INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION IN THE AMERICAS SICREMI 2012 Organization of American States Organization of American States INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION IN THE AMERICAS Second Report of the Continuous Reporting System on International Migration in the Americas (SICREMI) 2012 OAS Cataloging-in-Publication Data International Migration in the Americas: Second Report of the Continuous Reporting System on International Migration in the Americas (SICREMI) 2012. p.; cm. Includes bibliographical references. (OEA Documentos Oficiales; OEA Ser.D) (OAS Official Records Series; OEA Ser.D) ISBN 978-0-8270-5927-6 1. Emigration and immigration--Economic aspects. 2. Emigration and immigration--Social aspects. 3. Emigration and im- migration law. 4. Alien labor. 5. Refugees. I. Organization of American States. Department of Social Development and Employment. Migration and Development Program (MIDE). II. Continuous Reporting System on International Migration in the Americas (SICREMI). III. Title: Second Report of the Continuous Reporting System on International Migration in the Americas (SICREMI) 2012. IV. Series. OEA/Ser.D/XXVI.2.2 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES 17th Street and Constitution Ave., N.W. Washington, D.C. 20006, USA www.oas.org All rights reserved. Secretary General, OAS José Miguel Insulza Assistant Secretary General, OAS Albert R. Ramdin Executive Secretary for Integral Development Sherry Tross Director, Department of Social Development and Employment Ana Evelyn Jacir de Lovo The partial or complete reproduction of this document without previous authorization could result in a violation of the applicable law. The Department of Social Development and Employment supports the dissemination of this work and will normally authorize permission for its reproduction. To request permission to photocopy or reprint any part of this publication, please send a request to: Department of Social Development and Employment Organization of American States 1889 F ST N.W. Washington D.C. 20006, USA Fax: 202-458-3149 E-mail: [email protected] This publication was designed by Miki Fernández of Ultradesigns, Inc., translated by Pablo Ros and edited by Amy Carattini. Luisa Godinez and Ana Maria Lara of the Department of Social Development and Employment - DDSE of the Organization of American States provided logistical support for the production of this publication. Production oversight was provided by Araceli Azuara until August 2012. This publication is available online at www.migracionoea.org/sicremi / iii he coordination and production of this Report was jointly managed by Juan Manuel Jiménez Martínez and Marcia Bebianno Simões, Specialists of the Department of Social Development Tand Employment (DSDE) of the Organization of American States (OAS) and Georges Lemaitre, Principal Administrator of the International Migration Division of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). María Gueddy Moreno, consultant of the DSDE of the OAS was in charge of the legal framework for migration policy in participating countries and Katiuska Lourenco, consultant of the DSDE, contributed to the production of the historical overviews of mi- gration. Veronique Gindrey, statistician and Josep Mestres, economist, of the OECD, provided sup- port in statistics and in the analysis of labor market outcomes. María Natalia Bajuk and María Luisa Hayem Brevé, Remittances Specialists of the Access to Fi- nance Unit of the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) of the Inter-American Development Bank, and René Maldonado, coordinator of MIF project “Improving Central Bank Remittance Reporting and Procedures”, were in charge of the section on remittances. The content of this report is based on the official information provided and validated by the Network of National Correspondents designated by the OAS member countries participating in this second report. Preparation and dissemination of this document was made possible thanks to the contribution of the Agencia Espanola de Cooperacion para el Desarrollo, AECID, and the Canadian International Development Agency, CIDA. / v FOREWORD ountries of origin and destination countries both stand to gain from international migration, an issue that ranks high on the policy agenda of many governments around the world. For Cmany countries of origin, including in Latin America and the Caribbean, international migra- tion offers opportunities for people to work abroad and support their family members who have stayed behind. On the other hand, many destination countries, particularly high-income countries, see international migration as a means of addressing the labour market challenges posed by an aging population and the retirement of the post-World War II “baby boomers.” To better inform policy discussions on international migration, the Continuous Reporting System on International Migration in the Americas (known by its Spanish acronym, SICREMI) was jointly launched by the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Organization for Economic Coop- eration and Development (OECD). It aims to develop annual statistics and analyses of international migration trends within, as well as to and from the Western Hemisphere. The reporting system and the resulting annual publication (International Migration in the Americas) are modeled on The Inter- national Migration Outlook produced annually by the OECD for OECD countries. The current edition of International Migration in the Americas — the second annual report of the SICREMI — provides an overview of international migration to and from the countries of the Ameri- cas, with information on the labor force outcomes of emigrants from the Americas to OECD coun- tries, and features a special chapter on remittances from immigrants to their countries of origin. Among its main messages, the report calls for a more informed discussion on migration issues, based on solid statistics and evidence-based analysis. The report shows that the rollback in migra- tion flows in recent years has been relatively small, given the seriousness of the economic crisis. This outcome underscores the importance of international migration for the global economy, even under complex circumstances like the ones we confront, and suggests that migration flows will likely increase again as the global recovery takes hold. The report finds that the adverse economic situation in Spain and the United States has resulted in a slight but noticeable redirection of migration flows from the Americas to other OECD countries. It also examines the labor market situation of immigrants from the Americas in OECD countries. In particular, the report finds that, in the case of the United States, after the crisis, joblessness has fallen more rapidly among immigrants from the Americas than for the native-born population or migrants from other parts of the world. vi / INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION IN THE AMERICAS SICREMI 2012 ISBN 978-0-8270-5927-6 Participation in the SICREMI network has expanded from nine countries in the first phase to the eighteen in this edition. This increase illustrates the interest of the governments of the region in an approach to discussions on migration based on solid data and analysis. However, the effort is not complete. This second issue of International Migration in the Americas demonstrates that even while a certain momentum has been gained, there remains much work to be done. We therefore commit ourselves to support this effort in the firm belief that it can significantly con- tribute, to meaningful dialogue on migration issues, among the countries of the Americas. José Miguel Insulza Angel Gurría Secretary General of the Secretary-General of the Organization of American States Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development / vii NETWORK OF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENTS SICREMI 2012 The participating organizations would like to express their special thanks to the National Corre- spondents of the 18 participating OAS Member States and their teams, who worked hard to produce the national reports, based in which this report was developed. Argentina Martín Arias Duval, Director, Dirección Nacional de Migraciones Federico Luis Agusti, Director of International and Social Affairs, Dirección Nacional de Migraciones Eduardo E. Estévez, Consultant, Migration Information Unit, Dirección Nacional de Migraciones Barbados Erine Griffith, Chief Immigration Officer, Immigration Department Belize Tiffany Vasquez, Specialist, Statistical Institute of Belize Bolivia (Plurinational State of) German Guaygua Choqueguaita, Chief of Consular Policy Unit, Dirección General de Asuntos Consulares, Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores Brazil Denise Barros Pereira, Chief of Nationality and Naturalization Division, Departamento de Estrangeiros, Secretaria Nacional de Justiça, Ministério da Justiça Canada Martha Justus, Director, Research and Evaluation, Citizenship and Immigration Canada Chile Francisco Pérez Walker, Director, Direccion General de Asuntos Consulares y de Inmigración, Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores Ricardo Vargas Zamorano, Director of Consular Policy, Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores Pedro O. Hernández González, Chief, Departamento Planificación Migratoria Internacional, Dirección para la Comunidad de Chilenos en el Exterior, Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores viii / INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION IN THE AMERICAS SICREMI 2012 ISBN 978-0-8270-5927-6 Colombia Ivonne Forero Bejarano , Coordinator, Grupo Interno de Trabajo Colombia Nos Une, Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores Costa Rica Kathya Rodríguez A., Director, Dirección General de Migración