Concept: Outmigration or Emigration

Introduction

This concept describes how Outmigration or Emigration is operationalized for immigration-related research at MCHP. The concept includes the following sections:


• a brief definition,
  
• a list of Data Sources where the data comes from,
  
• a description of the Methods employed,
  
• links to Research Findings reported in MCHP publications,
  
• any Cautions / Limitations found during development of this concept,
  
• a relevant SAS® code example in the SAS code and formats section.

Definition: generally, outmigration means to leave a jurisdiction where one resides (e.g. Manitoba) to settle, permanently or temporarily in another jurisdiction within a country (e.g. another Canadian province) or outside the country. For the purposes of MCHP research, we define outmigration as a move out of Manitoba to settle permanently or temporarily in another Canadian province, or another country.

Data Sources

The data used to operationalize this concept came from the following Repository databases:


• Manitoba Health Insurance Registry data
  
• Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) – Permanent Residence Database

Methods

In the deliverable The Diversity of Immigrants to Manitoba, Migration Dynamics and Basic Healthcare Service Use by Urquia et al. (2020) the outmigration rate was calculated as the percent of individuals whose healthcare coverage was cancelled for over 360 days with a reason for cancellation due to a move out of province or those individuals coded as "Cannot Locate" among all those with healthcare coverage. See the glossary terms Cancellation of Healthcare Coverage and Coverage End Date for more information.

The following describes the basic algorithm in developing the methodology for this concept. It summarizes the SAS® code example that is provided in the SAS code and formats section below.


1. create the immigrant cohort file from the IRCC crosswalk file for all immigrants found in Manitoba and sort by the unique IRCC identification number (IDNO);
   
2. create a landing file containing the arrival and landing dates from the two IRCC legacy and current landing files;
   
3. sort the landing file, and then merge with the immigrant cohort file using the unique IRCC identification number (IDNO);
   
4. sort the landing file by scrambled PHIN and landing date to identify and retain the earliest landing record per scrambled PHIN;
   
5. create a registry_coverage file using the MCHP REGCOV macro with a parameter for gapdays=360. Sort this file by scrambled PHIN, coverage start date and coverage end date;
   
6. merge the landing file with the registry_coverage file to identify coverage episodes during or after landing;
   
7. keep one record per individual, categorizing the reason for leaving and those that can be classified as outmigration, based on the value of the reason for healthcare cancellation code variable (CANCCODE) for the first coverage episode during or after landing;
   
8. produce output tables summarizing outmigration counts by landing year and reason for cancellation.

Research Findings

In the deliverable The Diversity of Immigrants to Manitoba, Migration Dynamics and Basic Healthcare Service Use by Urquia et al. (2020) they investigated outmigration and reported on the outmigration rates for immigrants to Manitoba.

Please see the following information reported in the on-line deliverable:


• discussion on outmigration and cancellation of healthcare coverage
  
• Table 3.2: Retention and Outmigration Rates for Immigrants to Manitoba by Landing Year, 1985-2017
  
• Figure 3.20: Outmigration Rates for Immigrants, Interprovincial Migrants and All Other Manitobans by Reason for Coverage Cancellation and Coverage Start Decade, 1970-2019
  
• Appendix Table 5.1: Retention, Outmigration, and Return Migration Counts for Immigrants to Manitoba by Landing Year, 1985-2017 - All ages
  
• Appendix Figure 6.2: Outmigration Rates in Groups 1-11 by Reason for Coverage Cancellation - Coverage start on or after landing, January 1, 1970-March 31, 2019*, all ages
  
• Appendix 2: Study Cohort and Comparison Groups 1-11

Cautions / Limitations

The following limitations were identified during development of this concept:


• Those individuals who could not be located have likely moved out of the province, but we do not have the data to determine this.