Migration Studies Commons^™

No. 70: International Migrants And Refugees In Cape Town’S Informal Economy, Godfrey Tawodzera, Abel Chikanda, Jonathan Crush, Robertson Tengeh

Southern African Migration Programme

This report is the most comprehensive study yet of the contribution of migrant and refugee entrepreneurs to Cape Town’s local economy. The survey of over 500 entrepreneurs engaged in trade, services and manufacturing in different areas of the city dispels some of the more prevalent myths that often attach to the activities of migrants. The vast majority are not “illegal foreigners”, but have a legal right to be in South Africa and to run a business. Most are highly motivated individuals who enter the informal economy to earn revenue to support themselves, their families, and because they have a strong …

Entrepreneurship And Inclusive Growth In South Africa, Zimbabwe And Mozambique (Migration Policy Series No. 68), Jonathan Crush, Caroline Skinner, Abel Chikanda

International Migration Research Centre

While increasing attention is being paid to the drivers and forms of entrepreneurship in informal economies, much less of this policy and research focus is directed at understanding the links between mobility and informality. This report examines the current state of knowledge about this relationship with particular reference to three countries (Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe) and four cities (Cape Town, Harare, Johannesburg and Maputo), identifying major themes, knowledge gaps, research questions and policy implications. In many African cities, informal enterprises are operated by internal and international migrants. The extent and nature of mobile entrepreneurship and the opportunities and challenges …

No. 29: Zimbabwe’S Return Migrants – Before & After Challenges, David Mandiyanike

Southern African Migration Programme

Various countries in the developing world have implemented policies and incentives to encourage the participation of their respective diasporas in development. The ‘best case’ countries include the Philippines, India, Mexico, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Morocco, Kenya and Ghana, and there seems to be a positive correlation between reforms meant to facilitate diaspora participation and the level of actual participation. The reforms and policies not only contribute to the diaspora maintaining social and psychological links with their home countries but also serve as vehicles for promoting remittances and investments. However, diaspora participation in the (re)development of the country of origin can never be …

Issue 07: The Need For Local Reintegration Policy/Programs In Rural Mexico, Meredith Giel

International Migration Research Centre

Since 2007, a growing number of Mexican immigrants in the United States have been returning to Mexico. For the first time since the 1960s, net migration in Mexico is zero, implying that just as many Mexicans are returning to Mexico as are going to the United States. There are a number of factors contributing to this return migration by Mexican nationals. This current situation presents the Mexican government with new priorities and responsibilities. Upon return, many of these unskilled workers face barriers preventing proper reintegration back into Mexican society, including a lack of support networks, potential language and cultural barriers …

Issue 06: The Migrant Farmworker Health Journey: Identifying Issues And Considering Change Across Borders, Janet Mclaughlin, Jenna Hennebry, Donald C. Cole, Gabriel Williams

International Migration Research Centre

There are currently about 300 000 temporary foreign workers employed in Canada every year, roughly 20 000 of whom work as migrant farm workers (MFWs) in the province of Ontario. MFWs travel primarily from Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean and typically work on a seasonal basis, with just over 15 000 workers annually coming to Ontario under Canada’s long-standing Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP), and many under the Stream for Lower Skilled Occupations (SLSO). All workers are eligible (with some variability) for provincial health insurance in Ontario (OHIP) and workers’ compensation (WSIB), and are covered by provincial health and …

Issue 05: Backgrounder On Immigration Policy Changes And Entry To Practice Routes For Internationally Educated Nurses (Iens) Entering Canada, Margaret Walton-Roberts, Keegan Williams, Jennifer Guo, Jenna Hennebry

International Migration Research Centre

Every year, about 17,500 internationally-educated nurses (IENs) immigrate to Canada from countries like the Philippines, India, and China. While many IENs would like to practice in Canada, new immigration policies and professional regulations at the federal and provincial level limits their ability to do so. In response, migrants are increasingly using two-step immigration routes to enter the profession (e.g., international student -> permanent economic immigrant) or pursuing alternative careers in health (e.g., Personal Support Worker). These outcomes have significant policy implications for labour force planning in nursing, ethical recruitment for international healthcare workers, the process of migrant workforce integration, and …

