Employment-Based Immigration

Immigration can be a powerful tool for supporting a country’s economic growth and prosperity, but its success in accomplishing that objective depends on well-designed and carefully implemented immigration policies that strategically facilitate immigration’s economic contribution. Major immigrant-receiving countries increasingly are examining how to select immigrants across a range of skill levels, retain those with the greatest potential to succeed, engage employers constructively in the immigration process, and facilitate immigrant integration, as the research here explores.

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Commentaries June 2022 La Declaración de Los Ángeles podría representar un gran paso para la cooperación migratoria real en las Américas By Andrew Selee	Reports June 2022 Programas de trabajadores temporales en Canadá, México y Costa Rica: ¿Son vías prometedoras para gestionar la migración centroamericana? By Cristobal Ramón, Ariel G. Ruiz Soto, María Jesús Mora and Ana Martín Gil
Reports June 2022 Temporary Worker Programs in Canada, Mexico, and Costa Rica: Promising Pathways for Managing Central American Migration? By Cristobal Ramón, Ariel G. Ruiz Soto, María Jesús Mora and Ana Martín Gil	Commentaries June 2022 The Los Angeles Declaration Could Represent a Big Step for Real Migration Cooperation across the Americas By Andrew Selee
Reports May 2022 COVID-19 and the State of Global Mobility in 2021 By Meghan Benton, Samuel Davidoff-Gore, Jeanne Batalova, Lawrence Huang and Jie Zong	Articles May 5, 2022 France Reckons with Immigration Amid Reality of Rising Far Right By Ekrame Boubtane
Multimedia April 20, 2022 With Millions of Unfilled U.S. Jobs, What Role Is There for Immigration?	Reports April 2022 Digital Health Credentials and COVID-19: Can Vaccine and Testing Requirements Restart Global Mobility? By Lawrence Huang

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Policy Briefs November 2018 Gauging the Impact of DHS’ Proposed Public-Charge Rule on U.S. Immigration By Randy Capps, Mark Greenberg, Michael Fix and Jie Zong	Policy Briefs September 2018 Reimagining Skilled Migration Partnerships to Support Development By Kate Hooper
Policy Briefs March 2018 Evolution of the H-1B: Latest Trends in a Program on the Brink of Reform By Sarah Pierce and Julia Gelatt	Policy Briefs January 2018 Welcome to Work? Legal Migration Pathways for Low-Skilled Workers By Kathleen Newland and Andrea Riester
Policy Briefs August 2017 Immigration and Farm Labor: From Unauthorized to H-2A for Some? By Philip Martin	Fact Sheets April 2017 The First 100 Days: Summary of Major Immigration Actions Taken by the Trump Administration By Sela Cowger, Jessica Bolter and Sarah Pierce
Reports March 2017 The Long Road Ahead: Status Report on the Implementation of the ASEAN MRAs on Professional Services By Dovelyn Rannveig Mendoza and Guntur Sugiyarto	Reports February 2017 Firing Up Regional Brain Networks: The Promise of Brain Circulation in the ASEAN Economic Community By Jeanne Batalova, Andriy Shymonyak and Guntur Sugiyarto

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Image of band playing music at a concert in Athens, GA.

Spotlight

August 4, 2022

Brazilian Immigrants in the United States

Persistent economic turmoil and civil and political insecurity have been drivers of emigration from Brazil, including to the United States. Although the number of Brazilian immigrants in the United States has been on the rise since the 1980s, the magnitude of these flows has made the past decade unique. Read a useful profile of Brazilians immigrants, including U.S. destinations, modes of entry, and educational and work characteristics.

Image of marchers at Dominican Day parade in New York City

Spotlight

July 7, 2022

Caribbean Immigrants in the United States

Immigrants from the Caribbean living in the United States come from a diverse set of countries and territories, with Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Haiti, and Trinidad and Tobago the top origins. This article offers a sociodemographic profile of Caribbean immigrants, who represent 10 percent of the U.S. foreign-born population and nearly half of all Black immigrants in the United States.

People in France rally for far-right politician Marine Le Pen on May Day.

Profile

May 5, 2022

France Reckons with Immigration Amid Reality of Rising Far Right

Over recent decades, France has sought to build a more selective immigration system that welcomes students and well-educated workers but enacts restrictions for asylum seekers. This country profile examines France's immigration policies and trends, including the rise of far-right political parties that have used immigration as a wedge to increase their base and their influence.

An image of an immigration boarding line.

Spotlight

March 17, 2022

Frequently Requested Statistics on Immigrants and Immigration in the United States

Need information about U.S. immigration trends or the makeup of the country's immigrant population? This useful, stats-rich article answers the most common questions about the size, shape, and changing nature of the U.S. foreign-born population. It also offers data on immigration enforcement actions, backlogs, and other elements of the U.S. immigration system.

