There has been an undisputed increase in the importance of migration over the past decades. It is one of the effects of an increasingly globalized world, where capitalism and free trade are gaining prominence. Migration in East and Southeast Asia aims to bring migration-related problems in Asia to the forefront. The first part of the book deals with migration in Greater China, a region influenced by Confucianism. The 'three Chinas' used to have a close connection in the past, and presently share much similarity. The Hong Kongese and Taiwanese societies are based on migration from Mainland China. However, each society has endured significant social, economic, and political changes. The second part of the book offers a closer look at migration flows in Southeast Asia. Most of the intra-ASEAN migration involves low-skilled labor for construction, agriculture, and domestic work. This book hopes to offer valuable insights into various topics related to migration in the region.

Includes statistics.

This book is a collection of work by migration scholars and researchers who are actively conducting fieldwork in Southeast Asia. It presents a wide variety of current research and approaches the field of international labor migration from a regional perspective, acknowledging that the migration process goes beyond local and national boundaries and is embedded in regional and global interconnections. The chapters capture the complexity and richness of the migration phenomenon and experience, which manifests itself in a multitude of ways in a region well known for its diversity. The collection highlights the continuities and discontinuities in the linkages that have been forged through the movement of people between sending and receiving societies. Such linkages are explained by distinguishing between migration that has been sustained by a colonial past and migration that has been precipitated by globalization in the last two decades. The diversity of issues in the region covered by this volume will encourage a rethink of some of the conventional views of migration scholarship and result in a more critical reflection of how we approach migration research.

This book analyzes immigration policies in East Asia in the context of contemporary global migration flows and mobility. To assess how global norms of migration have impacted the East Asian migration region and explore regional migration trends, the book contains 13 case studies which investigate the regulation of immigration in China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. Three analytical strands, namely, norm diffusion, identity politics, and citizenship, build the theoretical framework for the case studies which investigate how regional and national norms, discourses, and institutions affect local communities and migration patterns. In particular, the book analyzes contemporary issues such as immigration policy reforms, practices of inclusion and exclusion in local communities, and discourses on multiculturalism and risk. The book utilizes a comparative perspective which enables readers to reflect on the role of national identity, international organizations and law, public security concerns, and labour market demands in the articulation and implementation of contemporary immigration policy in East Asia. This book substantially complements the existing literature on immigration governance and interregional migration mobility in East Asia and will be of interest to academics in the fields of East Asian studies, public policy, immigration and migration studies, and comparative politics.

Australia remained an isolated outpost of British civilisation until the dismantling of the White Australia Policy in the 1970s. Since then, migrants from across Asia have made Australia their home, contributing to the nation's economic development, and helping to make Australian society one of the most culturally diverse in the world. Find out how people from Asia were a part of early colonial society, and how the trade ties with countries to Australia's north helped supply the growing colonies with many of their imported needs. Asian countries are now some of Australia's main trading partners, and this economic interchange is helped by the many Asian migrants who have made Australia their home. ABOUT THE MIGRATION TO AUSTRALIA SERIES Australia is a country built on migration. People have been seeking a new life in Australia's cities and country regions from the colonial era up until the present. This series explains why they chose Australia as their destination, what the international conditions were that caused them to leave their homelands, and how thousands of migrants have contributed to making Australia the nation it is today.

The movement of people in Southeast Asia is an issue of increasing importance. Countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are now the origin of 8 percent of the world's migrants. These countries host only 4 percent of the world's migrants but intra-regional migration has turned Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand into regional migration hubs that are home to 6.5 million ASEAN migrants. However, significant international and domestic labor mobility costs limit the ability of workers to change firms, sectors, and geographies in ASEAN. This report takes an innovative approach to estimate the costs for workers to migrate internationally. Singapore and Malaysia have the lowest international labor mobility costs in ASEAN while workers migrating to Myanmar and Vietnam have the highest costs. Singapore and Malaysia's more developed migration systems are a key reason for their lower labor mobility costs. How easily workers can move to take advantage of new opportunities is important in determining how they fare under the increased economic integration planned for ASEAN. To study this question, the report simulates how worker welfare is affected by enhanced trade integration under different scenarios of labor mobility costs. Region-wide, worker welfare would be 14 percent higher if barriers to mobility were reduced for skilled workers, and an additional 29 percent if barriers to mobility were lowered for all workers. Weaknesses in migration systems increase international labor mobility costs, but policy reforms can help. Destination countries should work toward systems that are responsive to economic needs and consistent with domestic policies. Sending countries should balance protections for migrant workers with the needs of economic development.

Globalization has led to a surge in crossborder migration, and the population of international migrants in East Asia has more than doubled over the past two decades. Today, governments in the region are grappling with these expanding and increasingly complex flows of people as well as the human security challenges that they bring, but as a result, they too often overlook the potential opportunities that accompany skillfully managed migration. In this volume, experts from "sending" and "receiving" countries in Asia outline current trends in China, Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia; analyze existing government efforts to manage migration; and explore the unique role that nongovernmental organizations can play in helping to protect migrants and to harness migration to the benefit of the region.