Explaining variations in immigrants’ satisfaction with their settlement experience

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Résumé (français)

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Résumé (anglais)

The study seeks to determine the extent to which economic integration factors, social integration factors, human capital and area-level factors are associated with immigrants’ satisfaction with their settlement experience in Canada. The Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada (Wave 1) and the 2001 Census Profiles are used for multilevel modelling. The study confirmed that factors from all broad groupings are associated with immigrants’ satisfaction with their settlement. Skilled class and highly educated migrants report lower levels of satisfaction, highlighting the contradiction in the Canadian immigration system which targets these migrants at the selection stage but lacks mechanisms that could help unlock their potential at the settlement stage. The study also demonstrates that migrants who have an ethnically diverse circle of friends are more satisfied with their settlement. At the contextual level, immigrant concentration was negatively associated with satisfaction. These findings speak in favour of settlement policies encouraging integration of newcomers into the receiving society.