Temporary Worker Programs in Canada, Mexico, and Costa Rica: Promising Pathways for Managing Central American Migration?
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Highlights
With reforms, temporary worker programs in Canada, Mexico, and Costa Rica could become viable legal pathways for Central Americans while meeting labor needs.
- Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program, Mexico’s Border Worker Visa, and Costa Rica’s binational agreement with Nicaragua offer legal channels for Central Americans but remain underused due to administrative hurdles and limited outreach.
- In Mexico, Border Worker Visa issuances to Guatemalan workers declined since 2016, with a sharp drop in 2020 and 2021 tied to COVID-19 and geographic limits confining work authorization to four southern states.
- Worker protections are weak across all three countries; migrants often lack information about their rights, face high recruitment costs, and have little recourse when employers violate contracts.
- Reforms should streamline recruitment, expand geographic coverage, reduce costs, strengthen labor protections, and build regional coordination so these programs become credible alternatives to irregular migration.
The arrival of large numbers of Central Americans at the U.S.-Mexico border in recent years and the complex motivations driving them to leave their countries has once more demonstrated the need for comprehensive strategies to manage migration through the region. The lion’s share of these migrants come from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, and poverty, food insecurity, and limited livelihood opportunities are among the forces pushing many to migrate. Central Americans have access to few legal migration pathways, but expanding them could promote safer, legal movement in the region and potentially reduce border pressures.
Temporary worker programs are a promising alternative to some irregular migration. The circularity built into these programs is often attractive to both destination countries seeking a reliable but nonpermanent pool of labor to fill shortages in key industries and to participating workers who wish to earn money abroad while remaining rooted in their origin communities.
The United States is the intended destination for many Central Americans, and prior MPI research has outlined ways to better leverage U.S. temporary work programs, but similar opportunities also exist in other countries. This report looks at how Canada, Mexico, and Costa Rica could use their employment-based visa programs to expand alternatives to irregular migration for Central Americans and at the same time address pressing labor needs. It examines the challenges these programs have faced to date, including in recruitment processes and worker protections, that should be addressed.
Para leer este reporte en español, haga clic aquí.
Table of Contents
1 Introduction
2 Canada
A. Challenges and Considerations for the SAWP and TGWP
B. Promising Policy Options
3 Mexico
A. Current Labor Migration Pathways for Central Americans
B. Challenges with the TVTF
C. Alternative Labor Pathways and Policy Options
4 Costa Rica
A. The Evolution of Costa Rica’s Management of Migrant Workers
B. Building on Recent Policy Innovations
5 Conclusion
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.
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