Family Reunification and Philippine Migration to the United States: The Immigrants’ Perspective

Abstract

This article focuses on the impact of the family reunification provisions in the United States immigration policy for legal immigration from the Philippines. Immigration and Naturalization Service data on the changing pattern of Philippine immigration to the United States between 1971 and 1984 show an increase of nearly two-and-a-half times in the number of immediate family members exempt from numerical limitations, a doubling in the number of immigrants entering under family preference categories, but a marked decline in the number of occupational preference immigrants. Immigration-related plans, behavior, and characteristics from the immigrants’ perspective are also analyzed. A family reunification policy-based typology has been constructed to categorize intended and actual immigrants to the United States. Using this typology, systematic differences are reported for out-migration plans, family contacts, the immigrant process, and the characteristics of intended and actual immigrants.