Sociology Plus
International Migration Definition
International migration is generally defined as the movement of a person’s usual place of residence from one country to another. The United Nations recommends adding a time element of at least one year to this definition to distinguish international migrants from international visitors. As a dyadic process, it encompasses both movements into and out of a given country, allowing examination from the perspective of the sending or receiving nation. This process involves four components: the immigration of persons to a country other than their place of birth or citizenship; the return migration of nationals to their home country after residing abroad; the out migration of nationals from their home country; and the out migration of foreigners from the country to which they migrated.
Migration and the Nation-State
International migration is intrinsically linked to the rise of the nation-state, emerging only once territories were organised into states with internationally recognised boundaries. The process of demarcating internal versus international migrants accelerated during the Middle Ages and spread through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries as European colonies gained independence. Changes in state boundaries and civil conflicts within states continue to reshape the global migration system today. Historical events, such as the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 or the partition of Yugoslavia, demonstrate how political divisions directly alter the classification and volume of internal and international migrants. Furthermore, state cooperation or conflict influences definitions of migration flows; for instance, regional economic treaties often restrict the movement of unskilled workers to protect native labour, as seen in agreements like NAFTA, which increased cross-border mobility despite internal considerations.
Trends and Flows
The volume of international migration is increasing globally. While the United Nations estimated 175 million persons living outside their country of birth in 2000 (a 14% increase from 1990), this figure remains a crude estimate, and other evidence suggests continued growth. Recent flows are characterised by greater global interconnectedness than historical migrations, involving people of all nations moving along global pathways. The trend indicates that virtually every country is now either a sender or receiver of migrants.
Types of International Migrants
Contemporary international migration can be categorised into several distinct types, driven by different underlying factors:
- Refugee Migrations: These are involuntary movements driven by the fear for one’s life, and they are typically managed differently than other flows due to their forced nature.
- Labour Migrations: Driven primarily by economic inequalities, these involve workers moving to seek better incomes. While historically driven by recruitment, modern flows are increasingly influenced by labour market imbalances and migrant networks.
- Institutional Migrations: These involve highly skilled migrants hired or transferred by corporations, governments, or international bodies for work purposes. Unlike labour migration, these flows are organised by formal transnational institutions.
- Family Reunification Migrations: Stimulated by social factors, these occur when individuals seek to join family members who have migrated elsewhere.
- Lifestyle Migrations: The smallest category, these movements are motivated by a preference for specific environmental or cultural factors, such as climate, cost of living, or investment opportunities, often involving retirees or wealthy investors.
Policy and Regulation
Governments employ various policy modes to regulate immigration. While some nations grant permanent right of entry (e.g., Australia, Canada), most rely on temporary residence and work visas. The expansion of these temporary statuses has led to the emergence of ‘transnationalists’—individuals who maintain social and economic networks across borders, often holding dual citizenship and moving frequently. Governments face a dilemma in managing migration: balancing the need to control unauthorised labour flows with maintaining access for other types of migrants.
Theories of International Migration
Scholars have developed several partial theories to explain international migration, though no single overarching theory exists. Political scientists focus on state policies, while economists examine economic differentials (like wage gaps), and sociologists draw from earlier work on assimilation. Douglas Massey and colleagues advanced the concept of cumulative causation, suggesting that new conditions arising during migration—such as spreading networks and evolving social meanings of work—become independent causes themselves, sustaining flows. Critics argue that earlier theories, such as push-pull models, were too static to account for contemporary flows. Scholars like Alejandro Portes suggest that a single theory is inadequate, advocating instead for attention to four distinct processes: the origins of immigration, the directionality of flows, the utilisation of labour, and the integration of migrants in receiving societies.
Methodological Issues
A significant challenge in studying international migration is the scarcity of comparable statistics. Data collection is often determined by the policy approaches of receiving countries, leading to a lack of comparability between national statistics or data from different sources. Consequently, scholars face difficulties in accurately measuring the magnitude, determinants, and consequences of these global demographic processes.