Impact of the destination state on migrants’ remittances: a study of remitting among Bangladeshi migrants in the USA, the UAE and Japan

Abstract

The literature on migrants’ remittances largely explains remittances as motivated by migrants’ altruism and self-interest. While few studies emphasize the sending state’s role in determining remittances, that of the destination state remains unstudied. Based on a comparison among Bangladeshi migrants remitting from the USA, the UAE and Japan, this qualitative study demonstrates how the destination state affects migrants’ remittances by immigration policies regarding entry, period of stay and labour market participation of the migrants in the destination country. Empirical findings show that the destination state exerts its influence by bestowing different legal categories onto the migrants based on those legal statuses. While arguing for recognizing the destination state as a structural determinant of migrants’ remitting, this study does not refute those identifying migrants’ altruism and self-interest as the determinants of remitting. Instead, this study complements the existing migration literature by adding structural contexts in which the migrants’ remitting practices are embedded. It concludes with a call for further research using large-scale quantitative data to understand the extent of the destination state’s influence on remitting.

Keywords:

• migrants’ remittance
• destination state
• determinants of remittance
• Bangladeshi migrants

Acknowledgements

This study has partially been supported by Herbert and Helen Kawahara Fieldwork Fellowship from Terasaki Center for Japanese Studies at UCLA and University of California IRLE mini-grant. I sincerely acknowledge the anonymous reviewers and editor for comments on the manuscript, which were helpful in improving the quality of this paper substantially.

Notes

1. This is a bilateral programme the US espouses to extend support for countries in crisis (such as El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Somalia, Sudan, etc.) through legalizing their undocumented emigrants living in the US for a short period (usually 18 months which is often extended) so that they may work and earn legally and send more money back home.

2. Downloaded from http://www.wrongingrights.com/2010/01/breaking-news-haitians-granted-tps.html.

3. Downloaded from http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2010/05/17/haiti-remittances-key-to-earthquake-recovery.

4. Downloaded from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/22/AR2010012203401.html.

5. http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2014/04/11/remittances-developing-countries-deportations-migrant-workers-wb.

6. These functioned as visa restrictions of today.

7. This, and all names hereafter, is pseudonym.

8. Both a brick-built house with air conditioner and a Toyota car are symbols of higher status in Bangladesh.

9. Under the family sponsorship policy.

10. Downloaded from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28PPP%29_per_capita?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter on March 12, 2012.

11. I myself also experienced this – the police stopped me for papers six times in my first month while doing fieldwork at Tokyo.

12. The most common form of informal remittance transferring method among the South Asian migrants.

13. An expensive housing project in Dhaka, Bangladesh.