IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/joimai/v21y2020i3d10.1007_s12134-019-00693-w.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Bureaucratic and Political Work of Immigration Classifications: an Analysis of the Temporary Foreign Workers Program and Access to Settlement Services in Canada

Author

Listed:
  • Sarah Elizabeth Roberts

    (University of Toronto)

Abstract

While migrant workers play an important role in maintaining the Canadian work force, unlike permanent residents and Canadian citizens, they are permitted to work in Canada only for short durations, with limitations placed on who they can work for, where they can live, and what services they have available to support them. The uneven allocation of rights to immigrants and migrants is enabled by a multifaceted immigration bureaucracy and the application of what I term immigration classifications. This analysis applies the lens of classification theory to examine the multilayered work that classifications do in the management of the Temporary Foreign Workers Program (TFWP) and access to settlement services. It finds that, built into immigration classifications is a prioritization of economic considerations of what make immigrants desirable for long-term settlement in Canada. These considerations further shape understandings of the role the state should take in supporting immigrants and migrants. This economic-focused perspective is prioritized at the expense of considerations of the human rights and settlement needs of migrant workers, leaving them systematically marginalized and vulnerable to abuse.

Suggested Citation

  • Sarah Elizabeth Roberts, 2020. "The Bureaucratic and Political Work of Immigration Classifications: an Analysis of the Temporary Foreign Workers Program and Access to Settlement Services in Canada," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 973-992, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:joimai:v:21:y:2020:i:3:d:10.1007_s12134-019-00693-w
    DOI: 10.1007/s12134-019-00693-w
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s12134-019-00693-w
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s12134-019-00693-w?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Prokopenko, Elena & Hou, Feng, 2018. "How Temporary Were Canada’s Temporary Foreign Workers?," Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series 2018402e, Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch.
    2. Elena Prokopenko & Feng Hou, 2018. "How Temporary Were Canada's Temporary Foreign Workers?," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 44(2), pages 257-280, June.
    3. Slobodan Djajić, 2013. "Some Essentials Of A Workable Guest‐Worker Program," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 54(2), pages 739-766, May.
    4. Danielle Allard & Nadia Caidi, 2018. "Imagining Winnipeg: The translocal meaning making of Filipino migrants to Canada," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 69(10), pages 1193-1204, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Robert Falconer, 2020. "Grown Locally, Harvested Globally: The Role of Temporary Foreign Workers in Canadian Agriculture," SPP Communique, The School of Public Policy, University of Calgary, vol. 13(17), July.
    2. Oldrich Bures & Radka Klvanova & Robert Stojanov, 2020. "Strengths and Weaknesses of Canadian Express Entry System: Experts’ Perceptions," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 46(4), pages 787-812, December.
    3. Mylène Coderre & Delphine Nakache, 2022. "From Working Tourists to Permanent Residents: Experiences of Migrant Workers with Youth Mobility Schemes in Canada," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 971-988, September.
    4. Slobodan Djajic, 2014. "Guest-Worker Programs," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 12(2), pages 16-19, 07.
    5. Slobodan Djajić, 2014. "Temporary Migration and the Flow of Savings to the Source Country," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(1), pages 162-176, February.
    6. Alexandra Vinogradova, 2014. "Legal and illegal immigrants: an analysis of optimal saving behavior," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 27(1), pages 201-224, January.
    7. Djajić, Slobodan & Vinogradova, Alexandra, 2015. "Overshooting the Savings Target: Temporary Migration, Investment in Housing and Development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 110-121.
    8. Alexandra Vinogradova, 2016. "Illegal immigration, deportation policy, and the optimal timing of return," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 29(3), pages 781-816, July.
    9. Emmanuelle Auriol & Alice Mesnard, 2016. "Sale of Visas: a Smuggler's Final Song?," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 83(332), pages 646-678, October.
    10. Slobodan Djajic & Alice Mesnard, 2013. "Guest Workers in the Underground Economy," RF Berlin - CReAM Discussion Paper Series 1324, Rockwool Foundation Berlin (RF Berlin) - Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM).
    11. Xin Bao & Ping Ke, 2023. "Chaos, expansion, and contraction: The information worlds of depression patients during the COVID‐19 pandemic lockdown," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 74(8), pages 971-989, August.
    12. Auriol, Emmanuelle & Mesnard, Alice & Perrault, Tiffanie, 2023. "Temporary foreign work permits: Honing the tools to defeat human smuggling," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    13. repec:ces:ifodic:v:12:y:2014:i:2:p:19116207 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Djajić, Slobodan & Mesnard, Alice, 2015. "Guest workers in the underground economy," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 53-62.
    15. Slobodan Djajic, 2014. "Guest-Worker Programs," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 12(02), pages 16-19, July.
    16. Slobodan Djajić & Alexandra Vinogradova, 2019. "Immigration Policies and the Choice between Documented and Undocumented Migration," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 86(341), pages 201-228, January.
    17. Djajic, S. & Mesnard, A., 2013. "Guest Workers in the Underground Economy," Working Papers 13/05, Department of Economics, City University London.
    18. Ian Ruthven, 2022. "An information behavior theory of transitions," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 73(4), pages 579-593, April.
    19. Wisniewski, Radoslaw & Brzezicka, Justyna, 2020. "Translocality on the real estate market: A new extended approach," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    20. Slobodan Djajić & Alice Mesnard, 2013. "Guest Workers in the Underground Economy," IHEID Working Papers 15-2013, Economics Section, The Graduate Institute of International Studies.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:joimai:v:21:y:2020:i:3:d:10.1007_s12134-019-00693-w. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.