oa Foreign qualification recognition, labour market barriers and their impact on migrants and their families

The issue of highly skilled and trained migrants not being able to practice or find employment in their chosen profession has become an increasingly relevant and public issue in recent years. In many major immigrant destination countries, unemployment and underemployment rates for immigrants have continued to creep upwards and immigrant outcomes have declined in comparison to native-born workers. This is while immigration regimes have become ever more restrictive, demanding higher levels of educational attainment, work experience, and language proficiency. What countless academics, practitioners, policy workers, and immigrants themselves have discovered is that there is often a significant labour market integration gap between the skills and training migrants bring with them to their new country and their ability to market and apply their qualifications in the labour market.