Restricting immigration to foster migrant integration? A comparative study across 22 European countries

Elaborating a popular assumption about the effects of immigration policies on the integration of migrants, we argue in this article that more restrictive immigration policies lead to the selection of immigrants with greater integration potential, and that this selection should foster migrant integra...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of ethnic and migration studies 2020-10, Vol.46 (13), p.2603-2624
Main Authors: Helbling, Marc, Simon, Stephan, Schmid, Samuel D
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
1980-2010
Comparative analysis
Comparative studies
Europa
Europe
European Social Survey (ESS)
Immigrants
Immigration policies
Immigration Policies in Comparison (IMPIC) database
Immigration policy
Individual differences
integration outcomes
Migrants
Migration
Noncitizens
Policy making
rounds 1-8
Social integration
Sozialwissenschaften, Soziologie
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Summary:Elaborating a popular assumption about the effects of immigration policies on the integration of migrants, we argue in this article that more restrictive immigration policies lead to the selection of immigrants with greater integration potential, and that this selection should foster migrant integration. To test this argument, we combine country-level data from the Immigration Policies in Comparison (IMPIC) database with individual-level data on economic, political and social integration from multiple rounds of the European Social Survey (ESS) across 22 European countries. We show that, first, more restrictive immigration policies do not increase the likelihood of more educated migrants to be admitted, but they do make it more likely for migrants from European OECD countries to be admitted, while making it less likely for migrants outside the OECD. Second, we find that immigration policies affect some forms of economic, political and social integration outcomes, but mostly for immigrants from non-OECD countries. We conclude that immigration policies do affect integration outcomes but that these effects are small and limited to specific integration outcomes and migrants from specific regions. Our study, therefore, relativises the underlying popular assumption that immigration restrictions foster migrant integration, bearing important implications for the currently salient debates on immigration policy-making.
ISSN:1469-9451
1369-183X
1469-9451
DOI:10.1080/1369183X.2020.1727316