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APPENDIX E: INTERNATIONAL BENCHMARKING

The aim of this section is to explore services run in other countries that are comparable to the RAS and to highlight their applicability to the RAS in terms of lessons learned and good practice. At a national level, two of the most successful examples of immigration services are Australia and Quebec (Canada). At a sub-regional level, two interesting examples are the Italian province of Arezzo and the Swedish municipality of Stromsund. The services provided in each of these places are different in scale and scope, but have some common characteristics.

Australia

Like Scotland and many other industrialised countries, Australia is facing the problems of a low total fertility rate (lower than the replacement ratio) and of an ageing population. The Total Fertility Rate ( TFR) of Australian women has constantly declined since 1961, when it peaked at 3.5 births per woman, and is projected to fall to 1.6 by 2042. In the past century, the proportion of population aged over 65 has risen from just over 4% to almost 12.5%. By 2042, around 24.5% of Australia's population is expected to be aged over 65 (Australian Government, 2003).

The Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs has set-up a migration programme in order to attract people to move to Australia and help to ensure positive net migration. The number of people involved in the programme rose from 73,900 in 1996-97 to 114,360 in 2003-04 (Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs, 2005). The migration programme for 2004-05 has 120,000 places available for migrants, with a strong focus on attracting skilled people. The migration programme is made up of different streams.

The skill migration stream is tailored to attract people who have particular occupational skills, business skills or outstanding talents. Within the skill stream, the main countries of citizenship in 2003-04 were the United Kingdom, India, China and South Africa (Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs, 2005). It has a number of component parts.

• Australia's general skilled migration programme targets people who are highly skilled, under 45 years of age, with a high level of English language ability, and who will quickly make a contribution to the Australian economy. Immigrants' skills are assessed by the relevant assessing authority.
• The business skills programme is divided into four categories: business owner category; senior executive category, investor category; and business talent category (for high-calibre business people who have sponsorship from a State/Territory government). In order to encourage people with business skills to immigrate to Australia, bespoke Visas are granted to business owners, senior executives and investors.
• The distinguished talent programme is designed to attract persons who want to settle permanently in Australia and are able to demonstrate they have a internationally-recognised record of exceptional and outstanding achievement in a profession, the arts, sport or research and academia.

The family migration stream is tailored to attract people who can be sponsored by a relative who is an Australian citizen or permanent resident. There exist different types of family migration patterns: partner migration; child migration; parent migration; and other family migration.

The special eligibility migration stream is tailored to attract former citizens, residents wanting to return to Australia, or New Zealanders who meet a set of criteria.

The Australian Government is also issuing temporary and permanent visas to attract overseas nurses to work in the health care industry in Australia due to the high demand for nurses in the country. Most visa applications for nurses receive priority.

Detailed information on the criteria people need to satisfy in order to fall into one of the aforementioned categories and what people need to know if deciding to move to Australia (in the frequently asked question format) are provided in the migration programme portal ¹⁸.

Quebec (Canada)

221,318 immigrants moved to Canada in 2003. This compares to 228,616 newcomers in 2002 and 250,423 in 2001. Ontario was the most popular destination for immigrants in 2003 (54.2%), followed by Quebec (17.8%), British Columbia (15.9%), Alberta (7.1%) and Manitoba (2.9%). (Government of Alberta, 2003).

In Canada, the Central and State Government share jurisdiction in the field of immigration: the Canadian Government establishes Canadian immigration policy and develops immigration projections in consultation with the provinces. The provinces have their own immigration services and play a direct role in selecting immigrants who wish to settle in that province. The province of Quebec is different from the other nine provinces because it has its own immigration programme, selection criteria and procedures. For example, the Quebec Government provides specific selection rules for skilled workers and businesses. An individual may then not be eligible for immigration to Canada, but he may be eligible for immigration to Quebec and vice versa. Quebec has, in general, broader devolved powers than the other provinces, having also, for example, its own pension plan and police force, it collects its own income tax and operating its own health care system. The Quebec immigration service is outlined below.

As is the case in most industrialised nations, the population of Quebec is ageing. Compared with the other provinces of Canada, the United States and European nations, the population of Quebec is relatively young. However, demographic trends suggest that within 40 years, Quebec will rank among the oldest populations. In 1996, Quebecers aged more than 65 accounted for roughly 12% of the population. This proportion is expected to rise to 20% by 2031 (Government of Quebec, 2004).

The province of Quebec offers special assistance to people who want to migrate to Canada through a number of programmes.

