Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
So it is not the usual immigrant qualifications of human capital, defined
in terms of education, language, or formal job credentials, which are sought
by the BIP. Instead it is the holding of financial capital available for
investment in Canada that matters, together with proven entrepreneurial
skills to start and operate a business. Indeed the business track opened up a
citizenship route for immigrants who would not have qualified otherwise as
economic migrants because of modest educational levels and/or limited
facility in English or French.
Emptying the Nets: East Asian Landings by the Number
A government statistical source, the Longitudinal Immigration Database
(LIDS), provides an overview of the numbers and characteristics of immi-
grant landings between 1980 and 2001. However - and not for the last time -
it is important to qualify the apparent hard-edged certainty of these official
statistics. The social construction of knowledge reminds us that official statis-
tics are gathered in social contexts that shape their status and reliability. In this
instance LIDS data, while valuable, are collected from immigrant landing
cards and government officials caution that the data provided may not always
be accurate. The question on an immigrant's planned employment may elicit
more a statement of aspiration than of likely achievement, while knowledge of
the geography of Canada is typically minimal at the time of landing, and the
specification of a destination may not always be correct. Moreover, changes
may quickly occur, for example, through secondary migration, where Toronto
and Vancouver typically gain at the cost of the rest of Canada. Consequently,
the data that follow underestimate the actual concentration of business
migrants in these two cities. Nor are the classes of immigrant entry hard and
fast. Immigrants, particularly those who have been aided by immigration con-
sultants, will apply for the entry class most likely to achieve success. I have
spoken to business immigrants who subsequently learned that their human
capital would have permitted entry as a skilled worker but were led to the busi-
ness stream by a consultant who could earn a higher fee from this option.
Some businessmen, though principal family providers, entered Canada as a
dependent of their wife, the latter qualifying as a nurse or some other skilled
worker. The selection of an immigrant class is essentially pragmatic. The choice
is whatever avenue is most likely to be successful and least costly, subject to the
filtering of immigration consultants with their own business interests.
The LIDS data are drawn from a population of almost four million land-
ing cards completed by immigrants upon entry to Canada between 1980
and 2001; close to 330,000 or 8.3 percent of newcomers fell into one of the
three business streams. Among this population, 30.6 percent originated in
Hong Kong, 14.4 percent in Taiwan, and 8.2 percent in South Korea.
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