Why Migration?

Most people understand who migrant workers are. Migration is a big deal, especially in this globalization era, when migrant workers are more important to both the host and the home countries than in the past. Much more is known about the background of those who decide to leave their home countries and work overseas. Today, we cannot talk about migrant workers without also discussing all legal and social aspects surrounding the topic.

While presidential candidates in the States are debating their policy on migrant workers and how it would impact the nation, somewhere in the Philippines two girls are perhaps discussing their dreams to work as housemaids abroad and how their decisions would give benefits to their families. The interpretations of what migrant workers mean during the presidential debate and the small discussion may not differ greatly. Visitors of our website may also have similar understandings regarding the definition of migrant workers. However, in the case of official use or legal issues, certain exact definitions pertaining to migrant workers are needed to avoid confusions.

In this section, we quote some definitions of migrant workers and related terms made by the UN bodies, based on UN Convention on the issue. There are also definitions according to some countries that have not ratified the convention. We hope this section would give you a better understanding of who migrant workers are.

• The UN International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of all Migrant Workers and Members of their Families a migrant worker as a "person who is to be engaged, is engaged or has been engaged in a remunerated activity in a State of which he or she is not a national."
• International Labour Organization defines foreign migrant workers as "foreigners admitted by the receiving State for the specific purpose of exercising an economic activity remunerated from within the receiving country."
• European Convention on the Legal Status of Migrant Workers defines a migrant worker as "a national of a Contracting Party who has been authorised by another Contracting Party to reside in its territory in order to take up paid employment."
• The United States of America categorizes migrant workers according to the types of visa they obtain. For example, H2A worker means "any nonimmigrant alien admitted to the United States for agricultural labor or services of a temporary or seasonal nature," whereas H1B Speciality Occupation Visas is "a visa for people coming to the USA to work for a US employer in a professional-level position.

References :
International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, Article 2, United Nations, 18 December 1990
http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/45/a45r158.htm
Recommendations on Statistics of International Migration, Revision 1, Statistical Papers, Series M, No. 58, United Nations, New York, 1998, Glossary in
http://stats.oecd.org/glossary/detail.asp?ID=1562
European Convention On The Legal Status Of Migrant Workers, Article 1, Council of Europe, 1977
http://www.legislationline.org/legislation.php?tid=134&lid=5046&less=false.
Code of Federal Regulations Pertaining to U.S. Department of Labor, Title 20, Chapter V, Part 655, U.S. Department of Labor, 1977
http://www.dol.gov/dol/allcfr/Title_20/Part_655.