Emerging immigration and visa needs

As per a survey done in 2020, an estimated 281 million people were living in a different country, away from their birthplace. In addition to typical migrants who migrate willingly, this number also accounted for the 20.7 million refugees and 4.2 million asylum seekers who are compelled to travel. Since then, these numbers have only increased.

The rise of international migrants can be attributed to a number of factors. Immigrants have moved in pursuit of better opportunities for their children's education, economic advancement, and, in some cases, political or religious freedom. Let's not miss the crisis situation from weather, pandemic, and war that has induced large-scale migration.

COVID-19, though, had the most far-reaching impact on this "Megatrend". Restricting national borders and limiting movement internationally interfered with all types of human mobility. According to a report by the United Nations, preliminary estimates indicate that the pandemic may have caused the stock of international migrants to rise by almost two million less by mid-2020, or 27% less than the growth anticipated since mid-2019.

Labor migration movements persisted in 2021 at markedly lower levels than pre-pandemic flows. Reduced migration inflows brought on by COVID-related limitations may also have demographic implications on nations where immigration is a key driver of population increase. For instance, according to national figures for 2020, Germany's population dropped for the first time in the past ten years as a result of a fall in immigration.

When seeing through the migration lens, Covid-19 definitely brought in an economic crisis. In the host nations, the COVID-19 situation has increased difficulties in industries that rely on the supply of migrant workers. The crisis has disproportionately affected manufacturing, retail and wholesale, travel and tourism, food and hospitality, and transportation. There are growing indications of labour shortages in the agriculture sector of industrial nations that depend on migrant labourers as the farming season gets underway in many nations. Hence due to the heavy participation of migrants in many other key sectors, countries have made certain exemptions, notably in the health, manufacturing, and service sectors.

Additionally, several nations have taken steps to mobilize the migrant health workforce. Some examples include:

n Temporary license for doctors with foreign medical degrees in Ontario and British Columbia in Canada, New Jersey in the United States, and Italy

n Direct government support to facilitate national health services, eg, Spain & Chile.

n Recognition of foreign qualifications of health professionals in Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, Spain

n Permit foreign-trained health professionals to work in non-medical positions in the healthcare industry in France

The scale of migration is bound to increase manifold by the end of 2050. Accelerated by pandemic, we are already witnessing changes in many immigration and visa processing. This is expected to continue in the coming decades too, depending on the intensity and volume of migration flow.