When people move around in the world, they are often categorized as migration or immigration, which is co-dependent but is distinguished on various levels.
Immigration vs Migration
The difference between immigration and migration is that immigration is a permanent movement from one country to another as an individual or a family under proper formalities from the embassy, whereas migration usually refers to the temporary movement from one place to another within or beyond the country borders due to temporary change in livelihood or environment.
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Immigration can be simply served a hot issue, especially in the developed countries such as the US, UK, and France, where permanent movement is a big step that too can be influenced by political issues and demand of rights.
Migration is the term they use for people or birds that don’t focus only on a single person or family but on a large group of people or a larger demographic of the same species or kind altogether.
Comparison Table
| Parameters of Comparison | Immigration | Migration |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | An individual or a family moving to a different country with due formalities from the embassy as a permanent movement. | It is a temporary movement from one place to another, within and beyond country borders. |
| Relocation relativity | Immigration is an inbound movement of the process of migration. | Migration is the relocation of any species from one place to another indistinctively. |
| Political context | Immigration is a hot political issue in developed countries like the US, UK, and France. | Migration mostly surrounds the concept of anthropological interest. |
| Occurrence | Immigration occurs due to escape poverty, marrying a foreigner, or finding a job, etc. | People migrate to escape war or political pressure, any environmental causes, etc. |
| Examples | Relocating permanently from Mexico to the United States. | Geese and birds flying the south for the winter. |
What is Immigration?
Immigration is the permanent process of moving from one place to another for an individual or family, or any group.
People who immigrate leave their country of origin and move to another country beyond the borders for various reasons like marriage to foreigners, new jobs, or opportunities.
Immigration takes place legally where one enters another country with granted permission to permanently resettle from the embassy of both countries, which further qualifies them to work without restriction.
Immigration law for immigrants revolves around many policies like national statutes, regulations, and other legal precedents that govern the immigration process into the new country with deportation from their native country.
What is Migration?
Migration is a broad term but a temporary movement from one place to another where an individual is willing to leave home for various reasons, as if in search of employment.
As per detailed studies and stats, it is referred that migration is often induced through a lack of resources that need to be adjusted from somewhere else or even through the struggle for jobs and a better livelihood.
In addition, migrants sometimes include refugees, but in terms of vice versa, it is not acceptable. War and environmental issues are the common reasons why people migrate, but it is not only limited to humans.
Main Differences Between Immigration and Migration
- Immigration can occur among an individual or a family due to reasons like marriage to a foreigner, escape poverty and look for new jobs, etc.
- There are a lot of immigrants from Punjab to Canada and UK for various reasons. Slums are the best example of migration from rural to urban areas in search of jobs.
- https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10911350902910914
- https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1944-8287.1997.tb00069.x
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Emma Smith holds an MA degree in English from Irvine Valley College. She has been a Journalist since 2002, writing articles on the English language, Sports, and Law. Read more about me on her bio page.
