Debt and the Migration Experience: Insights from South-East Asia

Debt and indebtedness are central to the lives of migrants from South-East Asia. Debt and the Migration Experience focuses attention on the role of debt in the migration process. Indebtedness and other forms of financial insecurity that return migrants experience affects the migration as well as sustainable return of migrant. 

This report understands the relationship between migration and debt, and explores how debt influences migration decision-making, its role in facilitating migration, the lived experiences of indebtedness among migrant workers, and, finally, how debt shapes return decision-making and experiences. The study also offers feasible recommendations on how to alleviate the burden of debt experienced by migrant workers and returnees in the region, and to suggest avenues for future research.