The Immigrant Waves from Latin American to Canada: A Look at Immigration and Census Statistics

In the last decades, migration from Latin America to Canada has become a topic of interest for Canadian scholars, policy decision-makers that look after the well-being of this population as well as for community members themselves. The nature of Latino immigration to Canada is continuously changing, and so does how the integration of these immigrants to Canada is interpreted and problematized. Using yearly immigration statistics and 2016 Census data, the author looks at the 1965-2015 and 1981-2016 periods and explores the five major Latin American immigrant waves previously identified by Canadian scholars: the Eurolatino or Lead of the 1960s, the Andean and Coup of the 1970s, the Central American of the 1980s, and the Technological-Professional which started in the mid-1990s. A sixth additional Sustaining Latino immigrant wave is also identified. Immigrant waves are the product of particular historical international developments as well as changes in Canada's immigration policy. The paper briefly also examines the historical moments of Latino immigration to Canada, the socio-demographic composition of national immigrant inflows related to these immigrant waves, and reflects on how the immigrant selection process has affected immigration integration outcomes and community formation.

Strangers in the Homeland? The Academic Performance of Children of Return Migrants in Mexico

The number of return migrants from the U.S. to Mexico has swelled in recent years, and yet we know little about the academic performance of the over 500,000 U.S.-born children who have accompanied them. This paper harnesses PISA test score data to compare U.S.-born children of return migrants in Mexico to two groups: Mexican-born students in Mexico, and students in the U.S. born to Spanish-speaking immigrant parents. Contrary to previous work highlighting the academic struggles faced by children of return migrants, these adolescents attain higher PISA scores than their Mexican-born counterparts. This advantage persists in models that control for both pre- and post-migration family characteristics. However, these adolescents' scores are much lower than similar youths in the U.S. Controlling for variables related to immigrant selection does little to change estimates of disparities.

Evaluating Foreign Skills: Effects of Credential Assessment on Skilled Immigrants’ Labour Market Performance in Canada

Formal educational qualification is increasingly built into immigrant selection systems in many countries, but in a global context, the transferability and portability of such qualifications has been questioned. In 2013, Canada introduced the requirement for a formal assessment of educational credential equivalence for applicants in the skilled worker category. In this study, we use a Canadian national immigration database and difference-in-differences methodology to investigate whether requiring formal Educational Credential Assessment (ECA) as part of the selection process for skilled immigrants has improved labour market outcomes. Our results indicate that the ECA requirement is positively related to early employment rates and earnings for both men and women. However, this effect is limited to those with no previous employment experience in Canada. We also find that, even with the ECA requirement, significant differences in the earnings of immigrants from different source regions remain. Implications and recommendations are discussed.

Provincial Immigration Policies: The Case of Ontario’s Pilot PNP

This paper explores the involvement of provincial governments in the selection, recruitment and settlement of immigrants to Canada, focusing on Provincial Nominee Programs (PNPs). Taking as a case study the pilot PNP that the province of Ontario launched in 2007, it asks the question: what are these expanding and increasingly popular programs accomplishing for Canada's immigration project that the federal immigration program isn't? The study argues that PNPs have been able to overcome some of the shortcomings of federal policy of immigrant selection through matching immigrants with jobs, involving receiving communities and institutions in the integration process, bringing immigrants in a relatively short timeframe, and leading to more balanced geographic distribution of immigrants while attracting immigration to provinces and areas unpopular with the general immigrant stream.

Provincial Immigration Policies: The Case of Ontario’s Pilot PNP

This paper explores the involvement of provincial governments in the selection, recruitment and settlement of immigrants to Canada, focusing on Provincial Nominee Programs (PNPs). Taking as a case study the pilot PNP that the province of Ontario launched in 2007, it asks the question: what are these expanding and increasingly popular programs accomplishing for Canada's immigration project that the federal immigration program isn't? The study argues that PNPs have been able to overcome some of the shortcomings of federal policy of immigrant selection through matching immigrants with jobs, involving receiving communities and institutions in the integration process, bringing immigrants in a relatively short timeframe, and leading to more balanced geographic distribution of immigrants while attracting immigration to provinces and areas unpopular with the general immigrant stream.

The Private sector, institutions of higher education, and immigrant settlement in Canada

The settlement sector in Canada has undergone significant transformations in recent times, most notably the imposition of neoliberal principles on service providers that has transferred a substantial amount of the immigrant selection and recruitment process from governmental agencies to third parties. This trend of devolution has accelerated with recent developments associated with Provincial Nominee Programs. By reviewing the literature related to Provincial Nominee Programs and their implementation, we illustrate how private employers and institutions of higher education are not only involved in immigrant selection but also increasingly in settlement service delivery. Keywords: immigration, settlement services, Provincial Nominee Program, neoliberalism, privatization, institutions of higher education, Canada

The Private sector, institutions of higher education, and immigrant settlement in Canada

The settlement sector in Canada has undergone significant transformations in recent times, most notably the imposition of neoliberal principles on service providers that has transferred a substantial amount of the immigrant selection and recruitment process from governmental agencies to third parties. This trend of devolution has accelerated with recent developments associated with Provincial Nominee Programs. By reviewing the literature related to Provincial Nominee Programs and their implementation, we illustrate how private employers and institutions of higher education are not only involved in immigrant selection but also increasingly in settlement service delivery. Keywords: immigration, settlement services, Provincial Nominee Program, neoliberalism, privatization, institutions of higher education, Canada

U.S. Occupational Mobility of Children of Immigrants Based on Parents' Origin-Country Occupation

This study provides a national-level assessment of occupational mobility and early-career attainment of children of immigrants based on parents' origin-country occupation. Exploiting unique aspects of the Educational Longitudinal Study, we examine how parent-child U.S. intergenerational occupational mobility patterns and child occupational attainment differ based on parental premigration occupational status (i.e., low- vs. high-skilled) and parental postmigration occupational mobility (i.e., upward, same, or downward). Our results suggest misestimation in intergenerational mobility research if parents' origin-country occupation is excluded. Including parents' origin-country occupation, we find that the children of immigrants are recovering from instances of parental occupational downgrading, building on parental advances, and advancing where parents could not. Furthermore, most children of immigrants do as well or better occupationally than children of non-Hispanic White natives. Strong educational investments help explain this advantage, particularly for children of high-skilled immigrants. However, results indicate that all children of immigrants would attain even more if they faced fewer postmigration barriers, especially children of low-skilled immigrants. These results advance immigrant selection and assimilation theories by demonstrating how pre- and postmigration factors influence occupational attainment of children of immigrants.