Designer Immigrants1?: International Students and Two-Step Migration

In recent decades, international students have emerged as a prized and contested human capital resource, in a process termed two-step migration. This movement of international students should be seen as an integral part of transnational migration systems, which undergird skilled labor circulation in a burgeoning global knowledge economy. Governments are increasingly aware of this trend, “seen in the increasing incidence of national programmes for students’ recruitment with a specific view towards longer-term or permanent settlement” (Vertovec, 2002, p. 13). What are the current issues within this trend of two-step migration? What are the policies and strategies related to this trend? This chapter outlines the discourse on this emerging trend, including student motivations, ...