Profile

March 9, 2022

Origin of World’s Largest Migrant Population, India Seeks to Leverage Immigration

With nearly 18 million nationals abroad, India is the origin of more international migrants than any other country and claims the world's largest diaspora. Indian emigration can be traced back to the colonial era, with the British empire dispatching Indian workers across the globe, and has evolved for more than a century in response to global labor demands and geopolitical events. This article offers a comprehensive profile of migration from and to India.

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Video, Audio

May 6, 2013

Thinking Regionally to Compete Globally: A New View on Migration and Human Capital for the United States, Mexico, and Central America

A panel discussion on the release of the Regional Migration Study Group's final report, Thinking Regionally to Compete Globally: Leveraging Migration & Human Capital in the U.S., Mexico, and Central America, outlining its findings and offering recommendations to policymakers in the region.

Video, Audio

March 27, 2013

Investing Wisely in the Future: How the U.S. Immigration System Can Better Meet U.S. Labor Market Needs

With the prospects for immigration reform greater than they have been in more than a decade and the U.S. economy slowly shrugging off the effects of the recession, the United States may be on the cusp of historic changes that make the immigration system a more effective tool for innovation, economic growth and the competitiveness of its firms—large and small.

Video, Audio

March 19, 2013

Avoiding the Pitfalls on the Road to Reform: Issues that Must Be Addressed to Build an Effective U.S. Immigration System

This discussion covers some of the most difficult issues that must be addressed if the United States is to reform its immigration system in ways that work not only for today’s reality but tomorrow’s future.

Video, Audio

January 7, 2013

Immigration Enforcement in the United States: The Rise of a Formidable Machinery

MPI has released a major study that describes and analyzes today’s immigration enforcement programs, as they have developed and grown in the 25 years since IRCA launched the current enforcement era.

Audio

August 30, 2012

Regulating Private Recruitment in the Asia-Middle East Labour Migration Corridor

This joint Migration Policy Institute and International Organization for Migration event marks the Issue brief launch of Regulating Private Recruitment in the Asia-Middle East Labour Migration Corridor.

Recent Activity

Expert Q&A, Audio

January 24, 2024

Are the Pacific’s Climate Migration Experiments a Preview for the World?

What can the rest of the world learn from climate migration legal experiments in the Pacific? This episode of the Changing Climate, Changing Migration podcast features insights from renowned legal scholar Jane McAdam, who directs the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law at UNSW.

Articles

January 26, 2024

Aging Societies Rely on Immigrant Health-Care Workers, Posing Challenges for Origin Countries

Countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany are increasingly relying on immigrant health-care workers to fill gaps in their workforce and care for aging populations. That has created opportunities for many foreign-born doctors and nurses, but could harm their origin countries. This article examines the dynamics of global health-care worker migration, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Articles

January 19, 2024

Biden at the Three-Year Mark: The Most Active Immigration Presidency Yet Is Mired in Border Crisis Narrative

In three years, President Joe Biden has surpassed the number of immigration-focused executive actions taken by the Trump administration throughout its entire four-year term, making his the most active U.S. presidency ever on immigration. Yet the Biden administration has been repeatedly accused of inaction at the U.S.-Mexico border, where record levels of migrant encounters have occurred. This article reviews the Biden track record on immigration.

Articles

January 11, 2024

European Immigrants in the United States

One-tenth of all immigrants in the United States come from Europe, a vast decline from the mid-20th century, as migration within Europe has grown and more U.S. immigrants arrive from other destinations. This article provides an overview of contemporary European immigration to the United States, as a region and by top European countries of origin.

Articles

January 3, 2024

The Philippines’ Landmark Labor Export and Development Policy Enters the Next Generation

Fifty years after the birth of the Philippines' strategy to use emigration as a tool for development, the government is doubling down on labor migration. While deployment of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) slumped during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the government and civil society pivoting to assist with return migration and reintegration for hundreds of thousands of Filipinos, emigration has since rebounded, as this article details.

Policy Briefs

December 2023

Consolidating Gains: Lessons and Priorities for Promoting Fair and Ethical Recruitment

With more people moving abroad for work and events such as the 2022 World Cup in Qatar highlighting the risks migrant workers can face, questions about how international recruitment occurs have received increased scrutiny. This policy brief explores the notable progress that has been made in establishing fair and ethical recruitment standards, and identifies key areas for future attention by governments, employers, and recruiters.

Articles

November 29, 2023

Antiquated U.S. Immigration System Ambles into the Digital World

The U.S. immigration system is notorious for persistent backlogs and antiquated processes. In recent months, under-the-radar changes have made a dent in the logjam and helped bring the system into the 21st century. But some pandemic-era changes are set to expire, potentially undoing the incremental reforms. This article details the quiet technological and efficiency improvements in U.S. immigration operations.

Articles

November 8, 2023

Haitian Immigrants in the United States

The United States is the world’s top destination for Haitian migrants, who in recent years have fled an array of disasters and crises. Compared to other immigrant groups in the United States, the nearly 731,000 Haitians are more likely to be naturalized citizens, arrive through family-based pathways, and work in the service industry, as this data-rich article details.

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