A variety of reasons lie behind migration.

People may migrate in order to improve their economic

situation, or to escape civil strife, persecution, and environmental disasters. Traditionally, the reasons
encouraging an individual to migrate were categorized as "push" or "pull" factors. Globalization has
introduced a third set of motivations called "network" factors, which include free flow of information,
improved global communication and faster and lower cost transportation. While network factors are not
a direct cause of migration, they do facilitate it.

As well as encouraging migration, globalization also produces countervailing forces. For example, as
businesses grow and become more internationalized they often outsource their production to
developing countries where labor costs are lower. This movement of jobs from developed nations to the
developing world mitigates certain economic factors leading to migration. In other words, in a global
economy jobs can move to potential migrants instead of migrants moving to potential jobs.

The impacts of migration are complex, bringing both benefits and disadvantages. Immigration provides a
supply of low cost labor for host countries, while remittances from emigrant workers can be an
important source of foreign income for sending nations. On the other hand, immigration can stoke
resentment and fear towards newcomers in receiving states, as immigrants are discriminated against,
accused of lowering wages and associated with crime, among other complaints. For the economies of
sending nations, emigration leads to a loss of young, able-bodied, well-educated and otherwise
economically valuable citizens.

This Issue in Depth is designed to help you understand the causes of migration, the allocation of
benefits, and the ways in which individual countries and the international community deal with this
important subject. The Issue in Depth addresses primarily voluntary economic migration, that is,
migrants who relocate to a foreign country as temporary workers or legal “Today, the number of people
living outside their country of birth is larger than at any other time in history. International migrants
would now constitute the world's fifth most populous country if they all lived in the same place”
(UNFPA). Migration and Globalization http://www.globalization101.org 3 immigrants. These categories
of migrants are perhaps the most controversial as governments struggle to create a migration policy
that effectively acknowledges economic necessity and domestic apprehensions. Civil conflict and
oppression create different patterns of migration in the form of refugees and asylum seekers. These
types of migration, however, are not causally related to globalization and are only briefly discussed
below.

Push Factors

Push factors come in many forms. Sometimes these factors leave people with no choice but to leave
their country of origin. Below are three examples of push factors that drive people to emigrate from
their home countries.

Lack of Jobs/Poverty: Economic factors provide the main motivation behind migration. In fact, according
to the International Labour Organization, approximately half of the total population of current
international migrants, or about 100 million migrant workers, have left home to find better job and
lifestyle opportunities for their families abroad (International Labour Office of the Director-General,
2008). In some countries, jobs simply do not exist for a great deal of the population. In other instances,
the income gap between sending and receiving countries is great enough to warrant a move. India, for
example, has recently experienced a surge in emigration due to a combination of these factors (Index
Mundi 2012).

The greatest challenge facing India is creating enough jobs for its burgeoning population. India's
unemployed sector has never been properly estimated, but it could total as much as 121 million people
(Index Mundi 2012). The number of skilled workers graduating from Indian universities is also continuing
to increase. Meanwhile, the amount of domestic jobs available to university graduates is minimal. Only
about 2.7 million jobs were created between 2004-2005 and 2009-2010. Job creation has improved in
recent years, but unemployment rates still remain extremely high throughout India (The Economic
Times, 2013). This imbalance will not keep skilled workers in the country.

Instead, many graduates from Indian universities migrate to the U.S., where their skills and lower wage
demands appeal to high-tech companies. In fact, about 40 percent of recent immigrants from India to
the U.S. have been accepted due to employment-based preferences, thus showing the high degree of
American corporations’ demand for Indian skilled labor (Alarcon, 2007). As the Indian population grows,
and more students graduate from technical universities, India may experience a great deal more
emigration. While the case of India described above represents skilled/professional labor migration,
similar trends apply to low skilled migrant laborers, who may leave home countries due to lack of
demand and/or low wages for their work and excess need for this kind of work elsewhere. The influx of
low skilled laborers from Latin America into the U.S. to accommodate the growing service sector
provides an example of this alternate form of labor migration.

