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Human migration to and from rural areas is so prominent and persistent globally that land system science must understand how the movement of people is integral to land system transitions both at the origin of migration and at its destination. With a focus on Latin America, we review research on how land change affects migration and how migration affects land systems, to demonstrate that the relationship is complex and context-specific. Various types of migration evidence the challenges of managing land for multiple goals and the needs of diverse groups. A perspective that connects land change in multiple locations is needed. In particular, concepts of telecoupling and translocality can help to further understanding of how globalized economic systems link changes across distant places and capture the economic and non-economic processes that accompany migration and shape land change in multiple, connected locations. Land systems research must anticipate that migration will continue to contribute to complex land systems with multiple users and goals.