Those countries were not competing for high skilled immigrants. They built themselves into places that high skill immigrants seek, but that is more of a side effect than a competition.

The leaders/parties supporting immigration in those countries are ambivalent to receiving high skill immigrants or refugees.

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freetime2 4 days ago | parent [-]

> Those countries were not keeping for high skilled immigrants.

The US, UK, and Canada all have special provisions in their immigration programs aimed at attracting and prioritizing highly-skilled workers.

Both the UK [1] and Canada [2] both use a points-based ranking system that prioritizes highly-skilled immigrants. The UK system is clear in its goals:

> introduce an Immigration Bill to bring in a firm and fair points-based system that will attract the high-skilled workers we need to contribute to our economy, our communities and our public services.

And while the US H1-B program is lottery-based, 20,000 slots are reserved for people who hold a master's degree from a U.S. institution. Proposals have also been made recently to change to a points-based system. [3]

> They built themselves into places that high skill immigrants seek, but that is more of a side effect than a competition

Wherever there is choice, there is competition. 55% of billion dollar startups in the US have immigrant founders, employing an average of 1,200 employees each [4]. If these people don't come to the US and start companies, the US will feel the effects - even if they were just "side effects".

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-uks-points-ba...

[2] https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/se...

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAISE_Act

[4] https://www.fosterglobal.com/blog/55-of-americas-billion-dol...

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ahmeneeroe-v2 3 days ago | parent [-]

A country picking high-quality immigrants ≠ a country competing for immigrants. The opposite, in fact.

This choosiness is actually a sign that immigrants are competing to enter those countries. The points based system is (in theory) a way to identify the ones we want.

That said, illegals and “refugees” outnumber H1Bs, further reinforcing that Western countries don’t care about global talent.

	▲	freetime2 3 days ago \| parent [-]
		> A country picking high-quality immigrants ≠ a country competing for immigrants. The opposite, in fact. It goes both ways. A more streamlined application process and straightforward path to permanent residency is a draw to would-be immigrants who qualify. I won't discuss illegal immigration or asylum here as those exist for different reasons, other than to say that it's a logical fallacy to assume that just because A is bigger than B, a country doesn’t care about B.