Issues of Migration and Development - Essay Example

Migration stories and theories Introduction Issues of migration and development has been, for the last few decades, the topic of discussion especially by scholars and policy makers, often sparking heated debates. Some have been pessimistic, raising issues like brain drain, while others have been optimistic, especially recently with the emergency of new insights (Kapur 2003). This has seen the birth of diverse theories of migration and development based on the experiences of immigrants and the social economic outcomes of the countries involved. This paper seeks to discuss the experiences of such immigrants based on three theories of migration and development. Michael Hoffmanns Story Michael Hoffman-an Information technology professional- and his wife, left their home in Denver Colorado in 2000 and decided to go and live in Melbourne. At first,his wife was not for the idea but later on, after a reconnaissance trip to Melbourne, she came along. Life in Delver, according to them, was not good and they were unhappy. He had moved there in early 1990s for the purpose of advancing his career in information technology (Liveinvictoria.vic.gov.au, 2014). How they got to Melbourne Migrating to Melbourne started when they spotted a migration agent on the internet where formal application began. Because of the skills that Michael had in information technology, he was able to earn more points under the Australian’s skills-based migration scheme (Liveinvictoria.vic.gov.au, 2014) Finding work in Melbourne Michael had successfully applied for a job in Melbourne as an information security professional and he accepted the offerupon arriving there. Michael is now a senior managing consultant with IBM, still working at security section. His wife was also able to secure work easily. She currently works as a manager in DeakinPrime as a project management consultant of the company with over 2500 customers. This was after starting her business in corporate training. They are proud to call Melbourne their home. They have acquired Australian citizenship (Liveinvictoria.vic.gov.au, 2014). Other than finding work, Michael’s other priority was to find a place to live. That was not difficultin Melbourne. They settled in the Melbourne’s northern suburbs, a distance of 14 Km from Melbourne city centre. This was after staying with couple of friends at eastern suburb of Oak Leigh and then later on renting a place in the in Glen Waverley (Liveinvictoria.vic.gov.au, 2014). Hoffmann’s story finds base in the push-pull framework theory which, unlike neo-classical and historical-structural theories, seeks also to explain why some people migrate while others opt not to (Massey et al 1993), and why particular people migrate to particular places as opposed to others in a non-random fashion. Lee (1966), in his revision of Regenstein’s laws on migration, proposed that the decision to migrate is determined by the following: factors attributable to original area, destination area, intervening obstacles like distance or laws guiding migration, and personal factors. He argues that migration occurs along well-defined "currents", from specific places of origin to particular places at the destination, chiefly because of the perceived immense opportunities and also the exchange of favorable information from the destination which prompt more immigrants. Furthermore, Lee concurs with the neo-classical perspective in that he believes differentials in human endowments also dictate the differentials in destinations. As such, destinations do not reflect the places of origin. Michael migrated to Australia to advance his career in information technology. On landing there, he found a more fulfilling opportunity and decided to settle there as opposed to going back to his country. Lakshman Ratnayakes Story Lakshman Ratnayake and his family, also from Shri Lanka, have also found a home in Melbourne. They chose Victoria because it was friendly, clean and relaxing. Lakshman opted for Melbourne for its strong manufacturing base. He wanted to re-establish his business after abandoning the family business back at home. The business was a potentially successful rubber manufacturing plant, though it was not doing well in his country. Melbourne had an excellent transport system and a large container port. Upon arriving in the city, the family got legal protection from Australian government on account of being legal immigrants. Later on, they managed to apply for business migration visas. Among the first thing he planned to do was to have his wife complete forklifting course at a technical educational college to enable her get a job. While looking for a job, he bumped on a rubber manufacturing company and an export idea clicked in his mind. Lakshman identified rubber recycling and export as a potential business opportunity that needed to be exploited. Their business While in Melbourne, Lakshman noticed that Australian companies