oa Circular and temporary migration regimes and their implications for family

The focus on migrant workers in discussions of international migration has tended todetract attention from the role of migrant families. There is consensus that family unificationis important for migrants because it helps to promote their effective integration in hostcountries. Further, family fragmentation has adverse impacts on all family members, and there isconsiderable research to show that the social cost of migration on families left behind, especiallychildren, can be high. Different migration regimes and policies have different implications for theunity and integrity of migrant families. This paper considers the implications of circular migrationregimes (which have become increasingly popular in the discourse on international migrationand development) for migrant families.