HARARE, ZIMBABWE — When Tanya moved to Ireland to work in the healthcare sector in 2022, she was sure of three things: Her family would soon join her. Her husband would find work. And his children would go to a good school. At first, his movement went smoothly. Visas and permits were no problem. But once in Ireland, reality proved harsh for Tanya, a Zimbabwean who asked the Global Press Journal to use her middle name for fear of jeopardizing her visa status.
The country’s visa restrictions for the general work permit meant that for her husband to join her, she would have to earn at least 30,000 euros per year for two years (about US$31,500 per year). To find each of her three children, she would need to bring more and more.
Tanya earns an income of around 27,000 euros per year (around $28,400). She spends her time caring for autistic children, but her own children live without her in South Africa.
“I have trouble sleeping. I’m always emotional. I became too sensitive and negative towards life,” says Tanya.
His story is common in a global economy increasingly dependent on migrant workers, who now make up 4.9% of the global workforce. Demand has steadily increased since 2013 and increased sharply during the pandemic. But as demand increases, so do restrictions on visa policies for family members who want to move to join their spouse or parents in the world’s largest economies.
Healthcare workers like Tanya in particular are in high demand. Around 15% of the global healthcare workforce is employed outside their country of origin or country of training.
The situation is particularly pronounced in large economies like the UK, US and Australia, where labor shortages and aging populations are putting healthcare systems under strain.
On the supply side, countries with smaller economies, such as Zimbabwe, are among the main exporters of talent, particularly in the health sector. The migration of health workers from Zimbabwe is so serious that in 2023 the World Health Organization added it to a “red list” of 55 countries from which international recruitment of health workers is discouraged, in due to the extremely low number of remaining health workers. to serve their original populations.
Some countries, including Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Australia and Denmark, relaxed their visa requirements during the pandemic but have since returned to their previous policies, says Godfrey Kanyenze, director of the Institute of Zimbabwe Labor and Economic Development Research, a think tank.
There has been a rollback of what Kanyenze calls “reasonable arrangements” that allowed migrant workers to settle with their families.
In one such reversal, the UK implemented new measures in December 2023 to reduce immigration to the country, which the then Home Secretary James Cleverly said described as “much too high”.
Among the changes is that carers – who were in such demand at the start of the pandemic that the UK had to introduce a special visa for them in 2022 – can no longer move with their families.
The policy also increased the salary threshold – or the minimum amount of money one must earn to qualify for the visa – for all migrant workers by almost 50%. Now, migrant workers must earn at least £38,700 (about $49,000) a year to maintain their visa status.
In most cases, low-skilled workers, such as caregivers, earn too little to meet these income requirements, says Hilda Tinevimbo Mahumucha, senior legal consultant with Women and Law in Southern Africa, Zimbabwe, a justice organization. gender.
In 2023, Sweden, a major migration hub, also announced new restrictions on low-skilled labor migration to the country. Scheduled to take effect this year, migrant workers from “third world countries” will have to earn a monthly minimum of around 2,200 euros (about $2,300) to obtain a work permit, with even higher income requirements to bring family members to join them. .
Host countries capitalize on the skills of migrant workers without assuming any costs, particularly those of training people, explains Abel Chikanda, associate professor at the School of Earth, Environment and Society. McMaster University in Canada.
“(They) essentially benefit from human resources that they didn’t contribute to,” he says.
For example, in the case of health worker migration, Africa loses around $2 billion invested in medical training each year when its health workers migrate abroad. Meanwhile, destination countries make substantial savings by bypassing these costs.
The human cost
Ultimately, it is migrant workers and their families who pay the highest price, each in their own way.
Senzeni Chiutsi, a psychologist based in Harare, says that while migration gives parents a chance to provide economically for their family, the children they leave behind are prone to stress and trauma.
A 2018 study on the effects of migration on children and adolescents left behind by their parents noted signs of depression and loneliness. And 8 in 10 people surveyed said they had already considered suicide.
Already, the distance between Tanya and her children is growing. On the rare occasions when she visits them, her 9-year-old son finds more comfort in video games, while her two daughters stay behind the closed doors of their bedrooms.
“One time when I went there, my second child said to me, ‘Mom… I don’t even know (the last time) I was hugged,’” Tanya says.
Although she stays in touch by phone, it is difficult because of the time difference and her work schedules. When she comes home, her children are already asleep.
The emotional cost of being abroad is simply too high, she says.
“A friend of mine usually jokes that we got some wrong information when we came here,” she says. “If you do well in Zimbabwe… I don’t see the need to come here.”
That’s a big question mark. Most people move because their governments have failed to hold up their end of the bargain by providing workers with fair conditions, such as adequate pay, says Chikanda, the professor.
If Tanya were employed as a caregiver in Zimbabwe, she would earn an annual income of around $4,284, a sixth of what she earns abroad.
Despite this, she has set herself a deadline this year to return to her family if she cannot join them in Ireland.
“What if they are broken adults?” she said. “It’s not like I’m going to get rich, to be honest.”