Characteristics and Issues of Asian Migration

The Asia Pacific Migrants Mission (APMM) is a regional migrant center committed to building and strengthening the migrant's movement in the Asia-Pacific and the Middle East. Established in 1987, the APMM—formerly known as the Asia Pacific Mission for Migrant Filipinos, or APMMF—assisted in the establishment and further development of migrant community organizations in various countries of the region that later on founded the group, MIGRANTE International.

APMM since 2002 has officially expanded its scope of work to include non-Filipino migrants and assisted them also in building their grassroots organizations. These groups in various countries later on pushed and succeeded in establishing the International Migrants Alliance or IMA as the only global coalition that is composed majorly and led fully by grassroots migrant workers.

With over 250 million migrants in the world, migration is a global concern as it is rooted in as well as impacts the economic, social, cultural, and political aspects of any country where they come from and where they live and work.

For the past decade, migration has been becoming more and more often a topic of international meetings—be it by intergovernmental bodies or international agencies—that proves that it is a theme that is undeniable in scope and depth.

By the Numbers: Migration to and from Asia

From the work that the APMM does, the Asia region includes the Pacific countries, small island states, and the countries of destination in what is known as the Middle East or those that are in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). For the purpose of analysis, this article refers to the region as covering the said geopolitical areas. Data-wise, however, many of the sources tend to disaggregate the region into Asia (that includes North, Northeast, South, Southeast, Southwest, and Central Asia), the Pacific, and the GCC. Despite the differentiation, however, available data point to the fact that Asia is a region with a diverse, dynamic, and wide reach in relation to migration.

The Asia region is home to three of the top five countries of origin of migrants as well as some of the recipients of remittance from migrants. Known migration corridors are found in the region, including the Bangladesh-India and the Indonesia-Malaysia corridors. The region is also composed of sending, receiving, and transit countries for migrants. It is also said to host the biggest number of refugees in the world who can be considered displaced similar to their im/migrant counterparts and thus face conditions that are somewhat similar to those of migrants.

In the powerful Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) where the United States and the rich countries in Asia and the European Union are included, Asia is almost on par with the EU in terms of origin of migration flow. In 2011, 1.6 million Asian nationals migrated to an OECD member country—a third of the total. Most of the migrants to OECD countries came from the People's Republic of China (PRC), India, and the Philippines. Among the OECD countries, the United States still remains as the top destination, with 373,000 inflows from Asia, though migration to the United States is still predominantly family migration. It is said that the number is even higher if temporary migration of those from Asia is included. Two Asian OECD member countries are in second and third place with 16 percent for Japan and 13 percent for Korea, though most of the flows are temporary migrants. Migration to OECD countries is generally characterized as highly skilled, though in OECD countries such as Australia, Canada, and New Zealand that have developed or are developing temporary labor migration schemes, migration of less-skilled migrants is also happening. In the past decade, the number of highly educated foreign-born in the OECD increased by 70 percent. Higher education is also prevalent among foreign immigrants in the OECD. However, they are still less likely to be employed than their native-born counterparts (77 percent vs. 84 percent), and when they are employed, about half of them tend to be overqualified for their position.

Meanwhile, Asian migration to non...