Attracting skilled immigrants: an overview of recent policy developments in advanced countries

In this paper we review the policies put in place by the main Western destination countries to attract highly skilled migrants. Two main systems can be identified. On the one hand, employer-driven schemes typically call for the migrant to meet a set of minimum skill requirements and to have a job of...

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Main Authors: Facchini, Giovanni, Lodigiani, Elisabetta
Format: Article
Published: Sage 2014
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/30494/
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author Facchini, Giovanni
Lodigiani, Elisabetta
author_facet Facchini, Giovanni
Lodigiani, Elisabetta
author_sort Facchini, Giovanni
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description In this paper we review the policies put in place by the main Western destination countries to attract highly skilled migrants. Two main systems can be identified. On the one hand, employer-driven schemes typically call for the migrant to meet a set of minimum skill requirements and to have a job offer before a work visa can be issued. On the other, employee driven schemes typically do not require a job offer, and instead select the migrant based on a set of characteristics chosen by the policy maker. Employer driven schemes are the dominant policy tool in the sample of countries we consider in the analysis, and only Australia, Canada and New Zealand have made employee-driven schemes the mainstay of their skill selective immigration policy. The preliminary evidence we review suggests that the latter are more effective in increasing the skill level of the immigrant population, and casts doubts on the usefulness of new initiatives like the EU blue card that are still based on an employer driven system.
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spelling nottingham-304942020-05-04T20:13:38Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/30494/ Attracting skilled immigrants: an overview of recent policy developments in advanced countries Facchini, Giovanni Lodigiani, Elisabetta In this paper we review the policies put in place by the main Western destination countries to attract highly skilled migrants. Two main systems can be identified. On the one hand, employer-driven schemes typically call for the migrant to meet a set of minimum skill requirements and to have a job offer before a work visa can be issued. On the other, employee driven schemes typically do not require a job offer, and instead select the migrant based on a set of characteristics chosen by the policy maker. Employer driven schemes are the dominant policy tool in the sample of countries we consider in the analysis, and only Australia, Canada and New Zealand have made employee-driven schemes the mainstay of their skill selective immigration policy. The preliminary evidence we review suggests that the latter are more effective in increasing the skill level of the immigrant population, and casts doubts on the usefulness of new initiatives like the EU blue card that are still based on an employer driven system. Sage 2014-08 Article PeerReviewed Facchini, Giovanni and Lodigiani, Elisabetta (2014) Attracting skilled immigrants: an overview of recent policy developments in advanced countries. National Institute Economic Review, 229 (1). R3-R21. ISSN 1741-3036 Skilled immigration immigration policy http://ner.sagepub.com/content/229/1/R3.abstract doi:10.1177/002795011422900102 doi:10.1177/002795011422900102
spellingShingle Skilled immigration
immigration policy
Facchini, Giovanni
Lodigiani, Elisabetta
Attracting skilled immigrants: an overview of recent policy developments in advanced countries
title Attracting skilled immigrants: an overview of recent policy developments in advanced countries
title_full Attracting skilled immigrants: an overview of recent policy developments in advanced countries
title_fullStr Attracting skilled immigrants: an overview of recent policy developments in advanced countries
title_full_unstemmed Attracting skilled immigrants: an overview of recent policy developments in advanced countries
title_short Attracting skilled immigrants: an overview of recent policy developments in advanced countries
title_sort attracting skilled immigrants: an overview of recent policy developments in advanced countries
topic Skilled immigration
immigration policy
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/30494/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/30494/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/30494/