Embracing the New Guest
The story of human migration in search of better life dates back to the time of evolution. There are evidences of several fights between migrated communities and host communities, finally resulting in complete wipe out of one of the groups. Even today, our civilised society has a mixed view towards immigrants. The economic impact of migration has been intensively studied but is many ill-informed perceptions are creating public antagonism towards migration. These negative views risk jeopardising efforts to adapt migration policies to the new economic and demographic challenges faced by many countries. An IOM 2022 report states that the estimated number of international migrants is currently around 281 million, which equates to 3.6 percent of the global population. More than 90 percent of migrant population has left their home voluntarily for economic reasons (economic migrants). The remaining 10 percent are refugees who might have fled the conflicts and persecution
Economic Impacts Immigration fuels the economy of host nation. When immigrants enter the labor force, they increase the productive capacity of the economy and raise GDP. Their incomes rise, but so do those of natives. It’s a phenomenon named as the ‘immigration surplus’- a small share of additional GDP accrues to natives, about 0.2 to 0.4 percent. Also there has been tremendous increase in high-skilled migration since 1990s, which has also caused higher rate of innovation.
So the next thought is if immigration makes economy larger, more efficient and productive, why nations strictly limit immigration? Because ‘immigration surplus’ does not accrue equally to everyone, it primarily applies to capital owners like- investors and business owners whereas the wages of complementary workers (for low-skilled jobs) fall. But it is just for a transition period, immigration has costs but when this problem is taken into consideration and managed in a good way it has net benefits. GCC countries have greatest migrant stock in the world.
GCC countries accept migrants from all parts of the world. Globally, the GCC countries are situated among the top twenty countries where nonnationals outnumber national citizens.
Siliconindia in this issue presents a list of ‘10 Most Promising Immigration Consultants in GCC – 2023’ who have leveraged their extensive industry expertise and experience in providing excellent services. The following list has been prepared after being closely scrutinized by a distinguished panel of judges including CXOs, analysts and our editorial board.