Civil Strife/War/Political and Religious Persecution: Some migrants are impelled to cross national
borders by war or persecution at home. These immigrants may be considered refugees or asylum
seekers in receiving countries. The 1951 Geneva Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees defined
the qualifications for such migrants and bound Migration and Globalization
http://www.globalization101.org 10 signatory countries not to return these newcomers to places where
they could be persecuted. According to the text put forth by the Convention, a refugee is “someone who
is unable or unwilling to return to their country of origin owing to a well-founded fear of being
persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political
opinion” (1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees).

May Esperanza Losloso, she grew up in the Philippines and was raised by her mom and auntie.
His father went to united States when she was one because he was in the army. His father
visited them once in a year. Her mother would keep her father updated by sending him photos
with stories written in the back. She wanted to be with her father to have a complete family. In
1988, they got a tourist visas and were able to spend some time with her father. They go back
to Philippines after the vacation. After 9 years they finally reunited.

Aryana yang
She is a second-generation Hmong American woman. I grew up on the East Side of St. Paul,
Minnesota in the heart of the Hmong community in the Twin Cities. My parents grew up in the
rural mountains of Xiangkhoang province in Laos. Like many Hmong families in Laos, their lives
were disrupted with the turmoil of the Secret War, and when the persecution of Hmong people
began by the local militia, my parents and their families were forced to flee into the eastern
jungles. After living in the refugee camps in Thailand, my family was granted entry into the
United States. Their first stop in the United State was New York City.

Saengmany Ratsabout
1986 was also the year that my family arrived to the United States. We had escaped the
aftermaths of the civil war, one that the US Central Intelligence Agency covertly
intervened as part of their fight against the spread of communism. We would become a
product of a complex immigration system, one that allows families like mine access to
the US as refugees, when a century earlier excluded Chinese immigrants and had
barred immigration entirely from much of Asia. Unlike European immigrants who arrived
on boats onto the open arms of Lady Liberty, my family arrived as refugees aboard
Northwest Orient Airline flight number 020. Our journey spanned two and a half years in
refugee camps and countless medical exams. I was a four year old malnourished child
weighing 11.1 kilograms, or roughly 24.5 pounds. “The heart and lungs are within
normal limits”, reads the x-ray; a sign of final approval for entrance to the United States.
Much of this history is not well known, let alone taught in classrooms. It was not until
college that I became interested in my family’s experience and journey. My parents
once told me that the day we left Laos, my name was written on the sandy shore of the
Mekong river, reminding me that Laos would always be a part of me.

Mary Fray
My grandmother’s family decided to leave Italy when the Fascist government of Benito
Mussolini took control of the country. A part of the family had their ski resort taken over by
government agents and life was difficult for people in small towns like Roccamarice. This was a
scary time for many families in Italy. A better life was to be found in the United States for both
economic and social reasons.
Growing up as an Italian immigrant in the 1930s and 40s had its challenges. Learning English,
being Catholic, and getting good jobs was not easy for everyone. Being young though, my
grandmother picked up English quickly and did very well in school. After she graduated from
Portland High School in 1942, she decided to leave her family and move to Chicago. She was
admitted to the Art Institute of Chicago, where she studied fabric and design. She also worked
at the USO as a hostess during World War II. She loved her free and exciting new life with her
new friends.

Nancy Fong Transcription

My name is Nancy Fong. My Chinese name is Kong Y Yee. I was born in Kowloon Hong Kong. I
grew up in Chicago Chinatown. And my family moved to the U.S. in 1962. We came for a better
life because there was no jobs in Hong Kong. My father came to the U.S. first. He came in
February 1960, and he had to work a couple of years to afford the plane tickets, for 6 of us. Also
he had to apply for us to come, so that took a while.
So my parents worked very hard. They did whatever they could do to earn some money. The
wages were very low. Coming to the U.S. after we got here, it was not fun because my father
worked. My mother worked whenever she found a job. She worked in factories, she worked in a,
what she calls a bobby pin factory.