The Business People Programme is composed of three sub-programmes: the Entrepreneur Programme, aimed at attracting those who have a business plan that will create jobs; the Investor Programme, aimed at attracting those who intend to contribute to Quebec's economic development by making a sizeable capital investment; and the Self-employed Worker Programme, aimed at attracting those who intend create their own employment. Detailed criteria are listed on the immigration service's web site ¹⁹.

The Permanent Workers Programme: to be selected as permanent immigrant workers, immigrants must have received training and possess occupational skills that will facilitate their integration into the labour market. More precisely, workers can move to Quebec if: a Quebec employer has offered them a job; they are highly qualified workers in the information technologies and telecommunications, biotechnology or aeronautics sector; or they have an occupational profile that will allow them to adapt to the demands of the Quebec labour market. Once again, detailed criteria and prerequisites are listed on the immigration service web site.

Families programmes: Canadian citizens or landed immigrants residing in Quebec may sponsor the family member provided that the family member belongs to the family class and that the applicant satisfies the prerequisites.

Students. There is also a programme that is aimed at encouraging students to study in Quebec.

Detailed information on why people should choose to move to Quebec and on procedures for getting settled are provided in the immigration service portal. The web site is also translated in French and Spanish. The email addresses, telephone and fax numbers of all the immigration centres located in Quebec are also provided.

Stromsund (Sweden)

Stromsund is the sixth largest municipal district of Sweden: it covers 10,000 square kilometres and has 13,267 inhabitants. Following a population loss of 1,722 people between 1993 and 2000 and a persistent negative net migration rate, a specific service was introduced in 2000 in order to attract people to move to the area. In 2003, the trend had been substantially changed, with net migration figure of only -2, after 400 people immigrated to the area (Statistics Sweden, 2004).

The service is called "Stromsund Nybyggarland", which means "new built region". The service is primarily aimed at attracting businesses and skilled workers to the area, according to the contextual market shortages. For example, when the programme took off in 2000, it was specifically aimed at attracting social care workers, due to a high demand of social care workers within the local labour market, whereas it is currently tailored at attracting doctors.

People who want to move to Stormsund can find information on the municipality's web site ²⁰ (for example on housing and child care) and can directly contact the staff members of the service. The web site is written only in Swedish, but it is specified that the service also aims to attract foreigners.

Arezzo (Italy)

The total population in the province of Arezzo was 326,160 in 2002, an increase of 3,168 from the previous year. The population increased due to a positive net migration of 4,111. (Provincia di Arezzo, 2004).

This case study is different from the other examples. The service offered by the province of Arezzo is mainly tailored to match the demand for labour of Italian businesses looking to recruit from overseas with the supply of labour of overseas people seeking employment in Italy. Particular services for students or expatriate Italians looking to return home are not mentioned. The province of Arezzo does not have a bespoke web site for people interested in moving to the area. However, it does proactively collaborate on a regular basis with the so-called Associazioni Nazionali (National Associations), i.e. associations of foreigners who live or would like to live in Italy.

The service works as follows. The Italian Central Government is responsible for deciding the total number and the shares for country of provenience of foreign people who can move to Italy. For example, in 2004, 106 places were allocated to the province of Arezzo, of which 20 were reserved for Algerians. Once informed of the number and shares for country of provenience of foreign immigrants, the province of Arezzo contacts, through the local job centre, the employers who are looking for overseas employees (following the "first come, first served" rule). According to the kind of workers employers are looking for, overseas workers are recruited through the relative National Association. For example, if three Italian employers are looking for three Algerian nurses, the Algerian National Association contacts the first three Algerian people on the list who have the right skills to work as nurses. Once the overseas workers are selected, they are helped to settle in Arezzo, through the "Centro per l'Immigrazione" (Immigration Centre), a centre that provide foreigners with information on the documents they need to live in Italy, on available accommodation within the province of Arezzo, etc.

The Immigration Centre and the National Associations, working closely with the province of Arezzo, also provides help for entrepreneurs and the self-employed who would like to start-up a business within the Province of Arezzo. In the last four years, the number of enterprises with at least one foreign entrepreneur has more than doubled in the province, rising from 792 in 2000 to 1,652 in 2004. Of these, 1,120 (68%) were led by the self-employed. 30% of the foreign self-employed in Arezzo were from Romania, 14% from Albania, 12% from Morocco, 5% from Pakistan and 4% from China. Construction (49%) and commerce (24%) are the two main sectors of activity for foreign entrepreneurs (Osservatorio Sociale, 2004).

Distinctive characteristics across international benchmarks

A summary of the main characteristics of the services provided in the four countries selected as case studies and in Scotland is provided in Table 6.1.

Table 6.1. An international comparison of immigration services

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