Introduction to a Special Issue on the Impact of Immigrant Legalization Initiatives: International Perspectives on Immigration and the World of Work (original) (raw)
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International Perspectives on Immigration and the World of Work
ILR Review, 2018
This article is the third in a series to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the ILR Review. The series features articles that analyze the state of research and future directions for important themes the journal has featured over its many years of publication. In this issue, we also feature a special cluster of articles and book reviews on one of the most critical labor market issues across the globe-the legalization and integration of immigrants into national labor markets.
Did Employer Sanctions Lose Their Bite? Labor Market Effects of Immigrant Legalization
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2010
Any opinions expressed here are those of the author(s) and not those of IZA. Research published in this series may include views on policy, but the institute itself takes no institutional policy positions. The Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in Bonn is a local and virtual international research center and a place of communication between science, politics and business. IZA is an independent nonprofit organization supported by Deutsche Post Foundation. The center is associated with the University of Bonn and offers a stimulating research environment through its international network, workshops and conferences, data service, project support, research visits and doctoral program. IZA engages in (i) original and internationally competitive research in all fields of labor economics, (ii) development of policy concepts, and (iii) dissemination of research results and concepts to the interested public. IZA Discussion Papers often represent preliminary work and are circulated to encourage discussion. Citation of such a paper should account for its provisional character. A revised version may be available directly from the author.
https://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12870\. International Migration, 2021
The current historical context of growing diversification of legal statuses for high-skilled immigrants since the 1990s has made immigration to the United States a multi-step process: first immigrants have temporary legal statuses, or no legal status, and only in a subsequent stage acquire legal permanent residency. I analyse the constraints this multi-step legal trajectory puts on highly skilled immigrants’ work in the United States. Specifically, what consequences it has for high-skilled immigrants’ incorporation into the labour market the restrictions attached to temporary legal statuses and the visa backlogs and waiting lists immigrants experience in the transition from temporary to permanent residency. Based on 30 semi-structured interviews with high-skilled immigrants, I explain why legal status constraints their work due to three main reasons: immigrants’ attachment to one employer; difficulties finding a job that sponsors work temporary or permanent visas; and retaining the same job under different legal statuses. Key words: high skilled immigration; precarious talent; visa policies; legal status; incorporation into labor market; temporary legal statuses; risky legality
2018
My dissertation proposes an institutional and agency approach in order to answer a new question to a new set of conditions, processes, and architecture of the new immigration trend for highly skilled immigration in the United States that emerged in the 1990s. The complexification of visa policies for highly skilled immigrants since the 1990s forces many immigrants to follow a multi-step legal pathway to acquire legal permanent residency: first, immigrants have a variety of temporary legal statuses or no legal status, and in a subsequent stage they achieve legal permanent residency. The central question that organizes the dissertation has two parts: first, how and why visa policies shape the formation, scope, and rights of highly skilled immigration; second, how and why visa policies affect highly skilled immigrants' work, family, and legal trajectories. The institutional approach investigates the changes that have occurred in highly skilled immigration to the United States during the past two decades, focusing particular attention on the changes and dynamics of highly skilled labor migration, the changes in immigration laws and visa policies, the place of national dynamics and globalizing dynamics on the growth of temporary highly skilled immigration vis-à-vis permanent immigration, and the direction, scope,
Labor Law and Immigrants: Legal Impact to Minority
The influx of immigrants into Malaysia has been extraordinary in recent years. Their contributions to the physical development of this country have most likely been underpaid, undermined, and manipulated by private employers. This paper analyzes the labor law in Malaysia that grants more authority and security to private employers than to workers and their well being. The provisions in the Employment Act of 1955 limit immigrant workers from being defined and protected under this law. This study is qualitative in nature and uses content analysis to address the legal limitations, and an exploratory interview conducted randomly with forty (40) legal Indonesian immigrants to get some insights from legal immigrants’ perspectives. As a result, this paper shares finding on the provisions in labor law, the limits of statutory language and definitions, the ineffective enforcement, and the underpinning problems that continuously make immigrant workers a deprived minority
The Changing Legal Status Distribution of Immigrants: A Caution
International Migration Review, 2006
This article presents arguments and data to show that the decennial census and annual Current Population Surveys include immigrants falling into four broad legal status groups: naturalized citizens; legal immigrants; legal nonimmigrants; and undocumented migrants. Since 1986, the relative rewards and penalties imposed on these four categories have shifted dramatically in response to U.S. policies, as have the relative number of foreigners in each group. In general, the relative share of foreigners in the most vulnerable status groups has increased, with the proportion of undocumented migrants and legal nonimmigrants rising and that of legal immigrants falling. Researchers using census and CPS data need to be aware of the shifting distribution of foreigners by legal status over time and of the changing profile of opportunities experienced by each status group, and they need to exercise caution in their interpretation of trends with respect to immigrant assimilation and the effects of...
Immigration Advocacy as Labor Advocacy
Berkeley Journal of Employment & Labor Law, 2012
As immigration reform efforts continue to experience fits and starts in Congress, immigrant and non-immigrant workers have joined together to advocate for immigration reform at the federal level and to protest the surge of exclusionary immigration measures at the state and local levels. These advocacy efforts demonstrate that many workers connect immigration law to workplace conditions. This Article develops a comprehensive analytical framework for viewing immigration advocacy as labor advocacy, even though these two statutory regimes have completely separate policymaking processes. It uncovers the historical roots of the interplay between immigration law and labor issues. Similarly, it elaborates the ways that a workplace law, the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), has the potential to protect a broad range of workers.’ immigration advocacy efforts. To date, scholars have largely focused on how restrictive aspects of immigration law narrow workplace protections, such as minimum wage and safety standards. In contrast, this Article shows how the interaction between immigration law and workplace law can broaden workplace protections in some circumstances. By constructing an analytical lens that views immigration law in relationship to workplace law, this Article illuminates why it is crucial to simultaneously consider these two statutory regimes. In doing so, it also reveals new opportunities for immigrant and worker advocates to come together around shared interests.