While reasons for this ‘underutilisation’ and ‘underachievement’ phenomenon understandably abound, they usually
comprise a complex composite of migrant heritage culture (diversity, nature), the nature of migrant human capital,
and recipient/host country immigration policies, labour market and socio-political dynamics. When viewed from a
human capital perspective, the problem can be selectively reduced, essentially, to a human capital mismatch in
which the human capital integral to migrant labour is often misjudged or not acknowledged* (a recognition deficit).
The result is an (unexpectedly) sub-par contribution. Highly skilled immigrants, theoretically, should settle in and
perform to expectation, but ultimately do not.