Political Science

Temporary Immigration, Exploitation, and Social Capital: A Non-Materialist View

Document Type

Article

Abstract

Many countries of the Global North depend on the economic benefits of migration even as their citizens and leaders evince ever more open opposition to immigrants settling and becoming citizens. One result of this misalignment of interests and goals has been the proliferation of visa statuses that commit their bearers to not seeking permanent settlement or citizenship and offer them very few rights. Many scholars have debated whether and in which ways short-term migration may be normatively problematic, and in particular, exploitative. In this paper we add to existing critiques of temporary migration regimes as unjust and materially exploitative the claim that such schemes exploit not just the labor and other material contributions of short-term immigrants, but also the social capital they build by necessity when they are in residence. © 2026 International Organization for Migration.

Publication Title

International Migration

Publication Date

4-2026

Volume

64

Issue

2

ISSN

0020-7985

DOI

10.1111/imig.70138

Keywords

exploitation, guestworkers, immigration, international students, social capital, visas

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