E.g., 06/28/2023
E.g., 06/28/2023
Asia and the Pacific

Asia and the Pacific

Asia has a disproportionate share of the world’s young, working-age population—which represents the most mobile cohort—with resulting major immigration flows to other regions, and increasing intraregional migration as demographic transitions occur at different levels within Asia. The research here focuses on how the labor-sending countries of the region, notably the Philippines and other Colombo Process countries, manage these migration flows and the recruitment process. It also examines other conditions affecting the region, including humanitarian protection challenges, climate migration, diaspora relations, and remittances.

World map with small planes and major city names
Reports

Using Risk Analysis to Shape Border Management: A Review of Approaches during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Although nearly all countries adopted travel measures during the COVID-19 pandemic, national approaches have varied considerably and often been controversial. In many cases, decisionmakers failed to clearly communicate the rationale for using certain measures. This report looks at how governments and international organizations approached travel-related risk analysis, and what it would take to do this more strategically in future public-health emergencies.

Migrant workers at a textile factory in Jordan
Policy Briefs

Reassessing Recruitment Costs in a Changing World of Labor Migration

Migrant workers can pay a range of costs when they are recruited and relocate for jobs abroad, accruing significant debt. While many countries, international organizations, and other stakeholders have sought to reduce or eliminate recruitment costs, the pandemic has exacerbated and added to these expenses. This policy brief explores how the costs migrant workers face have changed, and what these developments mean for efforts to promote fair and ethical recruitment.

People pulling vehicles from a flooded road in an Afghan village
Articles

Climate Change Compounds Longstanding Displacement in Afghanistan

Climate change is compounding the drivers of displacement and international migration in Afghanistan, which has one of world's largest populations of internally displaced persons (IDPs). This article examines the climate and environmental linkages to displacement and migration, as well as the policy approaches taken by the Taliban and predecessor governments, particularly as they relate to water resources management.

Recent Activity

Cover Top10 9Borders
Articles
December 8, 2015
Border Skirmishes Resonate in National Domestic Politics
By Marissa Esthimer
Cover Top10 10InvestorVisas
Articles
December 7, 2015
Shine Wears Off Investor Visa Programs as Questions about Economic Benefits and Fraud Lead to Reforms
By Kate Hooper and Demetrios G. Papademetriou
Event PH 2015.12.1 LA Live Tower Los Angeles California Ken Lund Flickr
Multimedia
December 1, 2015
Investor Visa Programs: Examining their Utility, Challenges, and Successes
coverthumb tcm australia
Reports
November 2015
The Southeast Asia-Australia Regional Migration System: Some Insights into the “New Emigration”
By  Graeme Hugo , Janet Wall and Margaret Young
coverthumb Dryden Peterson
Reports
October 2015
The Educational Experiences of Refugee Children in Countries of First Asylum
By  Sarah Dryden-Peterson
IOM IOMandJapanhelpSyrians Flickr
Articles
October 7, 2015
Open Wallet, Closed Doors: Exploring Japan’s Low Acceptance of Asylum Seekers
By Naohiko Omata
EventPH 2015.9.22 LeftBehindChildrenofAsianLabourMigrants
Multimedia
September 24, 2015
A Discussion on the Effects of Asian Labor Migration on the Health of Left-Behind Children
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Policy Briefs
September 2015
Promoting the Health of Left-Behind Children of Asian Labour Migrants: Evidence for Policy and Action
By  Kolitha Wickramage, Chesmal Siriwardhana and Sharika Peiris

Pages

Cover Top10 7Workers2014
Top Ten
December 11, 2014
Exploitation of Migrant Workers in Asia

Mass cases of exploitation and abuse of migrant workers have drawn international scrutiny and criticism of the kafala system in Gulf Cooperation Council countries and private recruitment practices in Southeast Asia. With Qatar under scrutiny amid a frenzied construction boom in advance of the 2022 World Cup, international organizations and human-rights groups in 2014 stepped up their campaign for worker protection reforms.

Cover Top10 10China
Top Ten
December 10, 2014
Migration with Chinese Characteristics: Hukou Reform and Elite Emigration

With a range of policies in 2014, China sought to address changing large-scale migration patterns within the country and beyond. This year included promises to reform the hukou registration system and thus enable an estimated 100 million internal migrants to access social services in the cities where they live, schemes to entice the return of emigrant professionals, and crackdowns on corrupt officials who send their families and money abroad.

