International Migration in the Americas

MAJOR TRENDSThe Americas are a continent where, historically, migration patterns can be characterised by three significant periods: a) until around 1950, the countries of the entire American continent were destinations for transoceanic immigration from Europe in particular, only to becomewith the notable exceptions of the United States and Canada -countries of emigration; b) starting around 1960 a permanent and increasingly intense emigration began from the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean to developed countries, principally the United States, Canada and Spain; and c) a moderate, but steadily increasing trend of intra-regional migration has developed over the past decades, which has seen Argentina, Costa Rica, Venezuela, and recently Chile become regional migrant-receiving countries.North America is a region where immigration dominates; the United States and Canada receive hundreds of thousands of migrants each year.The United States, in absolute terms, has been the principal destination country of migrants at the global level with 36.7 million foreign-born persons (2009), representing 12% of the total population and with an immigrant entry flow greater than one million per year (as measured by permanent residence permits issued).It is estimated that 20.5 million of the foreign-born population come from Latin America and the Caribbean and more than half of these were born in Mexico. Executive Summary / ixConversely, for the United States and Canada, in comparative and relative terms, the countries of the Americas were not as important as origin countries.They represented 40% of permanent migration to the United States and 14% towards Canada. PERMANENT IMMIGRATION BY CATEGORY OF ENTRYPermanent legal labour migration is rather low in proportional terms in the United States, the principal destination country for Latin American migrants.The United States, however, has a much more liberal family-oriented migration policy than other OECD countries, which facilitates, among others, the entry of adult siblings and of adult children of naturalised American citizens, subject to a numerical limit.Most countries provide for the admission of immediate family members (spouse and minor children), subject to certain conditions, but not of other family members.The decline in labour migration in the United States as a result of the crisis occurred entirely in temporary movements, which saw a 13 percent drop in 2008-2009 compared to the levels of 2006-2007.Permanent labour migration was not affected, essentially because most of this (almost 90%) consisted of changes in status, that is, persons who were already employed in the United States as temporary workers and who were sponsored by their employers to obtain a permit for residency and work (Green Card).The migration of international students is much less developed in Latin America than it is in Canada (82 350 international students in 2008-2009) and the United States (348 000) where it constitutes an entry channel for young persons who wish to stay on to work, and, on occasion, to settle after the completion of their studies.x / INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION IN THE AMERICAS SICREMI 2011 ISBN 978-0-8270-5649-7 Although the most serious economic downturn since the Great Depression has reduced employer dependence on unauthorised immigrants to a certain extent, as evidenced by the high unemployment rates among Latin American migrants in the United States, it has not driven many of them back to their countries of origin.Unauthorised migration is not confined to the United States.It is a part of migration in every country and other countries in the Americas are subject to the phenomenon as well, but clearly not on the same scale as the United States.Many countries in Latin America have carried out regularisations episodically, so that the unauthorised resident population has not accumulated.Argentina has carried out a significant regularisation programme since 2007, known as the Patria Grande Programme.Over the 2007-2009 period, close to 216 000 persons were regularised, amounting to some 10-15 percent of its total immigrant population.The most significant countries of origin were the neighbouring countries of Paraguay, Bolivia and Peru.In Chile, the 2007-2008 regularisation programme received 49 thousand applications, which represented approximately 15% of the foreign-born population. EMIGRATION FROM THE AMERICAS TOWARDS OECD COUNTRIESEmigration remains the dominant theme in Latin America and the Caribbean with respect to movements of populations throughout the region.From 2003 to 2009, almost 950 thousand persons per year emigrated from the Americas towards OECD countries.Close to half of these movements were to the United States and about one quarter to Spain.

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