Term: Recent Immigrant

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Glossary Definition

Last Updated: 2022-12-08

Definition:

A recent immigrant is a person who has spent a short amount of time since arriving to the new destination. There is variability in the conceptualization of how much time is needed to cease to be a recent immigrant, such as 5 or 10 years.

For example, Statistics Canada defines a recent immigrant as “a person who obtained a landed immigrant or permanent resident status up to five years prior to a given census year”. ( Source: Statistics Canada website - 2016 Census of Population: Immigration and ethnocultural diversity - 3. Key Indicators: URL = https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/ref/98-501/98-501-x2016008-eng.cfm#a3 .)

Cautions:

• When defining recent migration the researcher needs to take into account the nature of the relationship they are considering and choose a cut-off time accordingly. For example, for first employment 5-years may be too much time, whereas for citizenship it may be too short.
  
• Recent immigrant is also referred to as "Newcomer", but this term is vague and drawn from colloquial language.

Related concepts 

• Duration of Residence
• Immigration / Migration Overview - Links to Immigration / Migration Data and Related Concepts and Glossary Terms