Abstract
This research contributes to our understandings of the employment experiences of skilled immigrants in Canada by complementing and expanding upon statistical findings from previously published studies. Through in-depth interviews with 35 skilled immigrants from Bangalore, India living in Toronto, Canada, findings indicate that migrants experience employment frustrations stemming directly from the discrepancy between admission criteria (foreign education and work experience) and employment criteria (Canadian education and work experience). After summarizing the statistical data on the non-recognition of foreign credentials, we conclude that among our sample of immigrants, frustrations stem not from credential discounting in and of itself, but from Canada’s point system for entry, which misleads these migrants about its existence and prevalence.
RÉSUMÉ
Cette recherche contribue à nos connaissances sur les expériences d’emploi des immigrants qualifiés au Canada en complétant et développant les résultats statistiques d’études déjà publiées. Des entrevues approfondies auprès de trente-cinq immigrants qualifiés de Bangalore, en Inde, et vivant à Toronto, au Canada, indiquent que les immigrants connaissent des frustrations d’emploi qui découlent directement de l’écart entre les critères d’admission (études et expérience professionnelle étrangères) et les critères d’emploi (études et expérience professionnelle canadiennes). Après avoir résumé les données statistiques sur la non reconnaissance des titres de compétences étrangers, nous concluons que pour notre échantillon d’immigrants, les frustrations ne découlent pas de la non reconnaissance de titres de compétences en soi, mais plutôt du système de points d’appréciation pour l’entrée au Canada qui induit les immigrants en erreur quant à son existence et son importance.
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Notes
It is important to note that issues with foreign credential recognition are just one of a number of factors that may lead to skilled immigrants being unemployed or underemployed in Canada. Other possible reasons include lower quality of foreign credentials (Sweetman 2004), language barriers and discrimination (Reitz and Banerjee 2007; Galabuzi 2006; Reitz 2005)
The returns on foreign education have not necessarily declined; what has changed is the entrance of more immigrants from nontraditional source countries, which are more likely to be associated with lower quality education systems than traditional source countries.
This is not to say that some foreign-earned credentials are not on par, or even of superior quality, with Canadian-earned credentials; however, Sweetman (2004), after a thorough review of studies, concludes that some foreign-earned credentials are well below Canadian standards.
They argue that for immigrants, it appears that the greatest returns result from the receipt of the degree, certificate or diploma, not the acquisition of a particular number of years of schooling.
The Greater Toronto Area (GTA) is the largest metropolitan area in Canada. In 2005, the GTA had a population of over 5.6 million people. In addition to the City of Toronto, it includes four surrounding Regional Municipalities—York, Halton, Peel and Durham.
All names used in this article are pseudonyms. Anonymity of participants was assured and maintained. Other publications generated from this sample have used different pseudonyms to ensure participants can not be identified by ‘matching’ findings from various articles.
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Submitted to the Journal of International Migration and Integration on January 12, 2009.
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Somerville, K., Walsworth, S. Admission and Employment Criteria Discrepancies: Experiences of Skilled Immigrants in Toronto. Int. Migration & Integration 11, 341–352 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-010-0138-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-010-0138-4