Globalization and
Migration
GE 4: The Contemporary World
University of San Agustin, AY 2025-2026
Learning Outcomes
International migration at
the beginning of the twenty-
first century: global trends
and issues
Stephen Castles
What is globalization?
Connections between places
are lengthening (new links
Globalization are growing between places
that are great distances
apart).
The world is becoming more
deeply inter-connected. More
and more people’s lives now
connect with far-away places.
It is no longer just the richest
people (the élites) who are
“living globally”.
Every day, all over the
world, people make one of
the most difficult decisions
in their lives: to leave their
homes in search of a safer,
better life.
What is migration?
The movement of people from one
place to another for the purpose of
taking up residence for a certain
minimum period, usually across a
political or administrative boundary.
Who are Migrants?
• a person who moves Note: The
away from his or her present
place of usual residence,
definition was
whether within a country
or across an international developed by
border, temporarily or IOM for its
permanently, and for a own purposes
variety of reasons. and it is not
meant to
• not defined under
imply or
international law
create any
new legal
category.
Refugee
Refugees are persons who are outside their country
of origin for reasons of feared persecution, conflict,
generalized violence, or other circumstances that
have seriously disturbed public order and, as a result,
require international protection. The refugee
definition can be found in the 1951 Convention and
regional refugee instruments, as well as UNHCR’s
Statute. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
Internal migration
This refers to population movement within a country.
International Migration
This describes the movement of people between
countries which involves greater distances than is the case
with internal migration.
There are many reasons why people around
the globe seek to rebuild their lives in a
different country.
Types of Migration
Forced or
involuntary
Migration
This is when the
government or
authorities of a
place force people
to migrate for a
reason.
Types of MigrationForced or involuntary Migration
• Jews forced to move from Germany, Poland and other European countries by
Hitler's Nazi's before and during World War 2. (Genocide).
• Africans forced to travel in cramped conditions on boats across the Atlantic to
the United States in the 18ᵗʰ and early 19ᵗʰ century. (The slave trade).
Types of Migration
Forced or involuntary Migration
• The original population of Australia were
prisoners from the United Kingdom, who
were forced to go there, and usually stayed.
• Asians forced to move out of Uganda by Idi
Amin in the 1970's. (Threats of genocide).
Impelled Migration
Impelled migration is when
people are forced out of where
they live by unfavorable
circumstances.
NOTE: they technically could stay, though it may
lead to long-term suffering or instability.
Impelled Migration
Filipino rural workers moving to
Manila (job insecurity)
Haitians leaving after the 2010
earthquake
Return Migration
This involves the voluntary return of
migrants to their original place after
they outlive the reasons for which
they left. Often times, young people
who move into the cities to work
return home when they retire to
spend the rest of their lives in the
quiet of their towns and with old
friends and family.
Economic migration is defined as a choice to
move to improve the standard of living by
gaining a better paid job.
Family Migration
Family reunification is a recognized reason
for immigration in many countries because of
the presence of one or more family members in
a certain country, therefore, enables the rest of
the family to immigrate to that country as well.
Migrant Transnationalism
Migrant Transnationalism refers to a social
process characterized by substantively bifocal
consciousness and orientation, as well as
regular practices of conducting migrants’ lives
across state borders, of living out significant
domains of social life both “here” and “there.”
Transnational migration is a
form of migration where a
person maintains significant
ties to two nations at the
same time.
It is “a process of movement and
settlement across international
borders in which individuals
maintain or build multiple networks
of connection to their country of
origin while at the same time
settling in a new country.”
(Fouron & Glick-Schiller, 2001)
Country losing people
Advantages Disadvantages
People of working age move
Money sent home by
out reducing the size of the
migrants
country's potential workforce
Gender imbalances are
caused as it is typically men
Decreases pressure on jobs
who seek to find employment
and resources
elsewhere. Women and
children are left
Migrants may return with new 'Brain drain' if many skilled
skills workers leave
Host country
Advantages Disadvantages
Increasing cost of services
A richer and more diverse
such as health care and
culture
education
Helps to reduce any labor
Overcrowding
shortages
Migrants are more Disagreements between
prepared to take on low different religions and
paid, low skilled jobs cultures
Source: Macrotrends,
2025
Overseas Filipinos is the term encompassing all
Filipino migrants, whether permanent or
temporary, legal or unauthorized.
Overseas Filipino Workers, or OFWs, represent a
subset of Overseas Filipinos, and are temporary
migrants. The OFW term is commonly used, a
further sign of the pervasive role that labor
migration occupies in Philippine society.
The Commission on Filipinos Overseas includes the following
categories of migrants in its stock estimates:
Permanent Migrants
Filipino immigrants and legal
permanent residents abroad,
Filipino spouses of foreign nationals,
Filipinos naturalized in their host
country, Filipino dual citizens, and
their descendants.
Temporary Migrants
Filipinos whose stay overseas, while regular and
properly documented, is temporary, owing to the
employment-related nature of their status in their
host country. Include land-based and sea-based
Filipino workers, intracompany transferees,
students, trainees, entrepreneurs, businessmen,
traders, and others whose stay abroad is six
month or more, and their accompanying
dependents.
Irregular Migrants
Filipinos who are not properly
documented or without valid
residence or work permits, or
who may be overstaying their
visa.
The wide-scale movement of people
is as much a defining feature of
globalization as the movement of
goods, services, and capital. And
countries are often just as reluctant—if
not more so—to open their borders to
people as they are to those items.
As with trade of goods and capital,
citizens may fear that their culture and jobs
are susceptible to being eliminated by
uncontrolled immigration. At the same time—
again, similarly to free trade and investment—
economies and societies need migration in
order to sustain economic growth.
In 2020, India, China, Mexico,
the Philippines and Egypt were
(in descending order) the top
five remittance recipient
countries, although India and
China were well above the rest,
with total inward remittances
exceeding $83 billion and $59
billion, respectively.
Top Countries Receiving Remittances (2010-2022)
Source: Worldbank, 2025
Top Countries Sending Remittances (2010-
2022)
Source: Worldbank, 2025
High-income countries are almost always
the main source of remittances. For
decades, the United States has consistently
been the top remittance-sending country,
with a total outflow of $68 billion in 2020,
followed by the United Arab Emirates
($43.2 billion), Saudi Arabia ($34.6
billion), Switzerland ($27.96 billion), and
Germany ($22 billion).
More than 40 per cent of all international
migrants worldwide in 2020 (115 million) were
born in Asia, nearly 20 per cent primarily
originating from six Asian countries including
India (the largest country of origin), China,
Bangladesh, Pakistan, Philippines and
Afghanistan.
Mexico was the second largest country of origin
Russian Federation was third
The United States of America has been the main
country of destination for international migrants
since 1970.
Germany is the second
top destination for
migrants
The following countries comprised of the top travelers this
2022
United States of America (687,135)
South Korea (448,491)
Australia (152,476)
Canada (141,578)
Japan (123,011)
While the Philippine Migrants remain
government seeks to vulnerable to
ensure that the rights exploitation and
of Filipinos abroad abuse including
are adequately contract
protected, the reality violations, sexual
on the grounds is harassment,
often very different violence and
discrimination.
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