Massive and Selective Migration Policies Example: H1B, Germany and Turkish Migrants

Today we are going to work on the second type of migratory policy that Lelio Marmora explains, are promotion policies that aim to 'promote the entry or voluntary departure of migrants to or from a given country' (Marmora, 2004, p. 100). The author divides this type of immigration in two groups: massive and selective. In the case of massive migration, is usually related to programs of colonization, where it promotes the potential recipient country as a viable option to migrate, normally international agreements can be signed to facilitate the provision of migrants, and the receptor country facilities economic and logistic assistance so people can establish themselves in their territory, (Mármora, 2004), especially unpopulated areas that need to be developed.

On the other hand there is selective immigration that responds to the necessity that a State may need "qualified human resources" in any specific field (Marmora, 2004; p100). As in the previous case the receiving State can take a series of measures deemed necessary to attract a particular type of migrants that have strategic importance for qualified human capital. 

Examples:

I found a good example for selective migratory policies in a very odd place, in a book about Popular Science called Physics of the Future: How Science will Shape Human Destiny and Our Daily Lives by the Year 2100, written by Michio Kaku. The author explains that most scientists the work in the US come from abroad, and this constant provision highly prepared human resource has been fundamental in helping the United States being a super power and keeping the country on the frontier of science. The US keeps this flow of scientist and investigators, with a special visa called H1B or called the “genius visa” in scientific community. One most add that this also fuels the brain drain of many other nations.

So this selective police tries to pick the best and brightest from around the globe, if a person can show they have the skills or the knowledge then they can be eligible for this visa and have the possibility to reside in the US. Kaku to illustrate this point writes that about 50 of the people that work in Silicon Valley where born outside of the US, most of these being from Taiwan and India (P 440; Kaku 2011). He adds that that also 50 of university students that study Physics are also born abroad (P 440; Kaku 2011).

Michio Kaku, then starts talk about that how some politicians complain that this particular visa takes jobs from people born in North America, but the author explains that there are very few qualified American Scientists and they can’t cover the demand for qualified human recourses needed in places like Silicon Valley. “The immigrants that have the H1B visa don’t take jobs from natives; on the contrary they create completely new industries” (P440; Kaku), that obviously generate many jobs. This selective migratory policy, is very important political  tool for the United States of America  it actually helps the country position itself on the world stage and show us how to correctly administrate the flow of migrants liberating there potential. As we can observe a migratory policy most serve the interest of the country that forges it, or it must be discarded.         

Now another selective policy that has been the center of a strong debate over the years and has been accused to have wasted too many opportunities has been the German migratory policy towards Turkish migrants. After the Second World War countries like England and France, took the decision in taking migrants from their colonies and ex-colonies to help them in their reconstruction and jump start their economies, Germany had virtual no colonies to draw people form so they looked to other poorer countries to the east draw cheap labor from, and Turkey was one of those countries.

The first international agreement between the two countries was signed 1961, establish a “guest worker program” (Yanina Gutmann, Le Monde; 2014), one must take into account the transitory nature of this type labor, there for they are not considered migrants, yet. These new guest workers had to satisfy the demand of the lower end of the job market, they where low skilled labor, and most of them where provided dormitories by the companies that needed them. So as we can see, from the start there was no intention to integrate these visitors because they were temporary workers, but as we are going to see this transitory nature transforms and the German government didn’t do much to accommodate this new situation, they found themselves with a mass of migrants in their territory and had no idea how to manage the problem.

The policy that was established 1961 originally let Turkish works to stay for two years in the country and send them back and bring in another batch Turkish workers, but this never really took shape those who arrived stayed, their bosses and business owners opposed to sending them back because they didn’t want to lose trained employs, the rotation clause was removed in 1964 because of industrial lobby. Also the migrants had very little incentive to go home, do to the political instability Turkey was going through, many diced to bring their families overtime, also leaving there dormitories creating Turkish neighborhoods over time, further segregating themselves.  

And one must add that the German economy was a sponge and it needed more and more workers especially in the three D’s type jobs (Dirty, Dingy and Dangerous), they also increased tax revenue, social security contributions and these workers accepted low wages just to be able to stay in the country. One must  take into account that in Germany there is no minimum wage so these works could compete unfairly in the job market.

 In the 90’s, even though Germany had a prosperous economy, it had some unemployment issues; it had more than 4 million jobless people (Yanina Gutmann, 2014). So inmigration started to become a hot issue and as usual a scapegoat, politicians used these migrants as cannon fodder for their platforms, these people where a menace for the countries national identity, some alleged. But this wasn’t the first time in the 70’s when the oil crisis menaced the German economy and Turkish works became a political punching bag, but the thing was that at the same time these migrants where being offered permanent residencies, so you can observe the strong and obvious contradiction, and when you do not have a proper policy, all you get are socially segmented reactions.

During the 90’s the German government started to promote the “desired return home” and in some cases offering a monetary incentive for people to go back to Turkey, now this probably didn’t go to well with these people, most of them have children growing up in Germany and the center of their lives, there home was in this country, it’s not that easy to get up and leave.        

In an article for Spiegel Online (07/09/2010), the authors Mathias Bartsch, Andrea Brant and Daniel Steinvorth explain that these particular migrants that are about 3 million, and Germany as a country has done very little integrate them, there was even a strong denial that there was a problem in the first place, but it was a fact there was an important part of their population that had serious issues integrating themselves. A migratory policy must not only bring the people and make them part of the economic circuit; they must integrate them culturally so there is no friction with the local population. In the Spiegel article explains Schools added the Turkish langue as part of this policy to send these people back, not as a multicultural incentive of integration.

Another aspect of the problem that is illustrated in a article in the New York Times written by Judy Dempsy , published the 15/04/2013 explains that German authorities do not allow Turkish inmigrants to have dual passports, and that they most choose, unlike citizens from countries that are part of the European Union. “They most choose by the age of 23 or they lose their German passports”, this is for children Turkish inmigrants  that were born in Germany after the first of January 2000 (Dempsy, 2013), those who were born before that date may retain their dual passports. German politicians from the right defend this policy argumenting that before integration you most show loyalty.       

All the measures that I can find that the German government has tried  during the 2000’s was to take initiative in integrating Turkish migrants and there descends had a strong economic aspect, it revolved around how to better integrate these people in the labor market, and try to kick start their social mobility making things better for everyone, only time will tell if this strategy will work.