Chapter 3446
The next day, Tan Tianlei came to the door early again. Today's itinerary is to take Qian Shaobao and Li Dechang to visit the immigrant camp in Xingdao.
This is also one of the places Qian Shaobao offered to visit. He wanted to know the current recruitment and resettlement situation of immigrants in Xingdao. Of course, the most important thing is, how many of the immigrants arriving in Xingdao will be assigned to special jobs? On several islands controlled by warrior divisions.
Xingdao has been established as a district for many years, and immigration matters have long been standardized, with very clear operating procedures.
There is a special Immigration Affairs Office under the Singdao Civil Affairs Department, which is responsible for all recruitment, registration, and management of immigrants.
Tan Tianlei introduced to them that even in this period, the main source of population in Xingdao is immigrants, accounting for more than half of the new population every year.
Therefore, the Immigration Affairs Office still plays a very important role in the official organization of Sing Tao, and its staff size is also quite large. There are hundreds of staff stationed in various places in Haihan and various countries in the South China Sea.
The main job of these personnel stationed overseas is to recruit immigrants from the local area and then arrange ships to transport them back to Star Island. This is like moving ants, little by little adds up to a big thing, transporting people to Star Island year after year.
Whenever there is a war involving Haihan, there will often be a wave of immigrants. The most recent wave is, of course, the Second Famine War that broke out this summer.
Starting in July, immigrants from the north have been arriving in Star Island in a steady stream. To this day, the number of immigrants is still no less than 3,000 per month, making it the largest source of immigrants in Star Island in the past two years.
Currently ranked second are slaves from various countries trafficked here by slave traders. The origins of these slaves are diverse, covering an even wider area, from the Mediterranean coast to the deserts of the Middle East, from the African coast to the Indian Peninsula, and include almost every race in the world west of the Haihan territory.
The official trade between Singdao and slave traders from various countries can be traced back to 1633. This trade has brought tens of thousands of people to Singdao over the past two decades.
To this end, Xingdao officials also formulated local laws, which made detailed provisions on slave population transactions, taxation, work distribution, naturalization management and other issues.
In order to facilitate the reception of immigrants, Xingdao even built a pier on the coastline specifically to dock immigrant ships. The area immediately adjacent to this dock is an immigrant camp covering an area of nearly a thousand acres.
The planning of this immigrant camp is basically the same as similar institutions that Qian Shaobao has seen in various places in the north. They are all long rows of barracks similar to military camps. However, the living density is much higher than that of military camps. At least two people must be placed in each barracks. Ten people.
During their stay here, immigrants will undergo physical examinations and personal data registration in batches, and then officials will begin to assign settlements and jobs.
People with Han ancestry, strong health, and cultural background are usually given priority.
It is worth mentioning that immigrants who already have Haihan nationality before coming to Xingdao do not need to settle in this immigration camp. This type of people are the most sought-after. They often have determined their destination before arriving at Star Island, and have even gone through all the required procedures in advance.
People from the Haihan country immigrated to Xingdao and generally engaged in the third type of business. First, doing business. The location of Xingdao is indeed a good place for maritime trade. In recent years, more and more domestic merchants have realized this and have used Xingdao as a bridgehead to open up the South China Sea market. The wealth and material flows that this type of immigrants brought to Star Island were of far greater significance than their limited number. The Xingdao official will also try its best to provide convenience in terms of deed tax, land purchase, labor recruitment, etc., and often has more favorable conditions than in China.
The second type of livelihood is the embodiment of traditional agriculture in overseas colonies - land reclamation. As long as they are willing to come to Xingdao to reclaim wasteland and farmland, each family can receive tens to hundreds of acres of land per capita, and they can be exempted from paying agricultural taxes in the first few years of settlement.
This is indeed an irresistible attraction for those who are broke but dream of owning their own farm.
However, there is currently not much idle land on Star Island that can be used for resettlement and reclamation. This farming model is gradually being transferred to other areas under the control of Star Island. In the nearby waters, there are many islands larger than Star Island, and there are still many places that have yet to be developed.
The third type of livelihood is technical positions that require immigrants to have certain professional skills, such as teachers, doctors, craftsmen, etc.
This kind of technical jobs are often in short supply all year round. As long as you are willing to come, you don’t have to worry about unemployment, and your income will be higher than in China. Immigrants who engage in this type of work often have their positions finalized before coming to Xingdao and join the job directly upon arrival, without the need to go through immigration camps to be assigned jobs.
Qian Shaobao heard Li Yuande mention yesterday that the shipbuilding craftsmen he was trying to recruit in Guangdong also belonged to this type of industry.
The jobs that these people who are sent to immigration camps to wait for distribution basically fall outside of these three categories of livelihood.
Most of them can only engage in heavy manual labor assigned by the government. After a period of time, they will receive a certain number of labor points. Only then can they be eligible to apply for naturalization and become official Haihan nationals, and then seek to change jobs. opportunity.
For some immigrants whose identities are more sensitive, such as prisoners of war from the Ming Dynasty, the labor points and time required to change their identities will be more than ordinary people.
While Tan Tianlei was taking them to visit, they happened to meet a mining official from Bangka Island who came here to select miners. According to him, three hundred and fifty people will be taken away from here this time to mine tin ore in the mines on Bangka Island.
Of course, it is said that it is selection. In fact, in a rough job like mining, there is no opportunity for the employer to be picky.
The employer first submits an application for employing immigrants to the Ministry of Civil Affairs and pays the corresponding processing fees. After being approved, the employer can come to the immigration camp to "pick up the goods."
The manager of the immigration camp had already gathered hundreds of people living in a certain row of barracks, and then directly counted the number of people according to the number on the official document and handed them over to the employer. As for whether there are old, weak, sick or disabled among these people, it is not up to anyone to pick and choose.
Qian Shaobao immediately raised questions, believing that this method had big loopholes and left some room for maneuver between the immigration camp and the employer. If someone takes advantage of the power to allocate immigrants for personal gain, it may be easy to make a lot of money.
Tan Tianlei looked at him with a half-smile but said: "Brother Qian, you must have heard the saying that when the water is clear, there will be no fish. If there is no oil or water at all, how can the people below do their best?"
"Besides, in this camp, there are hundreds of immigrants coming in and out every day. If you want the employers to select them one by one and change them if they are not satisfied, then how can this camp continue to operate?"