ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the income level and the personal expenses of migrant workers, as well as their flow of remittances (in cash and kind), which is defined as the portion of earnings sent back from the country of employment to the country of origin (Russel 1986, Doorn 2000, Carling 2005). I will provide an overview of the mechanism of transfer of remittances, as well as its uses and impacts. This overview will depict how Bangladeshi migrants use formal and informal channels to send their remittances to Bangladesh. The available statistics on remittances often do not match the actual amounts that migrant workers report transferring to Bangladesh each year. I will provide an analytical framework which illustrates the preferred options for remitting money to Bangladesh. This further indicates that migrant workers’ expected income while abroad is the primary driving force behind their migration decisions. As I have argued throughout the book, the savings that migrants can make from their income after deducting expenses for subsistence in the country of employment is seen as one of the principal factors by which they justify their migration decisions.
