February 6th, 2024 at 01:41 am
A Comparison of Canada’s One-Step and Two-Step Immigration Procedures
Canada’s quest for economic growth through immigration has prompted a careful examination of the consequences of one- and two-step immigration processes. Recent data from Statistics Canada sheds light on immigrants’ economic paths, providing useful insights into the consequences of their chosen immigration path.
Understanding The Two-Step Immigration Process
Economic immigrants are selected in two stages from a pool of temporary foreign workers (TFWs) and international students with prior Canadian work experience. This is in contrast to one-step immigrants, who join Canada as economic immigrants with no prior Canadian work or study experience.
The value of pre-landing Canadian job experience has grown significantly, particularly in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Economic immigrants are recruited from a pool of temporary foreign workers (TFWs) and international students with work experience in Canada in two steps.
One-step immigrants are economic migrants who have no prior employment or study experience in Canada before gaining permanent residency.
Economic main applicants with pre-landing Canadian work experience climbed from 12% in 2000 to 60% in the late 2010s and 78% in 2021 due to COVID-19.
StatsCan called the extension of this approach a major improvement in how economic immigrants are selected in Canada because it has been the main driver of improved immigrant economic results at arrival since 2000.
Economic disparities between two-step immigrants and their one-step counterparts
The study reveals a consistent pattern: two-step immigrants have greater annual incomes than one-step immigrants when the evaluation begins with their original arrival year rather than the year they obtain permanent status.
Factors affecting economic disparities:
High-Skilled Jobs for TFWs
- Two-step immigrants who worked in high-paying or highly skilled jobs as temporary foreign workers did better than equivalent one-step immigrants.
- Notably, this benefit did not apply equally to low-wage or low-skilled two-step immigrants.
Multi-Selection Process
- The two-step method’s multiple-selection approach helps to refine the match between immigrant talents and labour market demands.
- Employers can immediately analyse the talents and intangible traits of TFWs, leading to better post-migration labour market results.
Canada’s Work Experience Advantage
- Two-step immigrants get a head start in Canada with work experience, which is closely connected to higher post-migration earnings.
- This gives them an advantage over one-step immigrants who have no prior experience working in Canada.
Earnings Trends by Cohorts
While wage differences between two-step and one-step immigrants continue, they have narrowed across consecutive arrival cohorts. Changes in the types of programs that accept two-step immigrants contributed to this trend.
Two-Step Immigrants Earn More Than One-Step Immigrants
Two-step immigrants earned more than one-step immigrants in their first few years and a decade after arrival in the identical admissions program.
The FSWP, PNP, and other economic programs, as well as unadjusted (actual) and adjusted wages, followed this pattern when sociodemographic differences across groups were included.
Earnings inequality has decreased over many arrival generations. The FSWP and PNP earnings disparity between two- and one-step immigrants in the initial years following arrival decreased during 2000–2009 and 2010–2014.
Programs that allow two-step immigrants have changed.
Income gaps between two- and one-step immigrants in the FSWP were reduced from 2010–2014 to 2015–2019. The 2013 implementation of a compulsory pre-migration educational credential examination increased one-step immigrants’ earning potential, causing this fall.
The authors claimed that while two-step immigrants had better learning potential than one-step immigrants with similar human capital factors, the long-term success of the two-step selection technique depends on TFW immigrants’ skill levels.
Previous studies show that TFWs in low-skilled or low-paying jobs earn less and grow slower than one-step immigrants.
The rising number of TFWs and international students in the workforce also causes difficulties like poor working conditions.
A large TFW supply could lower domestic worker compensation and limit enterprises’ technology and capital investment incentives to boost productivity.
“Employers looking for low-cost labour may prioritize short-term demand over long-term competitiveness.” Thus, employer-sponsored programs may not meet long-term labour market and economic needs.”
“These considerations suggest the need for a careful examination of the benefits and potential challenges of two-step immigration selection.”
This analysis uses the Longitudinal Immigration Database to examine economic primary applicants aged 25–54 upon admission.
TFWs (two-step immigrants) who worked in high-paying or skilled jobs had better post-migration labour market outcomes than comparable immigrants from overseas.
Second-step immigrants with poor wages or skills do not suffer the same fate.
Two-Step Immigrants Have Better Labour Market Outcomes Than One-Step Counterparts
According to StatsCan, there are two reasons why two-step immigrants outperform one-step immigrants in terms of education, official language competency, and source location.
The first explanation is the concept of a multiple-selection procedure. Two-step selection helps improve the match between immigrant talents and labour market demands, since employers can “directly assess TFWs’ skills and intangible qualities.”
According to Statscan, the adjusted earnings gap revealed in the study supports this notion.
These international workers can get experience in Canada before deciding to become permanent residents. Those that flourish as TFWs are less likely to experience skill transferability issues, whereas one-step immigrants may.
Program-Specific Trends
FSWP and PNP
The salary difference between two-step and one-step immigrants in the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) and Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) was reduced from 2000 to 2009 to 2010 to 2014.
The introduction of the required pre-migration educational credential evaluation in 2013 resulted in a further decline from the 2010–2014 cohort to the 2015–2019 cohort.
Challenges and Considerations
While the two-step immigration procedure has significant economic results, there are some problems and factors that should be addressed. According to research, TFWs who work in low-skilled or low-paying jobs may have slower earnings growth than one-step immigrants.
Furthermore, the growing number of TFWs and overseas students in the labour sector raises worries about poor working conditions and probable wage suppression for domestic workers.
A call for in-depth examination.
The analysis, which is based on the Longitudinal Immigration Database, underlines the importance of thoroughly examining the benefits and potential drawbacks of the two-step immigration selection process.
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