were using most of their rubber products for land refills, which in his opinion could have been recycled. After about three months of settling in Melbourne, Lakshman established his business in Bray brook and started exporting rubber to his home country. Later on, he expanded and secured markets in Malaysia and Indonesia (Liveinvictoria.vic.gov.au, 2014). The amount of rubber by-products that were being put into land fill were about 15000 tonnes. Lakshman began by doing all the work by himself right from collection, to loading and then shipping containers. His wife, Sumana, arranged for transportation and did all the administrative work. This work saw them working for seven days a week. By the year 2005, the business had grown in leaps and bounds. They started manufacturing and several industries were opened in Dandenong south. He also ventured in the recycling of car tyres. With increasing demand for their rubber, more space became inevitable and they were able to source even larger factories. Lakshman signed an agreement with Australian retail giant Clark Rubber, to supply rubber throughout Australia. Since most of their work is automated, the need for manual labour is minimal and currently, they only have four machine operators (Liveinvictoria.vic.gov.au, 2014). Over the last few decades, their company was recognised as an Australian leader in Australian maker of rubber, mats as well as solid tyres. The company won Telstra Business award in 2009. In 2008, they won the ethnic Business Awards. This made them very proud. Today, they not only provide unique eco-product and create jobs for many, but also help in recycling rubber and reducing the amount of rubber that would have been imported. The company boasts of having the most committed and dedicated team, mainly comprised of immigrants (Liveinvictoria.vic.gov.au, 2014). Lakshman’s life experience finds foot in the historical-structural theory, which holds the view that political and economic power is unequally distributed among countries, leading to unequal access to resources. Capitalism enhances this disparities. As such, underdeveloped countries find themselves at a disadvantaged position within the global geopolitical map. They find themselves dependent on the stronger economies as they lack structures that boost the economy, including industries (Massey et al., 1998). People tend to migrate to such well-off economies and this worsens the already wanting economies characteristic of these third world countries. Migration, then, becomes the very cause of underdevelopment, rather than a path towards development.(Baran 1973). Lakshman opted for Australia for its strong manufacturing base. In this environment, he was able to thrive and not only become an exporter but won accolades for his entrepreneurship. This may not have been possible in his original country, which was disadvantaged industrial wise. Tun Fun Hom’s story In the 1950s and 1960s, development theories portrayed immigrants as important components of innovation and change in the host countries. This is a pessimistic view that portrays immigrants as non-developmental agent to their original countries. The sending countries are deprived of skilled labor and professionals (Baldwin 1970). Monies sent back home is mainly for daily consumptions as opposed to productive enterprises. Some immigrants soon take in their family members who also start news lives in the receiving countries. Tun Fun Hom, who migrated to the US as a "paper son" in 1936 using forged identity papers, started small as a New York laundry worker, but gradually rose to the spotlight. He helped build battleships in World War II, and also made arrangements for his family members to migrate to the US. He took them to school and they have now engaged the development of their host countries in various disciplines. Their original countries are deprived of these human resources (Bernstein, 2009). This validates the Cumulative causation theory in that migration sabotages the economic systems of sending countries by depriving them of their most valuable human resource. References Bernstein, N. (2009). Immigration Stories, From Shadows to Spotlight. New York Times,45 (7), 103-108. Haas, H. (2010). Migration and Development: A Theoretical Perspective. International Migration Review, 44(1).  Liveinvictoria.vic.gov.au,. (2014). LakshmanRatnayakes Story - Live in Victoria. Liveinvictoria.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 11 May 2014, from http://www.liveinvictoria.vic.gov.au/information/skilled-migrants/migrant-stories/lakshman-ratnayakes-story/_nocache#video Liveinvictoria.vic.gov.au,. (2014). Michael Hoffmanns Story. Retrieved 11 May 2014, from http://www.liveinvictoria.vic.gov.au/information/skilled-migrants/migrant-stories/michael-hoffmanns-story/_nocache#section-3 Unfpa.org,. (2014). Migration: A World on the Move: Population &Development: UNFPA. Retrieved 11 May 2014, from http://www.unfpa.org/pds/migration.html Read More