‘I left because…’: Caribbean high-skilled emigrants’ reasons to migrate to the US

ABSTRACT

The rate of emigration of highly educated people from the Caribbean is one of the highest in the world but little research exists on this phenomenon. This paper helps to fill this gap by focusing on one particular subset of Caribbean skilled emigrants, those working in higher education in the US, including academics and administrators. Drawing on an inductive methodology, and using data from interviews, this interdisciplinary research assesses why these high-skilled Caribbean people emigrate from the region, and the factors that facilitate their immigration to the US. Findings indicate that, ultimately, high skilled emigration of this group is complex, reflecting a compelling interdisciplinary understanding of skilled emigration that has resonance in network, neoclassical human capital, and world systems theories of skilled emigration from the Caribbean.

KEYWORDS:

• High-skilled migration
• Caribbean
• higher education professionals
• immigration policy and education
• Caribbean academics

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) is a grouping of twenty countries: fifteen Member States and five Associate Members. CARICOM Member States: Least Developing Countries: Antigua & Barbuda, Belize, Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, Republic of Haiti (provisional membership), Montserrat, Federation of St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines; Middle income countries: Commonwealth of the Bahamas, Barbados, Co-operative Republic of Guyana, Jamaica, Republic of Suriname, Republic of Trinidad & Tobago).