Proactive Immigration

According to the statistics, some European countries including Germany, France, and United Kingdom have international migrants as more than 10 percent of total population (UN, 2013). In 2013, the number of international migrants reached an all-time high rate of 232 million which, at the same time, raises the higher possibility of diverse conflicts between the immigrants and the natives (ibid, 2013). The term, immigration, has been applied to situations where a person moves to a different country for the purpose of permanent stay (Anon., 2012).Considering aforementioned facts, it can be easily recognized that the issue of immigration is not something only for particular countries but for a wider range of countries that needs to be dealt with
Theoretically, proactive immigrants are considered as a type of people who voluntarily agree to find a new living environment without anyone’s compulsion; they are often married immigrants, migrant workers, long-term study abroad students, or ‘ordinary’ emigrants (Richmond, 1988). In the light of proactive immigration, this paper highlights family-based immigration which is one of the most common proactive immigrations that can contribute to the development of the local communities in various aspects (Richmond, 1988; AAJC, 2011). In particular, the country is significantly influenced in a positive way when family-based immigrants participate in the labor force and contribute to the local community (AIC, 2013). One factor for such positive influence is that in the U.S., the majority of new family visa immigrants have become “the most upwardly mobile of American workers,” (ibid, 2013, n.p.) considering “their high rates of post-immigration human capital investment” (ibid, 2013). Such notion indicates benefits not only for immigrants, but also in an economic connotation. Another factor is that despite the lack of proper immigrant policies, the help offered by families and ethnic communities plays a role in integrating new immigrants groups and the natives. To be specific, ethnic communities or families play a part of
Due to irreversible or insoluble situations such as wars, coups, or natural disasters, some people have to move to other countries without any preparation or plan (Richmond, 1988). Such case only delays the time for the immigrants to completely become a part of society and for the natives to totally embrace the new people, because those immigrants do not intend to move by their will, rather being compelled to move, and therefore, it takes more time for both the natives and those immigrants to understand each other (Iyengar et al., 2013). When it comes to the discussion of reactive immigration, this essay focuses more on the refugees who flee away from the corrupted or destroyed countries. When refugees start their new life in a totally new environment, the discourses of integration and possible conflict are the core issues (Harding, Oltermann and Watt, 2015; Kirk, 2015). In fact, the reaction of the natives regarding this matter is not so favorable; rather, there have been voices against the refugees. For instance, according to the German interior ministry, there are 336 attacks on refugee shelters since the beginning of 2015 due to the conflicting political ideology (Harding, Oltermann and Watt, 2015). Even in the statistics, it indicates