Immigration is ultimately beneficial to the host country.
Host countries may be facing problems such as low birthrates and an aging population. Hence, they need foreign manpower to aid the country in boosting the work force. Skilled legal immigrants usually take up white-collar jobs in professional work fields for example managing businesses, while less-skilled immigrants, for instance transient migrant workers, help to “expand the supply of labour” in host countries (Boundless, 2015). A vibrant workforce is needed for a country to sustain economic growth. Moreover, they diversify the country in terms of culture and skills. These immigrants increase the host country’s work productivity and eventually, boost their economy.
However, these effects are true only when efforts are made to integrate the immigrants into the country. This can be seen in policies such as the integration policy, which allows for the economic mobility–the ability to improve one’s economic status (Weakonomist, 2010), and social inclusion, which is a series of positive actions to achieve equality, assist and encourage participation from all individuals (Rossman County Council, n.d.;Migration Policy Institute, n.d.). The integration policy may include naturalization, a process whereby an immigrant gains citizenship. Studies show that a better integrated society increases its resilience to economic vacillations and other shocks (McDaniel, 2013). The key to integrating immigrants is to accept one another’s core values and experiences, to focus on their common objectives rather than the differences. Therefore, there is a need for locals to be receptive towards immigrants, instead of discriminating against them. They need to live and work together, so that they can bridge the boundaries between different communities and allow these communities to play their roles in the society.
With the increase in the immigrant population, citizens may be more concerned by the demographic changes because of the change in compositions for different ethnicities, religions and cultures. Hence, the integration policy is needed to ease the unsettledness in the locals. It includes programmes such as educating immigrants of the host country’s language and culture. Through enabling immigrants to be able to communicate and interact effectively with locals, it creates common shared experiences. This potentially forges a new strong bond in the country’s social fabric, promoting stronger social and cultural unity, and thus a more harmonious and diversified population. |