The No-Nonsense Guide to International Migration

Either way, they seem to do quite well out of it financially, even if this puts enormous strain on the family, particularly on the isolated wives (there are very few female astronauts)34.

termed ‘satellite kids’. There is some debate over whether the people in this hypermobile élite constitute a new globalized ‘overclass’, or have been forced into the astronaut lifestyle because they find it difficult to do business in Canada.

At the other end of the transnational scale are the jet-setting entrepreneurs. Many wealthy Chinese have extensive business interests in Hong Kong, Taiwan, mainland China and elsewhere in Asia, but prefer the security of a passport from Australia, or Canada, or New Zealand/Aotearoa. They therefore emigrate with their families then travel back and forth to work – and are commonly referred to as ‘astronauts’. In this case paradoxically it is the family that has emigrated rather than the worker. Prior to the handover of Hong Kong to China, large numbers of these flexible families settled in Vancouver, taking advantage of Canada’s business migration program. Children of the astronauts are often

75 per cent of their incomes to relatives in Kenya and elsewhere. The local Somali-run coffee shops also serve as collection points, gathering small change from customers to channel home via the local mosque33.

funds to people at home. Minnesota, for instance, has around 50,000 Somali refugees. They work hard, often holding multiple jobs – as night watchmen, parking-lot attendants, taxi drivers, coffee shop operators and restaurateurs – and many are devout Muslims who feel a strong obligation to help their home communities. According to a Minneapolis-based money-transfer firm, Somali Global Service, one Somali in the US can support more than 10 people in the refugee camps. Some are sending up

Migrants, including refugees, also send relief

In Central America hometown associations attract around one per cent of remittances, but the proportion is expected to rise to five per cent or so

comités del pueblo (town committees) to support activities back home. Salvadoran towns with this kind of association often acquire paved roads and electricity – as well as fancier strips for the local football/soccer team.

Similarly, emigrants from El Salvador who live in Los Angeles, Washington DC and many other US cities have established

Mexicans in the United States have around 1,500 ‘hometown associations’, which have supported all kinds of community activity, from building new roads to repainting the church to paying for fiestas.