Abstract
This study proposes that visa status is an important construct that is central to understanding how health selection occurs among immigrants. We used the 2017 baseline survey data of the Health of Philippine Emigrants Study (n = 1,632) to compare the health of nonmigrants remaining in the Philippines and migrants surveyed prior to migration to the United States. Furthermore, we compared migrant health by visa type: limited family reunification, unlimited family reunification, fiancé(e)/marriage, and employment. Migrants reported fewer health conditions than nonmigrants overall. However, health varied among migrants by visa type. Migrants with fiancé(e)/marriage visas were the healthiest, reporting significantly fewer health conditions than the other groups. Limited family reunification migrants reported more health conditions than nonmigrants and unlimited family reunification migrants. We discuss how the immigration visa process reflects broader forms of social and political stratification that cause heterogeneity in immigrant health selection.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 359-376 |
| Number of pages | 18 |
| Journal | Journal of health and social behavior |
| Volume | 61 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Sep 1 2020 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:We thank the Commission on Filipinos Overseas and their staff, especially Regina Galias, Ivy Miravalles, Golda Myra Roma, and Paul Vincent Avecilla, without whom this research would not be possible. We also thank Nanette Lee Mayol, Midea Kabamalan, Anna Vivas, Karen Llave, Elma P. Laguna, Christian Joy Cruz, Lorna Perez, Delia Carba, Klarrines Tanalago, Vanessa Medina, and Larry Tagalog for their insights and assistance with this project. A special thanks to Emily María Migliore for lending her legal expertise to check the accuracy of our visa classifications. An earlier version of this research was presented at the annual meeting of the American Public Health Association in 2019. Thank you to the anonymous reviewers and editor for their valuable feedback and critiques. The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This study was supported by funding from the U.S. National Institutes of Health (1R01HD083574-01A1). We are grateful to the California Center for Population Research at UCLA (CCPR) for general support. CCPR receives population research infrastructure funding (P2C-HD041022) from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). Brittany N. Morey received support from the University of California, Riverside Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellowship.
Funding Information:
The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This study was supported by funding from the U.S. National Institutes of Health (1R01HD083574-01A1). We are grateful to the California Center for Population Research at UCLA (CCPR) for general support. CCPR receives population research infrastructure funding (P2C-HD041022) from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). Brittany N. Morey received support from the University of California, Riverside Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellowship.
Publisher Copyright:
© American Sociological Association 2020.
Keywords
- Philippines
- health selection
- immigrant visas
- immigrants
- social stratification
