The European Union allows
free movement between member states. Most are from former eastern bloc states
to the developed western European states, especially Italy, Spain, Germany and
Britain. Noticeably, some countries seemed to be favored by these new EU member
nationals than others. For example, there are large numbers of Poles who have moved to the UK, Ireland and Netherlands, while Romanians have chosen Italy and Spain. While France and Germany put in place
controls to curb Eastern European migration, the UK (along with Ireland) did
not impose restrictions.
Following Poland'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 hey
hoe to be 750,000. Many Poles work in seasonal occupations and a large number
is likely to move back and forth including between Ireland and other EU Western
nations.
According to Eurostat, Some EU
member states are currently receiving large-scale immigration: for instance Spain, 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 France.
Of them, 90,250 were from Africa
and 13,710 from Europe. In 2005,
immigration fell slightly to 135,890.
In recent
years, immigration has accounted for more than half of Norway'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.
In 2004 the
number of people who became British 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 Africa (32%) and Asia (40%), the largest three groups being
people from Pakistan, India and Somalia. 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,
the Indian sub-continent and Africa, while 380,000 people
emigrated from the UK for a year or more, with Australia, Spain and France most popular destinations.
British
emigration towards Southern
Europe is of special relevance. Citizens from the European Union
make up a growing proportion of immigrants in Spain. 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 real population of UK
citizens living in Spain is much larger than Spanish official figures suggest,
establishing them at about 1.000.000, about 800.000 being permanent residents.
According to the Financial Times, Spain is the most favoured destination for
West Europeans considering to move from their own country and seek jobs
elsewhere in the EU.
Since 2000, Spain has absorbed around 4 million
immigrants, adding 10% to its population. Immigrant population now tops over
4.5 million. According to residence permit data for 2005, about 500,000 were Moroccan, another
500,000 were Ecuadorian, more than
200,000 were Romanian, and 260,000
were Colombian. In 2005
alone, a regularization programme increased the legal immigrant population by
700,000 people.
1.3. Causes
Theories of
immigration traditionally distinguish 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 labor migration),
differentials in wage
rates are prominent. Poor individuals from less developed countries can
have far higher standards of living in developed countries than in their
originating countries. 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 overpopulation
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
Korea).
Emigration
and immigration are sometimes mandatory in a contract of employment: religious missionaries, and
employees of transnational corporations, international non-governmental organizations and the diplomatic
service can expect 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, but
may choose to do so if they refuse to return). Retirement migration
from rich countries to lower-cost countries with better climate, is a new type
of international migration. Examples include immigration of retired British citizens to Spain or Italy and of retired Canadian citizens to
the US (mainly to the state of Florida). Some,
although relatively few, immigrants justify their drive to be in a different
country for cultural or health related reasons and very seldom, again in
relative quantitative terms compared to the actual number of international
migrants world-wide, choose to migrate as a form of self-expression towards the
establishment or to satisfy their need to directly perceive other cultural
environments because economics is almost always the primary motivator for
constant, long-term, or permanent migration, but especially for that type of
inter-regional or inter-continental migration; that holds true even for people
from developed countries.
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.
Some
migration is for personal reasons, based on a relationship (e.g. to be with family or a partner), such as in
family reunification or transnational marriage. In a few cases, an individual may wish
to emigrate to a new country in a form of transferred patriotism. Evasion of
criminal justice (e.g.
avoiding arrest) is a (mostly
negative) personal motivation. This type of emigration and immigration is not
normally legal, if a crime is internationally recognized, although criminals
may disguise their identities or find other loopholes to evade detection. There
have been cases, for example, of those who might be guilty of war crimes
disguising themselves as victims of war or conflict and then pursuing asylum in
a different country.
Barriers to
immigration come not only in legal form; natural barriers to immigration can
also be very powerful. Immigrants when leaving their country also leave
everything familiar: their family, friends, support network, and culture. They
also need to liquidate their assets often at a large cost, and incur the
expense of moving. When they arrive in a new country this is often with many
uncertainties including finding work, where to live, new laws, new cultural
norms, language or accent issues, possible racism and other exclusionary behavior
towards them and their family. These barriers act to limit international
migration: scenarios where populations move en masse to other continents,
creating huge population surges, and their associated strain on infrastructure
and services, ignore these inherent limits on migration.
1.4.
Supporting arguments
General arguments
The main
arguments cited in support of immigration are economic arguments, such as a
free labor market, and cultural arguments appealing to the value of cultural
diversity. Some groups also support immigration as a device to boost
small population numbers, like in New Zealand and
Canada, or, like in Europe, to reverse demographic aging trends.
Support for
fully open borders is limited to a minority. Some free-market libertarians believe
that a free
global labor market with no restrictions on immigration would, in
the long run, boost global prosperity.
There are also groups which oppose border controls on ideological grounds -
believing that people from poor countries should be allowed to enter rich
countries, to benefit from their higher standards of living. Others are
advocates of world
government and wish to eliminate or severely limit the power of nation-states. This
includes the nation-state's ability to grant and deny individuals entry across
borders, which advocates of world government generally view as arbitrary and
unfair distinctions made on what should be one planet earth, thus eliminating
diversity and competition among states.
Economic arguments
Countries
like New Zealand, which has experimented with both qualifications- and
job-offer-based entry systems, have reported that under the latter system
(where much weight is put on the immigrant already having a job offer), the
immigrants actually show a much lower uptake of government benefits than the
normal population. Under a mostly qualification-based system, many highly
trained doctors and engineers had instead been reduced to driving taxis.
1.5. Opposing arguments
The main
anti-immigration themes include costs of immigration (potential free-riding on
existing welfare systems), labor competition; environmental issues (the impact
of population growth); national security (concerns of insular immigrant groups
& terrorism against the host country); lack of coordination &
cooperation among citizens (differences of language, conventions, culture); and
the loss of national identity and culture (including the nature of the nation-state itself).
Health arguments
Immigration
from areas of high incidence is thought to have fueled the resurgence of tuberculosis (TB), chagas, hepatitis, and leprosy in areas of
low incidence. To reduce the risk of diseases
in low-incidence areas, the main countermeasure has been the screening of
immigrants on arrival. According to CDC, TB cases among foreign-born individuals
remain disproportionately high, at nearly nine times the rate of U.S.-born
persons. In 2003, nearly 26 percent of foreign-born TB patients in the United
States were from Mexico. Another third
of the foreign-born cases were among those from the Philippines, Vietnam, India and China, the CDC report said.
Страницы: 1, 2, 3, 4
|