The 1986 US Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) was directed at tackling the problem of growing unauthorized migration through legalization of unauthorized immigrants, increasing border security and sanctioning employers who hired unauthorized immigrants. Our paper investigates how the...

The 1986 US Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) was directed at tackling the problem of growing unauthorized migration through legalization of unauthorized immigrants, increasing border security and sanctioning employers who hired unauthorized immigrants. Our paper investigates how the...

In 2007 the Commission proposed a Directive aimed exclusively at third-country nationals moving to Europe for the purpose of highly qualified employment that would set up a harmonized entry procedure, lay down common residence conditions and facilitate mobility through Europe. The Directive,...

Deutschland ist vor dem Hintergrund des demografischen Wandels auf qualifizierte Zuwanderung angewiesen, um langfristig seine Fachkräftebasis zu sichern. Zwar hat die Nettozuwanderung im Jahr 2014 mit 550.000 einen neuen Höchstwert erreicht. Allerdings sind nur 27.000 Personen im Rahmen der...

Immigrants in many countries have lower employment rates and lower earnings than natives. We study whether a more liberal access to citizenship improves the economic integration of immigrants. Our analysis relies on two major immigration reforms in Germany, a country with a weak record of...

Canada's immigration system is currently undergoing significant change driven by several goals that include (1) a desire to improve the economic outcomes of entering immigrants; (2) an attempt to better respond to short-term regional labor market shortages often associated with commodity booms,...

Two issues have taken center stage in the recent debates about U.S. immigration policy: one, illegal immigration and more generally the entrance of poorly educated individuals into the U.S. economy and two, whether the U.S. should continue its family-based admissions system or move towards a...

The recent impetus of tougher immigration-related measures passed at the state-level raises concerns about the impact of such measures on the migration experience, trajectory and future plans of unauthorized immigrants. In a recent and unique survey of Mexican unauthorized immigrants interviewed...

Guest-worker programs have been providing rapidly growing economies with millions of temporary foreign workers over the last couple of decades. With the duration of stay strictly limited by program rules in most of the host countries and wages paid to guest workers often set at sub-market...

This paper investigates the effect of local immigration enforcement regimes on the migration decisions of the foreign-born. Specifically, the analysis uses individual-level American Community Survey data to examine the effect of recent 287(g) agreements, which allow state and local law...

The two main reasons cited by the U.S. tech industry for hiring foreign workers-remedying labour shortages and hiring “the best and the brightest”-are investigated, using data on wages, patents, and R&D work, as well as previous research and industry statements. The analysis shows that the...

An important immigration policy regime endogeneity, and immigrants' unobserved heterogeneity. To address the first problem, we focus in a country with an unprecedented immigration boom that lets immigrants freely into a country: Spain. To address the second problem, we focus on a large and...

Immigration control-related audits and their resulting sanctions are not solely determined by impartial enforcement of laws and regulations. They are also determined by the incentives faced by vote-maximizing congressmen, agents acting on their behalf, and workers likely to compete with...

Attracting skilled immigrants is emerging as an important policy goal for immigrant receiving countries. This article first discusses the economic rationale for immigrant selection. Selection mechanisms of receiving countries are reviewed in the context of deteriorating labor market outcomes for...

This paper investigates the effect of the US Illegal Immigrant Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA) on the remitting patterns of Mexican immigrants. Using data from the Mexican Migration Project (MMP128), we find that a significant effect on remittance flows from illegal...

This paper shows that the availability of dual citizenship, or here Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI), leads to higher naturalization rates in the country of residence. The analysis is based on three distinct naturalization rates, calculated on the basis of annual immigration flows and...

We analyze the impact of the 2007 Legal Arizona Workers Act (LAWA) on employment outcomes of low-skilled Arizona workers, with a focus on the states' unauthorized population. The intent of LAWA was to limit unauthorized workers' economic opportunities as a way to deter further illegal...