Immigration Policy Changes And Entry To Practice Routes For Internationally Educated Nurses (Iens), Margaret Walton-Roberts, Jennifer Guo, Keegan Williams, Jenna Hennebry

International Migration Research Centre

This knowledge synthesis report examines how migrant transition programs (status conversion from temporary to permanent) inform nursing labour force planning. This has significant policy relevance because immigration transition policies add complexity to a) labour force planning in the health sector (Pittman et al., 2007), b) ethical recruitment protocols for international health care workers, c) processes of migrant workforce integration (Blythe et al., 2009; Little & Buchan, 2007), and d) the assessment of structural processes that shape and reproduce migration as a form of gendered state developmentalist policy for sending regions (Valiani, 2012). Nursing offers a lens into how gender and …

Urban Informality And Migrant Entrepreneurship In Southern African Cities: 10–11 February 2014, Cape Town, South Africa, Jonathan Crush

International Migration Research Centre

• The informal sector is the big story in African cities. To respond effectively, data collection and monitoring tools need dramatic improvement.
• Informal trading largely happens outside official city planning. This absence of recognition may be unconscious but is not benign.
• Ethnic networking and business positioning are of crucial importance for migrant-run small businesses.
• Those working in the informal sector in South Africa generally operate under hostile conditions.
• Volumes of trade and duties paid by cross-border traders show that this sector is significant to SADC governments.
• There is a policy contradiction between the government’s promotion of business tourism and the increasingly …

Snapshots From The Margins: Transgressive Cosmopolitanisms In Europe, Feyzi Baban, Kim Rygiel

Political Science Faculty Publications

Right-wing parties and governments in Europe have recently expressed greater hostility towards cultural pluralism, at times officially denunciating multiculturalism, and calling for the closure of borders and denial of rights to non-European nationals. Within this context, this article argues for rethinking Europe through radically transgressive and transnational understandings of cosmopolitanism as articulated by growing transnational populations within Europe such as immigrants, refugees, and irregular migrants. Transgressive forms of cosmopolitanism disrupt European notions of borders and identities in ways that challenge both liberal multiculturalism and assimilationist positions. This article explores the limits of traditional cosmopolitan thinking while offering a vision of …

No. 65: Brain Drain And Regain: The Migration Behaviour Of South African Medical Professionals, Jonathan Crush, Abel Chikanda, Ivy Bourgeault, Ronald Labonté, Gail Tomblin Murphy

Southern African Migration Programme

Since the end of apartheid, South Africa has experienced a significant outflow of health professionals. The out-migration of health professionals from the country is part of a broader global trend of health professional migration from the Global South to the Global North. In the health sector, this “brain drain” has led to a significant decline in the quality of care in affected countries. The costs of health professional migration for countries of origin are usually measured in terms of lost investment in training and the gaps in medical care left by their departure. One recent study, for example, estimated that …

No. 67: Migrant Entrepreneurship, Collective Violence And Xenophobia In South Africa, Jonathan Crush, Sujata Ramachandran

Southern African Migration Programme

The remarkable growth of informal migrant entrepreneurship in South Africa since 1990 would have been much lauded had it not been for the striking detail that the actors in question are seen as “foreigners” or “outsiders”. As such, they are uniformly viewed as undesirable and disadvantaging poor South African citizens. The growing presence of migrants in the informal sector has created various tensions in South Africa, including in government circles, ignoring the fact that in the free market economy of South Africa, immigrants and refugees, like citizens and commercial enterprises, would otherwise enjoy the freedom to establish, operate and expand …

No. 66: Xenophobic Violence In South Africa: Denialism, Minimalism, Realism, Jonathan Crush, Sujata Ramachandran

