E.g., 04/23/2024
E.g., 04/23/2024
Temporary Workers
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Temporary worker programs and the treatment of migrant workers have gained increased international attention. In some countries, the temporary worker system acts as a transition to permanent immigration. Other countries have highly regulated temporary worker systems with no pathway to permanent immigration. The research here examines temporary worker programs, policies that bridge from temporary to permanent status, and efforts by sending-country governments to protect their workers overseas.

Recent Activity

Construction site in Kuwait
Articles
August 15, 2018
Connecting Across Nationalities: Inter-Ethnic Relationships in a Kuwaiti Workplace
By Batul K. Sadliwala
Canadian family on Canada Day
Articles
June 7, 2018
Canadian Immigrants in the United States
By Elijah Alperin and Jeanne Batalova
Coverthumb_H 1B BrinkofReform Brief
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
Marine naturalization
Articles
March 22, 2018
Even as Congress Remains on Sidelines, the Trump Administration Slows Legal Immigration
By Muzaffar Chishti, Sarah Pierce, and Jessica Bolter
Coverthumb DataMatters2018
Reports
November 2020
Immigration Data Matters
By  Jeanne Batalova, Andriy Shymonyak and Michelle Mittelstadt
EVENT PHOTO 2018.3.15 LABOR STANDARDS 3
Multimedia
March 15, 2018
State and Local Labor Standards Enforcement in Immigrant-Dense Industries
Mexican workers in Canada
Articles
March 7, 2018
Connecting the Dots: Emerging Migration Trends and Policy Questions in North and Central America
By Claudia Masferrer, Víctor M. García-Guerrero, and Silvia E. Giorguli-Saucedo
Chinese lanterns
Articles
February 15, 2018
Australia: A Welcoming Destination for Some
By Christine Inglis

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_USCapitol3
Policy Beat
January 20, 2016
With Little Debate, Congress Enacts Broad Range of Immigration Changes in Spending Bill

Passed with minimal controversy and public debate, the 2016 spending bill included some of the most substantial immigration policy changes enacted by Congress in the last decade. The changes touched on aspects including temporary worker visas, visa security, and the immigration courts, and could signal a new strategy for legislative change to the immigration system.

NicaraguanCoffeePickers IngmarZahorsky Flickr
Feature
August 26, 2015
Business as Usual? Regularizing Foreign Labor in Costa Rica

With the growing urbanization and consolidation of Nicaraguan immigrants in sectors such as construction and domestic service, Costa Rica has shifted its focus from immigration enforcement to integration. Tension has emerged between the government and private sector as a new mechanism for regularizing unauthorized immigrant workers has failed to gain traction.

AProtestoratEuromaidan IvanBandura Flickr
Feature
July 15, 2015
The EuroMaidan Protests, Corruption, and War in Ukraine: Migration Trends and Ambitions
Public frustration with decades of poor governance and pervasive corruption in Ukraine culminated in the EuroMaidan revolution in November 2013. Since then, violent conflict and Russia's annexation of Crimea have displaced an estimated 2 million people, both internally and internationally. This feature article explores migration ambitions among Ukrainians in the lead-up and aftermath of EuroMaidan, and the impact of war and economic crisis on traditional migration patterns.
Nepalearthquake2015 ILO Shukuko Koyama
Feature
June 18, 2015
Redefining Nepal: Internal Migration in a Post-Conflict, Post-Disaster Society
Even as Nepal will lean more heavily on its international diaspora to help recover from devastating earthquakes that killed thousands and decimated parts of the country, the disasters have had effects on internal migration. Class and gender dynamics have long driven significant internal flows. This feature article explores migration trends in Nepal, including movement between ecological zones, growing urbanization, and the feminization of an increasingly mobile workforce.
IMG_9985 AmineGhrabi Flickr
Profile
May 28, 2015
Revolution and Political Transition in Tunisia: A Migration Game Changer?

With a history of encouraging workers to emigrate to relieve unemployment at home, Tunisia now has 11 percent of its population living abroad. The factors underlying the 2011 revolution that sparked the Arab Spring have also fueled emigration desires for many Tunisians. This country profile explores historical and current trends in Tunisia from colonial settlement to the aftermath of the Arab Spring, and the new focus on migrant rights at home and abroad.

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Recent Activity

Articles
August 15, 2018

Connecting Across Nationalities: Inter-Ethnic Relationships in a Kuwaiti Workplace

In Kuwait and other Gulf Cooperation Council countries, migrants make up a significant share of the private-sector workforce. While mainstream narratives commonly focus on the exploitation and abuse some of these migrant workers experience, their lives and relationships with the native born are much more complex and less unequal than is often perceived, as this article explores.

Articles
June 7, 2018

Canadian Immigrants in the United States

Though small, the population of Canadians in the United States is quite diverse, and includes students, highly skilled professionals on H-1B or NAFTA visas, family migrants, and retirees. Canadian immigrants have much higher educational attainment and incomes than the native- and overall foreign-born populations. This article offers an interesting data snapshot of Canadians in the United States.

Policy Briefs
March 2018

Evolution of the H-1B: Latest Trends in a Program on the Brink of Reform

Though much attention focuses on the 85,000 temporary high-skilled visas issued each April through a computer-generated lottery, in reality far more H-1B visas are awarded outside the cap. This brief takes stock of changing trends in the program, finding that the largest H-1B dependent employers pay less and hire fewer foreign workers with advanced degrees than other top users that rely less on the temporary visa.

Articles
March 22, 2018

Even as Congress Remains on Sidelines, the Trump Administration Slows Legal Immigration

While much attention has focused on President Trump's efforts to crack down on illegal immigration, the administration has moved, via a much wider scope of actions, to reduce legal immigration to the United States. This article explores changes including slowed processing of family- and employment-based visas, dramatic cuts in refugee admissions, and heightened vetting and evidence requirements for would-be immigrants.

Reports
November 2020

Immigration Data Matters

This useful online guide links users directly to the most credible, high-quality data on immigrants and immigration in the United States and internationally. The easy-to-use guide includes more than 250 data resources compiled by governmental and nongovernmental sources, covering topics ranging from population stock and flow numbers to statistics on enforcement, public opinion, religious affiliation, and much more.

Audio
March 15, 2018

State and Local Labor Standards Enforcement in Immigrant-Dense Industries

This discussion, featuring California's Labor Commissioner and the head of the Tennessee Bureau of Workers' Compensation, launched a report that examines state innovations in labor standards enforcement in low-wage, immigrant-dense industries. With wage underpayment, payroll fraud, and other violations widespread in industries such as construction and car-washing, the discussion focused on how targeted enforcement can deter practices that hurt native-born and immigrant workers alike, cost state tax revenue, and disadvantage law-abiding employers. 

Articles
March 7, 2018

Connecting the Dots: Emerging Migration Trends and Policy Questions in North and Central America

Together, Canada, Mexico, and the United States are home to nearly one-quarter of the world's migrants. Despite shifts in the profile of those who migrate and changing demographic realities across the region, such as population aging, perceptions and policies remain set in earlier eras. This article explores the intersection of migration and population dynamics in North America and the Northern Triangle of Central America.

Articles
February 15, 2018

Australia: A Welcoming Destination for Some

Immigration has driven economic and social development in Australia for more than two centuries. Even as more than one-fourth of the country’s population is foreign born and Australia ranks third among top refugee resettlement countries worldwide, controversy surrounding its hardline treatment of asylum seekers arriving by boat has cast a shadow on its reputation as a welcoming country, as this article explores.

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