Latin America Attracts Foreign Professionals & Students

Skilled migrants consider economies already reputed for specific industries and skill pools – such as the USA, other English-speaking countries and countries in continental Europe. But given that visa procedures are complicated and since the American and European economies have been affected by the economic crisis, immigrants are increasingly interested in the emerging economies, especially if they are relatively stable and have a leading position in their region – i.e. countries in Asia and Latin America.

Emerging or catching-up economies are eager to fill their skill gaps. That is why they have been working on competitive migration policies which only complement developments such as attractive conditions for outsourcing; well developed higher education systems or ongoing efforts to improve them; growing industries; investments in IT and English language training.

Here is an overview of the latest economic advances, skills shortages and immigrant inflows in the most developed Latin American economies other than Brazil - Argentina, Chile and Mexico.

Skilled Migrants in Brazil

Latin America’s biggest economy is now the world’s sixth. With a population of over 190 million people and an annual growth of 4 %, Brazil is expected to become the fifth oil exporter by 2020. Despite recent warnings that its economy is not sustainable and that inequality is still prevailing across the country, significant socioeconomic changes have occurred including the 28 million people having moved out of poverty, improved education outcomes - Brazil’s 2009 PISA results placed it ahead of Argentina and Colombia, birth rates lower than the ones of the US (1.9 children/woman vs. 2, down from 6 children/woman in the 1960s) and a closing gender gap in education - women account for 60 % of the country’s graduates.

In addition to these changes which are likely to increase consumption, new employment opportunities will be created thanks to the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics. At the same time, Brazil needs more professionals than it produces and is fortunate that the world crisis is bringing the latter its way. In order to facilitate procedures, Brazil is about to revise its immigration policy and create a path for skilled workers.

Asia’s Prospects: Regional Hubs and Skilled Mobility

This post covers the latest developments in human mobility in Asia, mainly with regard to skilled migrants and international students. While China, Korea and Japan are trying to attract skilled immigrants as well as to ease policies toward immigrants already arrived, they might have to compete with Southeast Asian countries.

The University World News article Worldwide Student Numbers Forecast to Double by 2025 revealed some highlights of the Bob Goddard chapter for the book Making a Difference: Australian International Education. According to the author, by 2025 there will be 262 million post-secondary students worldwide (up from 150 million currently, or an increase of 75 %), much of that growth coming from India and China; and almost 8 million students studying outside the country in which they were born (up from 3-3.5 million currently).

Goddard points to Singapore and Malaysia as emerging education hubs: the former hopes to attract 150,000 foreign students by 2015 while the latter has a target of 100,000 by 2020. However, both countries are currently experiencing some problems.

Forthcoming Posts on Skilled Migration

My next posts will cover skilled migration news from Latin America, Northern Europe and the English-speaking world (the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) -- all policies gravitate around the models of Canada and Australia while these countries have problems of their own...

Why Multiculturalism Works in Australia

Several months ago, I read the report Selection, Migration and Integration: Why Multiculturalism Works in Australia (and fails in Europe) written by Marc Hartwich and published on the Australian Policy Online website. He compares Australia with the UK and Germany and claims that it is not any other policy towards migrants - such as education or integration - but the very policy of selection that makes AU newcomers so successful.

ADBI Roundtable on Labour Migration in Asia

Here are some of the presentations, papers and videos from the 2nd ADBI-OECD Roundtable on Labour Migration in Asia held in January 2012 in Tokyo.

No surprising data have been presented. My favourite presentation, both in terms of content and design, is Labour Migration: Malaysia as a Receiving Country by L. Ahmad.

Some presentations highlights:

• Most immigrants in Malaysia come from neighbouring countries (52 % from Indonesia); security with regard to illegal migrants a major concern; 1/3 of the country's 1M emigrants are highly skilled (2010 data); more than 50 % of Malaysia's skilled labour is concentrated in Singapore (Ahmad);