Southern African Migration Programme

Violent xenophobia has become a regular feature of South African life. Everyday animosity frequently spills over into violence against individual migrants and refugees and their economic enterprises. Some of these incidents reach the scrutiny of the media and officialdom, but most remain invisible and unremarked. The fact that most of the violence occurs in marginal urban locations of informal settlements, townships and inner-city suburbs in South Africa has prompted intense debate over the nomenclature and identification of the underlying causes. Explanations for the large-scale anti-migrant violence that swept the country in May 2008, and continues in more isolated and sporadic …

Brain Drain And Regain: The Migration Behaviour Of South African Medical Professionals (Migration Policy Series No. 65), Jonathan Crush, Abel Chikanda, Ivy Bourgeault, Ronald Labonté, Gail Tomblin Murphy

International Migration Research Centre

Since the end of apartheid, South Africa has experienced a significant outflow of health professionals. The out-migration of health professionals from the country is part of a broader global trend of health professional migration from the Global South to the Global North. In the health sector, this “brain drain” has led to a significant decline in the quality of care in affected countries. The costs of health professional migration for countries of origin are usually measured in terms of lost investment in training and the gaps in medical care left by their departure. One recent study, for example, estimated that …

Migrant Entrepreneurship, Collective Violence And Xenophobia In South Africa (Migration Policy Series No. 67), Jonathan Crush, Sujata Ramachandran

International Migration Research Centre

The remarkable growth of informal migrant entrepreneurship in South Africa since 1990 would have been much lauded had it not been for the striking detail that the actors in question are seen as “foreigners” or “outsiders”. As such, they are uniformly viewed as undesirable and disadvantaging poor South African citizens. The growing presence of migrants in the informal sector has created various tensions in South Africa, including in government circles, ignoring the fact that in the free market economy of South Africa, immigrants and refugees, like citizens and commercial enterprises, would otherwise enjoy the freedom to establish, operate and expand …

Issue 04: Inventory Of Services Provided To Immigrants And Refugees In The Waterloo Region, J. Fernando Reyes, Margaret Walton-Roberts, Jenna Hennebry

International Migration Research Centre

In this issue of Policy Points we have provided an inventory and assessment of immigrant services providers currently delivered in the Waterloo Region. Local communities play an important role in the settlement of newcomers and their integration into society. Waterloo Region has the fifth-highest immigrant rate in Canada (Statistics Canada, 2007), and in 2009 the Kitchener Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) was 11th highest nationally in terms of the number of immigrants arriving, and the fourth-highest in Ontario (Citizenship and Immigration Canada, 2011). Furthermore, Waterloo Region is expected to have a significant increase in the immigrant population over the next decades …

Inserting Migrants Into The Global Social Protection Floor, Marie-Hélène Ratel, Gabriel Williams, Keegan Williams

International Migration Research Centre

• The social protection floor (SPF) is a global initiative led by the International Labour Organization (ILO) to provide social security to vulnerable groups.
• The SPF neglects the rapidly growing population of international migrants and focusses principally on citizens from lower-income countries.
• The SPF requires a method to evaluate the social protection gap that exists between citizens and non-citizens in countries that receive migrants in order to improve protections for all.
• The SPF Advisory Group must collaborate more closely with transit and receiving countries, middle- and high-income countries, and regional organizations to reduce the gaps in social protection between citizens and …

Effectively Engaging Diasporas Under The New Canadian Department Of Foreign Affairs, Trade And Development, Manuelle Chanoine, Meredith Giel, Tâmara Simão

International Migration Research Centre

• With the amalgamation of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) into a new Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (DFATD), new opportunities will emerge for a coherent approach to diaspora engagement initiatives that combine the existing policy directions under a single umbrella.
• DFATD should work with diasporas in Canada to facilitate and improve engagement with the sending regions. This engagement can occur through current programs, as well as the creation of a new pilot project requiring cooperation between the different policy approaches.
• Engagement should vary according to the different …

Diasporas, Development And Governance In The Global South, Abel Chikanda, Gareth Haysom

