Barriers to migration, and its implications for services, the economy and stability

Overview

Barrier to migration, how economic barriers restrict who can migrate and how barriers change the composition of a migration stream.

What you need to know

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Questions from this subtopic

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1. 1

   What is meant by a barrier to migration?

   Model answer

   A barrier, sometimes called an intervening obstacle, is anything lying between the decision to move and its completion that raises the cost, difficulty or risk of migrating, and so reduces the number of people who complete the move. Barriers explain why migration flows are always smaller than the push and pull factors alone would predict, and why they follow particular routes.

2. 2

   How do distance and physical geography act as barriers?

   Model answer

   Distance increases the cost and time of travel, weakens the flow of information about the destination, and increases the emotional cost of separation from family, so the number of migrants generally declines as distance increases; this is distance decay. Physical obstacles such as seas, deserts, mountain ranges and dense forest raise the cost and danger further and funnel movement through a small number of crossing points and ports, which is why routes concentrate and why those chokepoints become the focus of both smuggling and enforcement.

3. 3

   Explain how economic barriers restrict who can migrate.

   Model answer

   Migration requires money up front: fares, documents and visa fees, agents' charges, deposits and rent at the destination, and enough savings to live on before the first wage. Selling or leaving land, a house or a business may involve loss. Because of this, international migration is often not an option for the very poorest, who move shorter distances or not at all, while those who do move internationally are frequently from middle-income households or are financed by family or by debt. This is why development in a low-income country can initially increase emigration rather than reduce it.

4. 4

   What legal and political barriers do migrants face?

   Model answer

   Passport and visa requirements; quotas and caps on numbers; points-based systems requiring qualifications, salary thresholds, job offers or language; limited work permits tied to a single employer; restrictions on family reunion; border infrastructure such as fences, patrols, surveillance and checks; sanctions on airlines and hauliers that carry people without documents; agreements with neighbouring and transit states to intercept or readmit migrants; and, in a few states, restrictions on leaving. Within a free-movement area these barriers are removed for members and typically raised at the external border.

5. 5

   What social and cultural barriers restrict migration?

   Model answer

   Not speaking the destination's language; qualifications and professional registrations that are not recognised, so a trained professional may only find unskilled work; lack of accurate information and of contacts; discrimination or hostility at the destination, and fear of it; family and caring responsibilities, particularly for older relatives and children; reluctance to leave a community, a language or a religious life behind; and social norms which in some societies restrict women from moving independently.

6. 6

   Explain how barriers change the composition of a migration stream.

   Model answer

   They make it selective. Those most likely to overcome cost, distance, legal and language barriers are young adults, the fitter and healthier, the better educated, those with savings or family support, and those with contacts at the destination. The result is that migration streams are dominated by working-age adults and are often skewed by sex depending on the labour demand at the destination. This is why out-migration ages the population of the source area and removes the people best equipped to develop it, while giving the destination a working-age population that is cheap to educate and initially healthy.

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