Skilled immigration to fill talent gaps: A comparison of the immigration policies of the United States, Canada, and Australia

The globalization of the world economy, the growing boundary-less nature of the workforce, and the reduction in immigration and emigration barriers to the movement of people have helped fuel a “war for talent” (Chambers et al. in McKinsey Q 3(3):44–57, 1998) worldwide. In this paper, we study the immigration policies of three of the most popular destinations of skilled immigrants – the US, Canada, and Australia. According to the 2018 Global Talent Competitiveness Index (Global Talent Competitiveness Index, 2018), these three countries were among the top 15 most attractive destinations in the world, attracting two-thirds of all skilled immigrants worldwide. We analyze the policy frameworks of these countries in terms of attracting skilled immigrants and their evolution over time. We compare and contrast these frameworks and explain how they are similar to and different from each other. We also analyze the background of the immigrants and their overall success in integrating into their host societies. Finally, we provide recommendations on how to make these policies more effective, and how they could help countries in the global battle for talent.