ABSTRACT
Migrants’ adaptation to new cultural and working environments is analysed, together with the effects of their presence on the social, economic and political structures of destination countries. Migration also raises questions about what kind of values European countries share with their multiethnic immigrant communities and what kind of society they want to be: open or closed, welcoming or anti-melting-pot/assimilation possibilities. Immigration laws and work permits regulate human mobility in the rest of the hemisphere. Today, from a strictly economic point of view, this production factor, labour, is the most penalized as far as free circulation is concerned. The integration of migrant workers into the labour market is an essential requirement for the well-being of modern societies and migrant workers may be considered as an important resource. Since then migration movements have become increasingly dependent on the laws and regulations of each single destination nation.
