다문화사회의 사회통합을 위한 단초로서의 이민제도의 고찰: 북미의 이민제도를 중심으로

As Korea became a multi-cultural society, social integration has become an important social, political and legal issue. This article is to study the immigration system which is recently getting attention as a new tool for social integration in Korea. This phenomenon is triggered by the fact that we have now a demand and supply for diverse immigrants due to these factors:　rapid globalization facilitated by development of telecommunications, information and transportation technologies, consistent large movement of people, goods and capital across borders, demand for both skilled and unskilled workers and low birth rate, high life expectancy, and aging population. As such, this article, as a basic study, examined the function of the immigration system, legally defines the terms, immigration, immigrants, permanent residency, and permanent resident under American and Canadian immigration laws. Next it discussed the history and development of the North American immigration policies and laws and explained the United States preference system and the Canadian point system. Lastly, these two countries' immigration systems and policies were analyzed and compared and then conclusions were drawn to improve our system.