Immigration
Immigration refers to the movement of people between countries. While the movement of people has existed throughout human history at various levels, modern immigration implies long-term, legal, permanent residence. Short-term visitors and tourists are considered non-immigrants (see expatriate). Immigration across national borders in a way that violates the immigration laws of the destination country is termed illegal immigration. Under this definition, an illegal immigrant is a foreigner who either illegally crossed an international political border, be it by land, water, or air, or a foreigner who legally entered a country but nevertheless overstays his/her visa in order to live and/or work therein. Seasonal labour migration, while generally non-permanent in nature (typically for periods of less than a year), is often treated as a form of immigration.
The modern concept of immigration is related to the development of nation-states and nationality law. Citizenship in a nation-state confers an inalienable right of residence in that state, but residency of non-citizens is subject to conditions set by immigration law. The emergence of nation-states made immigration a political issue: by definition it is the homeland of a nation defined by shared ethnicity and/or culture.
The global volume of immigration is high in absolute terms, but low in relative terms. The International Integration and Refugee Association estimated 190 million international migrants in 2005, about 3 percent of global population. The other 97 percent still live in the country in which they were born.[citation needed] The Middle East, some parts of Europe, small areas of South East Asia, and a few spots in the West Indies have the highest numbers of immigration population recorded by the UN Census 2005.
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