Beyond migration patterns—understanding family reunion decisions of Filipino labour and Thai marriage migrants in global reproductive systems.

Studies of family reunification suggest that migrants' decisions whether to pursue family reunion vary across migration patterns. To explain why, this article draws from the literature on social reproduction in the context of migration and examines two cases of mother-child reunification (or lack thereof) in the Filipino labour and Thai marriage migrations respectively to France and to Belgium. Interview data analysis brings to the fore the forces that influence the decisions of Filipino and Thai migrant women regarding family reunion: the inequalities of access to rights and resources stemming from their positions in the global reproductive systems, which are stratified and structured by gendered norms and state policies. Their positions within the reproductive systems in their countries of origin and of immigration entail obligations to fulfil, expectations to meet, and (dis)advantages to live with. As a result, not all Filipino and Thai migrants pursue family reunion, even in the presence of favourable factors such as a regular migration status and stable economic resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]