immigration, process through which individuals become permanent residents or citizens of another country. Historically, the process of immigration has been of great social, economic, and cultural benefit to states. The immigration experience is long and varied and has in many cases resulted in the development of multicultural societies; many modern states are characterized by a wide variety of cultures and ethnicities that have derived from previous periods of immigration.
In the post-World War II period, immigration was largely the result of the refugee movement following that war and, during the 1950s and ’60s, the end of colonization across Asia and Africa. Immigration from these areas to former imperial centres, such as the United Kingdom and France, increased. In the United Kingdom, for example, the 1948 British Nationality Act gave citizens in the former colonial territories of the Commonwealth (a potential figure of 800 million) the right of British nationality.
Immigrants and guest workers played a vital role in the rebuilding of Europe’s infrastructure after World War II by working in heavy industry, in health services, and in transport. However, they suffered discrimination, which contributed in some countries to the isolation of ethnic groups and minority communities. Some states attempted to deal with the social exclusion of immigrants by limiting future immigration, whereas others approached it with a more-inclusive “melting pot” focus on the amalgamation of diverse cultures into one coherent understanding of citizenship. This approach has been integral to the notion of citizenship in the United States, where immigrants taking U.S. citizenship swear allegiance to their new place of residence. Critics of this approach highlight the assimilation of diverse cultures and the repression of difference in the name of the state. Immigration is therefore closely related to citizenship and the social and political rights to which citizens of a state are entitled.
States maintain control of their borders and therefore are able to monitor and determine the number of immigrants who are able to remain permanently. This can vary across states, and in some areas borders are more open than in others. In 1985, for example, European states signed an agreement in Schengen, Luxembourg, to end internal border checkpoints and controls, and subsequent European Union (EU) immigration and asylum law was agreed to by the European Council in Tampere, Finland, in 1999. EU law states that European Economic Area (EEA) nationals are given the right to live and work (right of residence) in other member states. In many states this entitles newly arrived immigrants to public services (housing and social services, for example). In the United States the mechanism for selecting legal immigrants is complex, but all legal immigration flows have at least three components: family (spouses, parents, or children of U.S. citizens), employment (many different categories, including unskilled workers and investors), and humanitarian (including refugees and asylum seekers).