Migration, Integration, and Diaspora Engagement in the Caribbean: A Policy Review
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Highlights
Caribbean countries face high emigration, fragmented integration policy, and underused diaspora ties. Coordinated regional action is needed to close persistent gaps.
- Caribbean countries experience some of the world’s highest emigration rates, with skilled workers and youth leaving disproportionately. This weakens public services, labor markets, and development prospects.
- Integration policies are often fragmented and underfunded; migrant workers may lack social protections, effective labor rights enforcement, and access to language or skills support needed for sustainable inclusion.
- Caribbean diasporas send substantial remittances but are underused as development partners; few governments have comprehensive strategies to channel diaspora investment, expertise, or civic engagement.
The Caribbean is commonly viewed as a region of emigration, and some countries do have sizeable diasporas in North America and Europe. But many people also move among Caribbean countries—for work or study, to join family, or to seek safety from persecution. Climate change and natural disasters have also spurred intraregional migration and are likely to do so with growing intensity in the years to come.
This report explores the many different forms migration takes in the Caribbean, and the policies and institutions in place in the region to manage it. The primary countries of study are The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, the Dominican Republic, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago. To a more limited extent, the study also covers Aruba, Curaçao, the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), and the remaining Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Member States.
Among other things, the report offers data on immigrant populations in the region overall and in different countries, and an overview of national migration and humanitarian protection institutions, regional free mobility pathways and agreements, and immigrant integration policies. It also looks at how Caribbean countries have increasingly sought to engage their diasporas, including via remittances and private-sector development efforts.
Table of Contents
1 Introduction
2 The Immigration Landscape
A. Intraregional Migration among Caribbean Nations
B. Immigrants from Countries Outside the Caribbean
C. Refugee Populations and Movements
3 Migratory Institutions
A. Asylum and Refugee Protection
B. Border Management
4 Free Mobility Pathways and Multilateral Agreements
A. Labor Migration
B. Educational Migration
C. Other Migration Pathways
D. Pathways to Permanency
5 Climate Change, Natural Disasters, and Migration
The Region’s Response to Climate-Related Displacement
6 Immigrant Integration
A. Regularization Measures
B. Access to Education
C. Access to Health Care
D. Social Cohesion
7 Leveraging Diaspora for Development
A. Remittances
B. Diaspora Engagement and Private-Sector Development
8 Recommendations
Latin America and Caribbean Initiative
The Initiative combines rigorous research with direct engagement of governments, institutions, and stakeholders to help build orderly, rights-respecting migration systems across one of the world's most dynamic migration regions.
About the Global Program
The Global Program bridges policy advice, research, and candid dialogue to design effective migration policies, drawing on global evidence and anticipating the forces reshaping how people move.
