International Migration: A Very Short Introduction Very Short Introductions are for anyone wanting a stimulating and accessible way in to a new subject. They are written by experts, and have been published in more than 25 languages worldwide. The series began in 1995, and now represents a wide variety of topics in history, philosophy, religion, science, and the humanities. Over the next few years it will grow to a library of around 200 volumes – a Very Short Introduction to everything from ancient Egypt and Indian philosophy to conceptual art and cosmology. Very Short Introductions available now: ANARCHISM Colin Ward CHOICE THEORY ANCIENT EGYPT Ian Shaw Michael Allingham ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY CHRISTIAN ART Beth Williamson Julia Annas CHRISTIANITY Linda Woodhead ANCIENT WARFARE CLASSICS Mary Beard and Harry Sidebottom John Henderson ANGLICANISM Mark Chapman CLAUSEWITZ Michael Howard THE ANGLO-SAXON AGE THE COLD WAR Robert McMahon John Blair CONSCIOUSNESS Susan Blackmore ANIMAL RIGHTS David DeGrazia CONTEMPORARY ART ARCHAEOLOGY Paul Bahn Julian Stallabrass ARCHITECTURE Continental Philosophy Andrew Ballantyne Simon Critchley ARISTOTLE Jonathan Barnes COSMOLOGY Peter Coles ART HISTORY Dana Arnold THE CRUSADES ART THEORY Cynthia Freeland Christopher Tyerman THE HISTORY OF CRYPTOGRAPHY ASTRONOMY Michael Hoskin Fred Piper and Sean Murphy Atheism Julian Baggini DADA AND SURREALISM Augustine Henry Chadwick David Hopkins BARTHES Jonathan Culler Darwin Jonathan Howard THE BIBLE John Riches THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS THE BRAIN Michael O’Shea Timothy Lim BRITISH POLITICS Democracy Bernard Crick Anthony Wright DESCARTES Tom Sorell Buddha Michael Carrithers DESIGN John Heskett BUDDHISM Damien Keown DINOSAURS David Norman BUDDHIST ETHICS DREAMING J. Allan Hobson Damien Keown DRUGS Leslie Iversen CAPITALISM James Fulcher THE EARTH Martin Redfern THE CELTS Barry Cunliffe economics Partha Dasgupta CHAOS Leonard Smith EGYPTIAN MYTH Geraldine Pinch EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY Indian Philosophy BRITAIN Paul Langford Sue Hamilton THE ELEMENTS Philip Ball Intelligence Ian J. Deary EMOTION Dylan Evans INTERNATIONAL EMPIRE Stephen Howe MIGRATION Khalid Koser ENGELS Terrell Carver ISLAM Malise Ruthven Ethics Simon Blackburn JOURNALISM Ian Hargreaves The European Union JUDAISM Norman Solomon John Pinder Jung Anthony Stevens EVOLUTION KAFKA Ritchie Robertson Brian and Deborah Charlesworth KANT Roger Scruton EXISTENTIALISM Thomas Flynn KIERKEGAARD Patrick Gardiner FASCISM Kevin Passmore THE KORAN Michael Cook FEMINISM Margaret Walters LINGUISTICS Peter Matthews THE FIRST WORLD WAR LITERARY THEORY Michael Howard Jonathan Culler FOSSILS Keith Thomson LOCKE John Dunn FOUCAULT Gary Gutting LOGIC Graham Priest THE FRENCH REVOLUTION MACHIAVELLI Quentin Skinner William Doyle THE MARQUIS DE SADE FREE WILL Thomas Pink John Phillips Freud Anthony Storr MARX Peter Singer FUNDAMENTALISM MATHEMATICS Timothy Gowers Malise Ruthven MEDICAL ETHICS Tony Hope Galileo Stillman Drake MEDIEVAL BRITAIN Gandhi Bhikhu Parekh John Gillingham and GLOBAL CATASTROPHES Ralph A. Griffiths Bill McGuire MODERN ART David Cottington GLOBALIZATION MODERN IRELAND Manfred Steger Senia Pasˇeta GLOBAL WARMING MOLECULES Philip Ball Mark Maslin MUSIC Nicholas Cook HABERMAS Myth Robert A. Segal James Gordon Finlayson NATIONALISM Steven Grosby HEGEL Peter Singer NEWTON Robert Iliffe HEIDEGGER Michael Inwood NIETZSCHE Michael Tanner HIEROGLYPHS Penelope Wilson NINETEENTH-CENTURY HINDUISM Kim Knott BRITAIN Christopher Harvie and HISTORY John H. Arnold H. C. G. Matthew HOBBES Richard Tuck NORTHERN IRELAND HUMAN EVOLUTION Marc Mulholland Bernard Wood PARTICLE PHYSICS Frank Close HUME A. J. Ayer paul E. P. Sanders IDEOLOGY Michael Freeden Philosophy Edward Craig PHILOSOPHY OF LAW THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION Raymond Wacks S. A. Smith PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE SCHIZOPHRENIA Samir Okasha Chris Frith and Eve Johnstone PHOTOGRAPHY Steve Edwards SCHOPENHAUER PLATO Julia Annas Christopher Janaway POLITICS Kenneth Minogue SHAKESPEARE Germaine Greer POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY SIKHISM Eleanor Nesbitt David Miller SOCIAL AND CULTURAL POSTCOLONIALISM ANTHROPOLOGY Robert Young John Monaghan and Peter Just POSTMODERNISM SOCIALISM Michael Newman Christopher Butler SOCIOLOGY Steve Bruce POSTSTRUCTURALISM Socrates C. C. W. Taylor Catherine Belsey THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR PREHISTORY Chris Gosden Helen Graham PRESOCRATIC PHILOSOPHY SPINOZA Roger Scruton Catherine Osborne STUART BRITAIN John Morrill Psychology Gillian Butler and TERRORISM Charles Townshend Freda McManus THEOLOGY David F. Ford PSYCHIATRY Tom Burns THE HISTORY OF TIME QUANTUM THEORY Leofranc Holford-Strevens John Polkinghorne TRAGEDY Adrian Poole THE RENAISSANCE Jerry Brotton THE TUDORS John Guy RENAISSANCE ART TWENTIETH-CENTURY Geraldine A. Johnson BRITAIN Kenneth O. Morgan ROMAN BRITAIN Peter Salway THE VIKINGS Julian D. Richards THE ROMAN EMPIRE Wittgenstein A. C. Grayling Christopher Kelly WORLD MUSIC ROUSSEAU Robert Wokler Philip Bohlman RUSSELL A. C. Grayling THE WORLD TRADE RUSSIAN LITERATURE ORGANIZATION Catriona Kelly Amrita Narlikar Available soon: AFRICAN HISTORY HIV/AIDS Alan Whiteside John Parker and HUMAN RIGHTS Richard Rathbone Andrew Clapham CHILD DEVELOPMENT INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS Richard Griffin Paul Wilkinson CITIZENSHIP Richard Bellamy RACISM Ali Rattansi For more information visit our web site www.oup.co.uk/general/vsi/ Khalid Koser INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION A Very Short Introduction 1 3 Great Clarendon Street, Oxford ox2 6dp Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in OxfordNew York AucklandCape TownDar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala LumpurMadridMelbourneMexico CityNairobi New DelhiShanghaiTaipeiToronto With offices in ArgentinaAustriaBrazilChileCzech Republic FranceGreece GuatemalaHungaryItaly Japan Poland PortugalSingapore South KoreaSwitzerlandThailand TurkeyUkraineVietnam Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York © Khalid Koser 2007 The moral rights of the author have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) First published as a Very Short Introduction 2007 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organizations. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Data available Typeset by RefineCatch Ltd, Bungay, Suffolk Printed in Great Britain by Ashford Colour Press Ltd, Gosport, Hampshire ISBN 978–0–19–929801–3 1357910864 2 Contents Abbreviations ix List of illustrations xi 1 Why migration matters 1 2 Who is a migrant? 16 3 Migration and globalization 28 4 Migration and development 41 5 Irregular migration 54 6 Refugees and asylum-seekers 70 7 Migrants in society 90 8 The future of international migration 109 Further reading 125 Index 129 This page intentionally left blank Abbreviations CIS Commonwealth of Independent States EEA European Economic Area ELR Exceptional Leave to Remain EU European Union GCIM Global Commission on International Migration GDP Gross Domestic Product HDI Human Development Index HTA Home Town Association ICT Inter-Corporate Transferee IDP Internally Displaced Person ILO International Labour Office IOM International Organization for Migration IPS International Passenger Survey NAFTA North American Free Trade Agreement NGO Non-Governmental Organization NIC Newly Industrializing Country OECD Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development PRD Pearl River Delta, China UK United Kingdom UN United Nations