Immigration

Immigration is people moving into a country to live. People who immigrate for political asylum are called refugees. People who immigrate are called immigrants.

Immigrant and emigrant do not mean the same thing. An emigrant is a person that leaves his or her own country or region and an immigrant is a person that comes from other country or region.

The phrases "many people emigrated from Europe in the 19th century AD to America" and "many people immigrated to America from Europe in the 19th century" have the same meaning.

Immigration around the world. Countries in blue have more immigrants than emigrants; countries in green have about the same; and countries in orange have more emigrants than immigrants.

Reasons for immigration

People immigrate for several reasons:

• Pull: the country that people want to immigrate to seems to allow a better life. For example, in the new country, work is easier to find, quality of life is better, etc.
• Push: the country that people are immigrating from has become difficult to live in. For example, there may be no work, a war, or other reasons.
• Personal reasons: people immigrate to join their families.

Difficulty of immigration

Immigration has always been difficult. When people immigrates, they leave behind their friends, families, and culture. They also have to sell what they have, like a house, farm, or anything else too big to bring.

Travelling can also be very expensive. Many immigrants have to use all their money to pay fees or plane tickets.

Once immigrants arrive in the new countries, they can face many difficulties. They may be have get a job, find a house, and learn a new language. Immigrants can also be victims of racism.

Other pages

The English Wiktionary has a dictionary definition (meanings of a word) for:

immigration

• Migrant worker
• Refugee
• Political asylum
• Deportation
• Diaspora
• Exile
• Human migration
• Refugee
• Vienna Declaration