Immigration has roiled politics in countries around the world, as people flee violence, persecution, and poverty to seek a better life.
For anyone traveling abroad, especially with relocation in mind, it is important to know countries that are open to taking in immigrants. Immigration has roiled politics in countries around the world, as people flee violence, persecution, and poverty to seek a better life.
European Union officials are debating future policies after the recent incident with Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, which has caused a lot of Afghans to flee their country. Earlier, the UK introduced a points-based immigration system to scale back the numbers knocking at its borders.
The number of people leaving Nigeria has tripled in the past decade and doesn’t seem like it would reduce anytime soon. As the economy continues to take a nosedive, citizens will keep filing out in droves.
Migration flows stabilized in 2018 and 2019, and then decreased dramatically in 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But as the world is returning to normal, migration is expected to intensify again from 2022.
These wealthy economies lead the list of many countries receiving the most migrants. (This list follows no order).
- United States
The US, without doubt, is among top countries taking in the most immigrants – from people coming in as students, families relocating, to people seeking asylum from troubled or war-torn countries. Around 15,000 thousand refugees have already been received in the United States as of this year 2021.
- Canada
Immigration has proven to be one of Canada’s major economy boosters, which is no surprise why it received 321,045 migrants in 2018, a 12% increase from the previous year. Data from the UN show the country accepted more refugees in 2018 than any other country, including the United States. Canada also has many travel options available to immigrants, coupled with countless scholarship opportunities for international students.
Canada equally recorded a 12% increase in the number of asylum applications received in 2018 – 55,383 – compared to the 49,425 approved in 2017.
The North American country is expecting to accept around 401,000 immigrants this year, and has already welcomed 39,500 immigrants so far.
- Germany
Despite the language barrier, Germany is undoubtedly one of the highest receptors of immigrants. Some Nigerians spend time familiarizing themselves with basic knowledge of the German language before traveling. Germany received 1,383,580 new migrants in 2018, by far the largest number by any OECD member country. The number of new migrants arriving there that year was just 438 fewer than in 2017, a substantial reduction of the more than 2 million new migrants who arrived in the country in 2015.
The country also received 161,930 applications from individuals seeking asylum, a roughly 2% decrease from the previous year.
In 2020, despite the pandemic and its chaos, Germany received a little over one million immigrants.
- United Kingdom
The UK takes in a lot of Nigerian international students, only a little behind Canada and the United States: it received 486,452 migrants in 2018, according to OECD data, a 6% decline from levels approved the previous year.
In 2020, the UK received around 715,000 immigrants, despite the pandemic. The visa process too isn’t as tedious as other countries’.
- South Korea
The East Asian country also takes in a lot of immigrants, especially international students. In 2018, South Korea received 495,079 migrants, a 9% increase from the number it accepted the preceding year.
In 2020, the country took in around 915,000 immigrants—from students, people who relocated for jobs, to families looking to start over in a better country.
- Turkey
It would surprise you to know how many Nigerians who travel to Turkey yearly. Turkey, which already hosts one of the largest Syrian refugee populations in the world, is reportedly bolstering up its border with Iran to prevent the wave of Afghan refugees from entering the country. It received 466,890 migrants in 2018, a 28% jump from the number it accepted in 2017.
Though Turkey is tightening its immigration laws to prevent an overflow of Afghan refugees, the country is still top among countries that receive the highest number of immigrants.
- Spain
Spain receives over 52,000 individual asylum applications yearly. Majority of the applications come from across Latin America, including Venezuela, Colombia, Honduras and El Salvador. As of 2020, Spain received over 5 million immigrants, which is the highest it has ever received. A countless number of Nigerians have migrated to Spain in recent years.
- Italy
By August of 2021, it was recorded that Italy has taken in around 44,000 immigrants. It received 285,500 permanent immigrants in 2018, a 5% drop from the previous year’s number of 301,071 people absorbed into the country.
Notably, the country receives 53,440 asylum applications from around the world, yearly. Although there are too many reports of the rise in human trafficking in Italy, a lot of Nigerians genuinely migrate to the country in search of a better life.