On April 27, 1996 I boarded a plane from Belo Horizonte, Brazil headed for New York City. This
was intended to be a temporary trip, long enough for my mother to save some money and then
return to our native land and live the life of a promised dream. We wanted to own our own home
and live life comfortably.
I still remember the first time I saw the World Trade Center and the beautiful New York City
skyline. It transcended any expectations I ever had. This was the new world, and the new world
was shiny, big, and full of endless opportunities. As a child growing up in the United States, this
became my country.
My dream was no longer to go back, but to remain here with the new life I had forged for myself.
My family’s plans, however, remained intact and eventually they all returned except for me. I
stayed behind and continued striving for the American Dream. I wanted to have an
education and eventually a stable family. There was only one thing holding me back – my
status in the country. Because my family had originally come to the US with visitors’
visas and we had overstayed those visas, we were now out of status and were
undocumented. Many things like health insurance, going to college, getting a proper ID,
and so forth were unattainable. All the dreams and drive to succeed were there, but the
opportunities to achieve those were all locked behind closed doors. I was like 11 million
other undocumented immigrants in the U.S.
Everything seemed so simple yet unattainable, that is until June 15, 2012 when President
Barack Obama announced an executive action that gave me, and hundreds of thousands
more like me, the key to open those doors and become a new type of resident:
DREAMERS.
After collecting all the data necessary my first legal U.S. document arrived in the mail – my
employment authorization card and social security card. The feeling was beyond ecstatic. It felt
like this giant rubber band that had been stretched across my chest snapped and I catapulted to
achieving my dreams.
It took a while, but my American dream is finally coming true. Many things that natural born
citizens take for granted are finally happening to me. I didn’t get my driver’s license when I was
16, but getting it at 30 makes me feel like a teenager all over again. My time is now, and I’m
enjoying this freedom every day, and every day I am grateful that it’s finally come true.
On-screen text: My story didn’t end there.
On May 14, 2013 Minnesota became the 12th State to recognize same-sex Marriages. On June
26, 2013, The US Supreme Court struck down DOMA. Same sex couples now have equal
immigration rights.
Dedicated to my grandparents – the hardest part of being a dreamer was never not being able
to say goodbye.
William Nyang'un Transcription
Moving to the United States has always been my dream. Matter of fact, it is a dream come true.
My name is William Nyang’un, and this is my immigration story. I was born in Nairobi, Kenya in
December 9th 1990. I am the last born of 5 children that includes 3 handsome brothers and 1
beautiful sister. My family calls me Bill.
When I was six months old, my mother got an opportunity that saw her moving to the United
States by herself. The immigration laws must have too strict, that she was not able to carry a six
month old baby along with her.
According to the African culture, raising a child is not just a parental responsibility, but the whole
community is involved as well, as it was in my case. I grew up around so many uncles and
aunts, who would not hesitate to smack my behind if I seemed to lose my direction.
My family was there to celebrate all my birthdays, as they watched me grow. Even when we
were worlds apart with my mom, she would still send me lots of gifts, letters, and voice
recordings on tapes which would play her voice, expressing her unconditional love for me.
These were followed by constant phone calls that always checked on us.
My mom made her first trip back to Kenya when I was 9 years old. It was such an emotional
moment for her, more than it was for me, when we first hugged each other. That must have
been the very best moment of my life.
After my mom’s visit, my siblings moved to the United States at different times. This was a
happy moment for me, and at the same time sad. It was happy because I would be getting even
more gifts and attention, at the same time it was going to be sad because I would miss them.
In the winter of 2012, I moved to the United States for school. That was the first Christmas that
we were all united as siblings in my mother’s house in Virginia. As a tradition, lots of African and
American food were prepared.
I was able to start college in the Spring of 2013 at Minneapolis Community and Technical
College. One of the main challenges I faced was the cold winters. My brothers tease me now,
that I can survive in any weather, since I survived in the Minnesota cold.
A year later, in the winter of 2012, i lost my mom to a battle of cancer. I am still grateful because
she had nurtured my brothers and sister in her special ways, hence I still get to see her
presence in each and every one of them. They are all settled with good jobs and family, and all
play a major role in supporting me in my education.
I am now in junior year in the University of Minnesota, pursuing a degree in Computer Science. I
hope to graduate and start an IT company back in Kenya, where I will be able to help the less
fortunate children by funding for their education so that they would be able to achieve their
dreams as well.

How does migration contribute to Globalisation?

Increased migration is one of the most visible and significant aspects of globalisation:
growing numbers of people move within countries and across borders, looking for better
employment opportunities and better lifestyles. Although migration is usually seen as
problematic, it contributes to sustainable development.

Map: The expanding network of global flows

On the other hand, international migration itself generates processes of globalisation,
including the global transfer of money and goods; the emergence of global cities; and
growing social and cultural diversity.