Cover Top10 9Points
Top Ten
December 10, 2014
The Points System Is Dead, Long Live the Points System

2014 marked the quiet demise worldwide of the traditional points system for selecting skilled immigrants. Canada, which in 1969 invented the points system, in 2015 will join other countries in adopting a hybrid system that places more emphasis on a demand-driven system. This article examines how following the economic crisis, governments have revamped, hybridized, or ended such programs.

peace corps_vanuatu harbor
Feature
November 7, 2014
Pacific Island Nations, Criminal Deportees, and Reintegration Challenges

Pacific Islanders with criminal convictions have found themselves deported from Australia, New Zealand, or the United States, which have shifted their immigration enforcement priorities in recent years. This article explores the significant barriers to reintegration that criminal deportees in Pacific Island countries face upon their return, including difficulty accessing community networks and jobs.

Marshallese watch a jepta dance competition
Feature
May 22, 2014
Marshall Islanders: Migration Patterns and Health-Care Challenges

Approximately one-third of the population of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, a series of islands and atolls in the Pacific, has relocated to the United States, with Hawaii, Guam, and Arkansas key destinations. Lack of economic and employment opportunities are among the leading factors that have prompted this migration. Access to education and health care, which are critically important for a population that has reduced life expectancy and significant negative health indicators, also represent key factors.

Pages

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Recent Activity

Articles
December 8, 2015

Border Skirmishes Resonate in National Domestic Politics

Facing electoral challenges, falling approval rates, and weak economies, some political leaders in 2015 altered border policies or engaged in conflicts across borders as tools of domestic policy. This trend looks at the effects on migration of conflicts between Venezuela and Colombia, Russia and Ukraine, and India and Nepal.

Articles
December 7, 2015

Shine Wears Off Investor Visa Programs as Questions about Economic Benefits and Fraud Lead to Reforms

A number of countries in 2015 redesigned their immigrant investor visa programs in response to questions about their economic benefits or allegations of fraud. The reforms have in some cases made such programs far more costly and encouraged investment in higher-risk assets. Applications for such visas have fallen signficantly in Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom, as policymakers may have overestimated demand.

Video, Audio
December 1, 2015

Investor Visa Programs: Examining their Utility, Challenges, and Successes

A discussion on the U.S. EB-5 program, the motivations underpinning recent changes to other investor visa programs in North America, Europe, and elsewhere, and the implications for the future direction of these programs. 

Reports
November 2015

The Southeast Asia-Australia Regional Migration System: Some Insights into the “New Emigration”

This report dispels the perception that flows between Australia and the ASEAN region are headed in one direction: to Australia. Using unpublished administrative data, the authors sketch a complex picture of skilled Australian emigration to ASEAN, significant temporary movements of skilled workers in both directions, and close connections between the two regions even after migrants permanently return to their country of origin.

Reports
October 2015

The Educational Experiences of Refugee Children in Countries of First Asylum

The pre-resettlement experiences of refugee children can have significant ramifications on their relationships with teachers and peers and on their academic advancement once resettled. This report explores the educational histories of young refugee children in first-asylum countries and identifies elements that are relevant to postresettlement education in the United States.

Articles
October 7, 2015

Open Wallet, Closed Doors: Exploring Japan’s Low Acceptance of Asylum Seekers

Japan is one of the world's most generous contributors to humanitarian appeals, yet accepts a very small number of asylum seekers—indeed only 11 were granted refugee status in 2014. Even as Japan has witnessed a record number of asylum applications, the approval rate has declined. This feature explores Japan's low acceptance of asylum seekers, including institutional barriers and negative public perceptions.

Audio
September 24, 2015

A Discussion on the Effects of Asian Labor Migration on the Health of Left-Behind Children

This discussion, at the Bangkok launch of an MPI-International Organization for Migration issue brief, explores the social and health impacts of international labor migration on the children who remain at home when one or both their parents emigrate.

Policy Briefs
September 2015

Promoting the Health of Left-Behind Children of Asian Labour Migrants: Evidence for Policy and Action

International labor migration has become vital to economic development in Asian countries, but for children and families left behind, it can also at times create a negative influence on health, break down family and social cohesion, and increase the burden on health systems, as this MPI-IOM issue brief explores.

Pages