Redesign of the longitudinal immigration database (IMDB)

The Longitudinal Immigration Database (IMDB) combines the Immigrant Landing File (ILF) with annual tax files. This record linkage is performed using a tax filer database. The ILF includes all immigrants who have landed in Canada since 1980. In looking to enhance the IMDB, the possibility of adding temporary residents (TR) and immigrants who landed between 1952 and 1979 (PRE80) was studied. Adding this information would give a more complete picture of the immigrant population living in Canada. To integrate the TR and PRE80 files into the IMDB, record linkages between these two files and the tax filer database, were performed. This exercise was challenging in part due to the presence of duplicates in the files and conflicting links between the different record linkages.