International Migration Research Centre

Diasporas are increasingly recognized as key development resources for low- and middle-income countries. Thus, governments in the Global South are turning to their own extra-national diasporic populations in order to boost economic development, build global trading and investment networks and increase their political leverage overseas. The main goals of the conference on Diasporas, Development and Governance in the Global South were to enhance international understanding of the role of diasporas in development, identify best practices for policy engagement of diasporas and facilitate Canadian diaspora engagement in development. The conference focused on three main areas:

• Critical examination of efforts by international …

Between North And South: The Eu-Acp Migration Relationship, Jonathan Crush

Southern African Migration Programme

Before the turn of the century, international migration had an extremely low profile on the global development agenda. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), for example, make no mention at all of international migration. Although a number of studies have attempted to “mainstream” migration into the MDGs after the fact, it is still largely ignored in official assessments of progress made towards them (Usher, 2005; Crush and Frayne 2007; Skeldon, 2008). According to the United Nations (UN), the silence surrounding migration in the MDGs was because it was too divisive and sensitive an issue between developed and developing countries (United Nations …

South Asian Diasporas In Canada, Margaret Walton-Roberts

International Migration Research Centre

In May 2011 over 60 scholars gathered in Canada for a conference on; ‘Assessing the complexities of South Asian Migration’. This special issue of South Asian Diaspora on South Asian diasporas in Canada emerges from this event, and contains papers by scholars from multiple disciplines drawing upon various research methods and theoretical frameworks. As a collection the papers demonstrate the mature and evolving nature of research on Canada’s various South Asian immigrant communities (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and the Maldives). This geographical diversity comprises what is termed ‘South Asia’, according to this journal’s aims and scopes at …

Divided Diasporas: Southern Africans In Canada, Jonathan Crush, Abel Chikanda, Wade Pendleton, Mary Caesar, Sujata Ramachandran, Cassandra Eberhardt, Ashley Hill

Southern African Migration Programme

The protracted economic and political crisis in Zimbabwe led directly to a major increase in mixed migration flows to South Africa. Migrants were drawn from every sector of society, all education and skill levels, equal numbers of both sexes, and all ages (including unaccompanied child migration). Many migrants claimed asylum in South Africa which gave them the right to work while they waited for a refugee hearing. Many others were arrested and deported back to Zimbabwe. Migrants who were unable to find employment in the formal economy turned to employment and self-employment in the informal economy. These migrant entrepreneurs used …

No. 64: Soft Targets: Xenophobia, Public Violence And Changing Attitudes To Migrants In South Africa After May 2008, Jonathan Crush, Sujata Ramachandran, Wade Pendleton

Southern African Migration Programme

No abstract provided.

Migration, Urbanization And Food Security In Cities Of The Global South: 26–27 November 2012, Cape Town, South Africa, Jonathan Crush

International Migration Research Centre

• The disjuncture between food security, migration and urbanization must be overcome. It is an institutional as well as a thematic disconnect on a global scale.
• Food security is primarily about access to food, not agricultural production.
• In an increasingly urban world, the locus of food and nutrition security will no longer be rural areas and the global perspective needs to shift appropriately.
• Hunger is a political as well as economic problem and requires state intervention.
• Increasing demand for food needs to be met in ecologically sustainable ways while ensuring that the poor have adequate access to food.
• Migration should be …

Indirect Pathways Into Practice: A Comparative Examination Of Indian And Philippine Internationally Educated Nurses And Their Entry Into Ontario’S Nursing Profession, Margaret Walton-Roberts, Jenna Hennebry

International Migration Research Centre

In Canada half of all internationally educated nurses (IENs) are employed in Ontario, and in 2010 the top three countries where new IENs had received their training were the Philippines, India and China. This presentation reports on preliminary results from an ongoing research project examining the experiences of IENs from the Philippines and India who intend to enter Ontario’s nursing profession indirectly via temporary migration streams. The preliminary survey results will be presented, including differences in the characteristics and experiences of the two groups as they follow migration and occupational pathways to enter Canada and the nursing profession in Ontario. …

