Immigration, Self-Determination, and the Brain Drain*

This chapter argues that the immigration arrangements of liberal states in the area of skilled migration can sometimes contribute to the inability of citizens in poor countries to secure their human rights to health care and education. It argues that because liberal states have a duty not to contribute to harm abroad, they should not implement migration arrangements that lead to a situation whereby vulnerable populations are left without adequate access to important human rights. The upshot of the discussion is that liberal states do not only have a prima facie right to exclude but also a duty to exclude when the relevant conditions are met.

Economic Migration: On What Terms?

I investigate whether wealthy democratic states should liberalize economic migration and, if so, on what terms. Is it permissible for the state to restrict economic migration as a form of labor market protection? If so, under what conditions? If not, why not? I argue that even granting that states have a right to control their borders and to prioritize the interests of their inhabitants, there is good reason to liberalize permanent low-skilled migration, so long as this is paired with appropriate social policies.

Exploring the trajectories of highly skilled migration law and policy in Japan and the UK

Japan and the UK appear to have few commonalities in terms of their history of and approach to migration law and policy. However, strong similarities in their contemporary approaches can be detected. Migration sits at the very top of the national political agendas and both have undertaken successive, major policy reforms over the past decade. Both have governments publicly committed to policies to attract ‘highly skilled’ migrants, with a restrictive approach towards ‘unskilled’ migrants. This article draws out the similarities and differences of migration law and policy in Japan and the UK via their respective legislative structures and policy trajectories on highly skilled migration. The article argues that Japan and the UK promote a market-driven model which enables highly skilled migration to be ‘sold’ to publics believed to be hostile to increased migration. Yet, the rapid changes in policy and revising of applicable rules often prevents the successful recruitment of highly skilled migrants to both countries.

Education and Migration:

The Indian diaspora consists of low- and semi-skilled migrants mainly tothe Middle-East; migration of the highly-skilled to developed countries;and cross-border students who seek employment and remain in their hostcountries. India initially viewed the migration of the best educated fromits prestigious institutions as ‘brain drain’. However, with the reverse flowof these professionals, the diaspora came to be seen as ‘brain gain’. Thehighly-skilled Indian diaspora assumed positions of responsibility in thecorporate world, in academia (including Nobel laureates), and in the politicaland social spheres in some host countries, thereby enhancing India’simage abroad. Key words: India, skilled migration, human aspirations, brain drain, braingain

‘Mapping Migrancies’: A discursive mapping approach to analyse lived experiences of skilled migration infrastructures

The recent ‘infrastructural turn’ in migration studies has provided valuable insights into the emergence and functions of different aspects of migration infrastructure such as the commercial migration industry, social networks, and technological innovations (Xiang and Lindquist 2014). The focus of current scholarship, however, has been on how these infrastructures mobilise migrants, predominantly across irregular migration pathways. There remains a gap in exploring infrastructures of formal migration, and their entanglements with migrants’ own subjectivities. This paper reports on a research project that explores this gap by arguing for a new research agenda on migration infrastructure. The study uses a ‘discursive mapping’ approach involving in-depth interviews and mind-maps sketched by 27 research participants based in Australia and Canada as they narrated their migration experience. This paper draws upon the experiences of three migrants to illuminate how their journeys are intertwined with and shaped by migration infrastructures - particularly media and regulatory processes. By (re)centring the infrastructural focus on migrants’ own agencies, desires, and life-courses, this study presents nuanced understandings of the lived experience of skilled migration infrastructures.