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The Canada-Caribbean Remittance Corridor
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in the period 1980–2006. The economic class category comprised approximately 20 percent. Interviews with remittance recipients in Jamaica appear to support these statistics. A majority of those surveyed explained that the remittance sender migrated to Canada through some connection to a family member already living in Canada. It may not be surprising that the largest share of immigrants arrive through the family class reunification category. In 2001, Jamaicans were the fourth largest non-European ethnic group in Canada and represented almost 1 percent of the total population. The 2006 census estimates that more than 231,000 people of Jamaican origin live in Canada, and that this community is growing considerably more quickly than is the overall Canadian population. The number of people who said they were of Jamaican origin grew by 12 percent between 1996 and 2001 whereas the overall Canadian population grew only by 4 percent (Lindsay 2001). The number of permanent visas issued to Jamaicans in the refugee category has generally been minimal. This may well be because, compared with other parts of the Caribbean such as Haiti, the country’s political atmosphere is relatively stable.52 Recent years have seen a decline in issuance of visas for economic class. The reasons for this are unclear, but there are some possible explanations. First, the Canadian immigration points system has progressively required prospective immigrants to meet more and more stringent educational and professional standards, and it is possible that fewer Jamaicans are able to meet them. In addition, Jamaicans applying for visas are facing greater competition from immigrants from other parts of the world, such as South and East Asia (whose immigrants now receive the largest share of permanent visas from Canadian authorities). Another factor might simply be that Jamaican immigrants are disinclined to apply for permanent visas. A permanent visa application takes two to three years to process, a situation that makes the job market in Canada very difficult to forecast. Due to these delays, many skilled Jamaican professionals, like other immigrant groups, become unemployed in Canada upon arrival. Current immigration rules do not demand that employment has already been secured, although the emigrant must have enough income for at least one year of reasonable living.53 This latter reason might explain the significant reduction in the amount of applications received from Jamaicans (from 905 economic applicants in 2001 to a mere 276 in 2004). Applications for permanent resident visas for economic/employment reasons, however, did pick up again in 2005.54
Migration Trends and Classification of Temporary Residents Statistics from the Canadian High Commission in Jamaica show a generally upward trend of temporary resident and temporary worker visas issued between 2000 and 2007, while the issuance of student visas for Jamaicans has remained relatively constant (see Figure 43). Jamaicans who visit Canada for a certain period of time, to visit family or relatives for example, are issued with temporary resident visas.
52. Statistics, Canadian High Commission. 53. Officials from the Canadian High Commission. 54. Canadian High Commission Statistics.