The Housing Preferences And Location Choices Of Second Generation South Asians Living In Ethnic Enclaves, Virpal Kataure, Margaret Walton-Roberts

International Migration Research Centre

Canada has experienced the development of suburban ethnic enclaves by established immigrant diaspora groups surrounding major metropolitan centres. However, less is known regarding the housing and location preferences of their maturing offspring population, known as the second-generation. This paper seeks to explain the housing preferences and location choices of second-generation South Asians residing in Brampton's ethnic enclaves, a suburban city on the periphery of Toronto. This research draws on the home leaving process and integrates the theoretical perspectives of ethnic enclaves and the life cycle. A telephone survey conducted in Brampton's ethnic enclaves suggests a dominant preference of low-density, detached-style …

Issue 03: Backgrounder On Safety And Legal Protection Of Irregular Migrants And Volunteer Workers In Mexico, Andrea Pietrzak

International Migration Research Centre

Every year tens of thousands of irregular migrants from Central America cross Mexico’s southern border and attempt to make the 1,000-mile northbound trek to the United States. These migrants make the journey despite increasing threats of violence from organized criminal gangs, corrupt police and security forces members, and private citizens. An investigation by Mexico’s National Commission for Human Rights in 2010 found that more than 11,000 irregular migrants were kidnapped nation-wide, with an unknown number violently assaulted and raped. In an urgent action report issued on July 27, 2012, Amnesty International stated that irregular migrants, and the volunteers who assist …

No. 27: Migration And Development In Contemporary Mauritius, David Lincoln

Southern African Migration Programme

Mauritius is a society descended of involuntary and voluntary migrants. After two-and-a-half centuries of settlement as a plantation colony and by the time of its independence from colonial rule in 1968 the island nation’s population had grown to seemingly insupportable levels. But having faced the afflictions of overpopulation, social division and economic despair (and sizeable emigration) at the dawn of its independence, it took just a decade and-a-half for despondency to fade and for Mauritius to begin resembling a tropical idyll of sorts. Though poverty persisted as the small island successfully transformed its economy from colonial plantation to mostly industrial …

Contextualizing The Global Nursing Care Chain: International Migration And The Status Of Nursing In Kerala, India, Margaret Walton-Roberts

International Migration Research Centre

In this article I explore the issue of nursing status in Kerala, India and how over time a colonial discourse of caste‐based pollution has given way to a discourse of sexual pollution under expanding migratory opportunities. Based on survey and qualitative research findings, I caution that the improving occupational status of nursing in India is not directly mapped onto social status, and this is particularly evident in the matrimonial market. In the light of these findings I argue that global nursing care chain (GNCC) analysis must assess more than just workplace contexts in order to conceptualize how global care chains …

No. 60: Linking Migration, Food Security And Development, Jonathan Crush

Southern African Migration Programme

Two issues have recently risen to the top of the international development agenda: (a) Food Security; and (b) Migration and Development. Each has its own global agency champions, international gatherings, national line ministries and body of research. Global and regional discussions about the relationship between migration and development cover a broad range of policy issues including remittance flows, the brain drain, the role of diasporas and return migration. Strikingly absent from these discussions is any systematic discussion of the relationship between population migration and food security. If the global migration and development debate sidelines food security, the current international food …

No. 59: The Third Wave: Mixed Migration From Zimbabwe To South Africa, Jonathan Crush, Abel Chikanda, Godfrey Tawodzera

Southern African Migration Programme

Migration from Zimbabwe to South Africa has been extremely well-documented by researchers. In this paper, we suggest that there is a need to periodize these migration flows in order to understand how and why they have changed over time, not simply in terms of the volume of migration but the changing drivers of migration and the shifting nature of the migrant stream. Few previous studies have taken a longitudinal approach to Zimbabwean migration, primarily because most research takes place at one point in time. SAMP is in the fortunate position of having a large database at its disposal which allows …