Introduction

Migration is a topic of great and enduring interest because almost every country is involved in this process as a source, transit or destination country, or indeed all three simultaneously. Economic globalisation and modern transportation technologies have greatly enhanced the mobility of people across national boundaries. In many countries, migration has been adopted as a strategy to compete for the most talented, skilful and resourceful, and to ameliorate the effects of aging populations and labour shortages. It is estimated that about 200 million people live outside their countries of birth (Castles and Miller 2009). Furthermore, migration accounts for at least 40% of total population growth in most countries whose population is still growing (OECD Annual Report 2008).