Korea should adopt 'Canada-style' immigration policy

By Kim Young-jin
Staff reporter

The Korean government should take a "Canada-style" approach to immigration by allowing provinces to shape their own policies, in a bid to bolster the economy and tackle challenges posed by changing demographics, an American expert on migration said Friday.

"Provinces have their own economic ambitions and goals," Dr. Charles Harns, director of the government-affiliated Migration Research and Training Center (MTRC), said in an interview with The Korea Times in Seoul. "They should be partners in deciding to what level of migration is going to help them achieve those goals."

The MRTC, which opened last year in affiliation with the Ministry of Justice and the Korean Immigration Service, conducts research on immigration-related topics and consolidates the information to help set policy direction.

Under Canada's system, provinces have a significant role in tailoring immigration strategy to meet their economic need and balancing the number of temporary migrants with the number of immigrants.

A similar structure would foster healthy competition among Korean provinces to attract the global talent, Harns said, at a time when the rapidly aging population and low birthrate threaten to cut the country's growth rate in the coming years.

The expert lauded the government's moves to allow selected foreigners to hold dual citizenship, which he believes will bolster the economy in the long run by helping retain talented individuals.

Under a National Assembly revision passed in April, exceptionally talented foreign nationals will soon be able to obtain Korean citizenship without renouncing their own.

"Dual citizenship is a natural outcome of a global economy and a global workforce," he said. "People want to have a foot firmly in two places, with allegiances in both," he said, adding that Korea's emergence on the global stage demands such a policy.

According to the latest data, the number of foreigners living in Korea now exceeds 1.2 million, driven by a surging number of interracial marriages between Korean men and women mostly from developing Asian countries.

Earlier this month, the government revealed that 35 percent of Korean fishermen and farmers who married last year chose immigrant brides, and many did so through marriage brokers.

The recent murder of a 20-year-old Vietnamese bride by her mentally-ill Korean husband of just eight days should provide an impetus for the government to better implement existing mechanisms to support the brides.

"Marriage migrants are at the mercy of the information they receive from afar, and information they receive through a recruitment agency that has a financial interest geared toward where they are going.

"You need to give support right from the beginning, understanding that the person is entering into deep waters, and that they need support all around them to get through that phase," he said.

The expert suggested that more bilateral work be done to monitor the brokers and an increased involvement of international organizations to provide a "safe place to nest when they arrive."

Harns, who has over 30 years of experience in the field, believes that the country's history of travelling and migrating abroad has prepared Koreans to embrace more dynamic immigration policies and multiculturalism, despite widely held beliefs to the contrary.

"Due to language and the finely-tuned, very exquisite culture here, many people feel that it's somewhat separate," he said "But there is already a tremendous amount of international influence and acceptance. Korea is much more ready than many suspect."


Source:http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2010/07/116_69537.html

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