immigration
(ɪmɪˈgreɪʃən)
[n. of action from immigrate: see -ation.]
1. a. The action of immigrating; entrance into a country for the purpose of settling there. Also attrib.
| 1658 Phillips, Immigration, a going to dwell, a passing into. 1774 Warton Hist. Eng. Poetry Diss. i. (1840) I. 18 The Saracens..at their immigration into Spain about the ninth century. 1792 J. Freeman in Belknap Hist. New Hampsh. III. 476 The product is 21553, the amount of immigrations into New-Hampshire in 23 years. 1804 C. B. Brown tr. Volney's View Soil U.S. 262 note, There is a large party in the state who abhor and discourage immigration. 1858 Gladstone Homer I. 284 Successive immigrations of bodies of refugees. 1872 Atlantic Monthly Apr. 456/1 Natives of Europe..not included in the immigration reports [etc.]. 1879 Bradstreet's 10 Dec. 2/3 It is our idea that immigration societies are doing us no good. 1880 D. M. Gordon Mountain & Prairie 298 Such companies, spurred into activity by the prospect of profitable land sales, will probably be more zealous than Government immigration agents. 1890 Stock Grower & Farmer 25 Jan. 7/2 Col. Edward Haren, of the immigration department of the Sante Fe, is in the city on his return from Albuquerque. Ibid. 22 Feb. 3/2 This territory has never had an immigration ‘boom’. 1904 F. Bradshaw Alien Immigration 121 When the alien has passed the Immigration Department his troubles are not yet over. 1905 Act 5 Edw. VII c. 13 §1 An immigrant shall not be landed in the United Kingdom from an immigrant ship except at a port at which there is an immigration officer appointed under this Act. 1906 Daily Chron. 21 May 1/7 Mr. Seddon, Premier of New Zealand, has challenged the right of the British Government to interfere with Australasian immigration legislation. 1907 Westm. Gaz. 30 Jan. 8/2 The Premier [of Australia] has..liberalised the immigration regulations. 1922 Encycl. Brit. XXXII. 854/1 By the Immigration Act passed in 1921 the number of immigrants admitted from any one country in the year July 1 1921 to June 20 1922, was restricted to 3% of the persons of that nationality resident in the United States in 1910. 1926 Ibid. III. 21/1 Since the opening of immigration [into Palestine] with promulgation of the Immigration Ordinance (1920) [etc.]. 1949 Koestler Promise & Fulfilment iv. 40 It is conceivable that they could have achieved sufficient pressure at least to mitigate the immigration bar of 1939. Ibid. vi. 56 Except the small number of those who already held pre-war immigration certificates. Ibid. 60 The majority..were Zionists..who at the eve of the war had been waiting for their turn on the immigration quota. 1969 Times 19 July 8/3 The controversy over Britain's immigration policy. 1971 ‘D. Halliday’ Dolly & Doctor Bird ii. 25 He carried a Turkish passport through Immigration Controls. 1973 P. Geddes Ottawa Allegation v. 63 The immigration officer..took his time over Fender's passport. |
b. absol., the immigration checks or authorities. colloq.
| 1966 F. Hoyle Oct. First i. 5 We got into London airport more or less on time. Quickly we were into the reception hall and through immigration. 1972 J. Potter Going West 17 He produced his passport and transit card for immigration. |
2. collect. The body of immigrants. U.S.
| 1852 H. Stansbury Exped. Valley Gt. Salt Lake 126 In the autumn, another large immigration arrived under the president, Brigham Young, which materially added to the strength of the colony. 1857 Trans. Illinois Agric. Soc. II. 365 The immigration was generally a moral, correct people. 1948 Sat. Rev. (U.S.) 17 July 20/1 A far vaster immigration..began pouring through the city portals. |