Virus halves migration to OECD nations

TOKYO: Migration to OECD member states nearly halved in the first half of 2020 from a year earlier, marking the biggest fall on record due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, the Paris-based organisation said in a recent report.

Amid restrictions on international travel imposed by many countries to curb the virus spread, the number of new issuances of visas and permits for immigrants by the 37 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development member nations dropped 46% in the January-June period from a year earlier, the report said.

Japan and South Korea, which also temporarily invalidated previously issued visas, posted drops in the issuances of temporary and longer-term visas of 64% and 75%, respectively.

Likewise, Chile, Greece and the United States saw such numbers halving, according to the OECD.

Citing pandemic-caused suspension of consular services to screen applications as another factor, the OECD said the decline in the six-month period was “the largest drop ever recorded” in the OECD countries, which accepted a total of 5.3 million permanent migrants in 2019.

“The past decade has seen encouraging progress on migration policies and integration as well as on international cooperation on migration management,” the report said. “Today, there is a risk that some of the progress in migration and integration outcomes may actually be erased by the pandemic and its economic fallout.”

“Overall, 2020 is expected to be a historical low for international migration in the OECD area,” it said.

The OECD forecast that migration flows will not bounce back to previous levels “for some time,” citing weaker labour demand, ongoing travel restrictions and wider adoption of teleworking and remote learning.

The report emphasised the “key contributions” made by migrants on the frontline of the Covid-19 crisis. They account for a large share of the workforce in OECD nations’ essential sectors such as healthcare, where 24% of doctors and 16% of nurses are immigrants.

The OECD also said that some studies have found that the infection risk of immigrants is more than twice as high as that of native-born people, due to their work at the forefront and vulnerabilities stemming from bad housing conditions, poverty and other factors.

In addition, many migrants work in the most virus-affected industries, the report said.