Fiscal Impacts

As workers and consumers, immigrants are generators of revenue for public budgets; they are also users of government services, such as education, health care, and social welfare programs. The research here seeks to examine the complex issue of the revenues and costs that immigrants generate, particularly at local levels of government, where the impacts can be more direct.

Recent Activity

Articles September 27, 2023 New York and Other U.S. Cities Struggle with High Costs of Migrant Arrivals By Muzaffar Chishti, Julia Gelatt, and Colleen Putzel-Kavanaugh	Articles November 10, 2022 Millionaire Migration Rises and Heads to New Destinations By Elizabeth Shaw
Reports June 2022 The Future of Remote Work: Digital Nomads and the Implications for Immigration Systems By Kate Hooper and Meghan Benton	Reports May 2022 From Fear to Solidarity: The Difficulty in Shifting Public Narratives about Refugees By Natalia Banulescu-Bogdan
Multimedia April 28, 2022 How Can Europe Address Its Labor Market Needs at a Time of Upheaval?	Multimedia November 15, 2021 MPI 20th Anniversary Conference: Migration & Humanitarian Protection in a Rapidly Evolving World
Multimedia November 12, 2021 Leveraging the Benefits That Immigration Can Bring	Multimedia November 18, 2020 Welfare States and Migration: How Will the Pandemic Reshape a Complex Relationship?

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Reports June 2022 The Future of Remote Work: Digital Nomads and the Implications for Immigration Systems By Kate Hooper and Meghan Benton	Reports May 2022 From Fear to Solidarity: The Difficulty in Shifting Public Narratives about Refugees By Natalia Banulescu-Bogdan
Reports November 2020 Building Welcome from the Ground up: European Small and Rural Communities Engaging in Refugee Resettlement By Liam Patuzzi, Monica Andriescu and Antonio Pietropolli	Policy Briefs August 2019 How Does Immigration Fit into the Future of the U.S. Labor Market? By Pia M. Orrenius, Madeline Zavodny and Stephanie Gullo
Reports August 2018 Tapping the Talents of Highly Skilled Immigrants in the United States: Takeaways from Experts Summit By Jeanne Batalova and Michael Fix	Reports July 2018 A Needed Evidence Revolution: Using Cost-Benefit Analysis to Improve Refugee Integration Programming By Meghan Benton and Paul Diegert
Reports March 2018 Strategic Leverage: Use of State and Local Laws to Enforce Labor Standards in Immigrant-Dense Occupations By Andrew Elmore and Muzaffar Chishti	Fact Sheets December 2016 The Costs of Brain Waste among Highly Skilled Immigrants in Select States By Ariel G. Ruiz Soto, Jeanne Batalova and Michael Fix

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New York City Mayor Eric Adams meeting with asylum seekers.

Policy Beat

September 27, 2023

New York and Other U.S. Cities Struggle with High Costs of Migrant Arrivals

U.S. cities have spent billions of dollars to provide shelter, health care, and other resources to migrants recently arrived from the U.S.-Mexico border. The exceptional costs, which the New York mayor has described as existential, are due to a unique combination of factors, this article explains, including the large numbers of migrants arriving without local connections and long waits for work permits.

Luxury cars in front of a hotel on Dubai's Palm Jumeirah.

Feature

November 10, 2022

Millionaire Migration Rises and Heads to New Destinations

Migrant millionaires are once again on the move, though headed to new destinations amid fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia's invasion of Ukraine. While wealthy new arrivals can help provide a healthy tax base and invest in local economies, they can upset housing markets and exacerbate wealth disparities, as this article describes.

Policy Beat

March 26, 2020

Crisis within a Crisis: Immigration in the United States in a Time of COVID-19

The global COVID-19 pandemic has brought into sharp focus the intersection of U.S. immigration and public health policy, and the unique challenges that immigrants face. This article analyzes the Trump administration’s introduction of some of the most stringent immigration restrictions in modern times, the often disparate fallout of the outbreak on immigrant communities, the status of federal immigration agency operations, and more.

