Initial Destination Choices of Skilled-worker Immigrants from South Asia to Canada: Assessment of the Relative Importance of Explanatory Factors

Using a multinomial logit model, this paper explains the initial destination choices of skilled-worker immigrants from four South Asian countries (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka) who landed in Canada in 1992-2001, based on the micro data of Citizenship and Immigration Canada. We found that their choice pattern, which is characterized by extremely strong concentration in Ontario, was strongly affected by the attractions of (1) co-ethnic communities and (2) long-term income opportunities represented by earned income per capita. The temporal pattern of their choices was subject to the lagged effects of the fluctuations in the spatial pattern of employment opportunities in an economically sensible but relatively mild way. The enhancement of Quebec’s attraction by the Canada/Quebec agreement on immigration dissipated within only a few years.