Feature

November 14, 2019

Dependent on Remittances, Tajikistan’s Long-Term Prospects for Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction Remain Dim

More than 1 million Tajiks migrate to Russia every year—a sizeable outflow for a country of about 9 million people. These high levels of emigration have had major effects for Tajikistan, especially in the generation of remittances that help lift everyday Tajiks out of poverty but have also made the country increasingly dependent on Russia. This article explores challenges faced by Tajik migrants in Russia and the effects of emigration on Tajikistan’s economy and society.

Prime Minister David Cameron speaking outside Number 10 Downing Street

Feature

May 4, 2016

Brexit: The Role of Migration in the Upcoming EU Referendum

Against a backdrop of anxieties about migration, the United Kingdom's government set a referendum for June 2016 on whether to withdraw from the European Union. This article explores the role played by migration in the decision to call the referendum, how immigration might influence the result, and finally the implications of both referendum outcomes (Leave and Remain) in terms of migration policy and regulation.

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Commentaries

September 2017

Why Hide the Facts About Refugee Costs and Benefits?

By Kathleen Newland and Randy Capps

Emergency department. Centre Hospitalier de la Région d'Annecy (CHRA)

Video

April 28, 2022

How Can Europe Address Its Labor Market Needs at a Time of Upheaval?

Held immediately after the European Union unveiled its skills and talent package, this MPI Europe webinar explores how Europe can address its labor market needs at a time of great upheaval, and the role that immigration and immigrant integration policy can play in helping propel Europe’s economic recovery.

MPI 20th Anniversary Conference - Antonio Vitorino and Demetrios Papademetriou

Video

November 15, 2021

MPI 20th Anniversary Conference: Migration & Humanitarian Protection in a Rapidly Evolving World

MPI’s 20th Anniversary Conference featured the Director-General of the International Organization for Migration, António Vitorino, in an armchair conversation with MPI co-founder and President Emeritus Demetrios G. Papademetriou, as well as a panel discussion with UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi and MPI co-founder Kathleen Newland and KIND President Wendy Young.

Expert Q&A, Audio

November 12, 2021

Leveraging the Benefits That Immigration Can Bring

In this World of Migration podcast episode, MPI Senior Fellow Michael Fix speaks with Senior Policy Analyst Julia Gelatt about the fiscal impacts of immigration, the importance of immigrant integration, how a greater focus on credential recognition could allow immigrants to more fully utilize the academic and professional skills they bring with them, and much more.

Video, Audio

November 18, 2020

Welfare States and Migration: How Will the Pandemic Reshape a Complex Relationship?

This MPI Europe webinar reflects on the implications of this current moment for European economies and societies and the role of immigration and immigrant integration policy, and highlight research from the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre on the fiscal and demographic impacts of migration.

Andrew Selee, Veronica Escobar, Dan Crenshaw, Duncan Wood

Video

April 22, 2020

Immigration and the U.S.-Mexico Border during the Pandemic: A Conversation with Members of Congress

In this bipartisan discussion, two border-state members of Congress—Rep. Veronica Escobar and Rep. Dan Crenshaw—discuss the response to the coronavirus outbreak, how it is affecting the interconnected border region, and what the future might hold.

Recent Activity

Articles

September 27, 2023

New York and Other U.S. Cities Struggle with High Costs of Migrant Arrivals

Articles

November 10, 2022

Millionaire Migration Rises and Heads to New Destinations

Reports

June 2022

The Future of Remote Work: Digital Nomads and the Implications for Immigration Systems

The number of people who work from home or another location other than a traditional office has been growing for decades, but the pandemic has accelerated this shift—with important implications for immigration policy. This report examines trends in remote work, challenges digital nomads and employers face when navigating immigration systems, and opportunities to adapt immigration policies to keep pace with changes in the world of work.

Reports

May 2022

From Fear to Solidarity: The Difficulty in Shifting Public Narratives about Refugees

Public opinion of refugees and asylum seekers is often portrayed as a binary, reflected in stories of them as “threats” or “benefits.” Yet in reality, people can hold a variety of competing beliefs and concerns about forced migrants and their impacts on society. This report explores these different narratives, the contexts in which they flourish, and the types of initiatives that have been used to try to boost solidarity and ease tensions.

Video

April 28, 2022

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