Harnessing the Development Benefits of International Migration: A Randomized Evaluation of Enhanced Pre-Departure Orientation Seminars for Migrants from the Philippines

Pre-departure orientation seminars (PDOS) for migrants have the potential to become a key policy tool for increasing the benefits of migration. PDOS build on the fact that many migrants face important knowledge gaps with respect to various aspects of their destination country upon arrival. These knowledge gaps are particularly large for individuals who move from a developing to a developed country and have to navigate a completely different system. Many migrants may hence not be able to make optimal decisions, or only after costly learning. The principal idea of PDOS is to reduce these knowledge gaps early on and provide migrants with the right information to succeed abroad.

There is currently no rigorous evidence on the effects of PDOS and on what kind of training modules matter. Using a randomized control trial, this project evaluates the effects of PDOS on migration outcomes of permanent migrants from the Philippines to the US. Together with the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO), the key government agency tasked to manage permanent migration from the Philippines, we have developed new PDOS modules. The new PDOS aims to foster settlement and labor market integration and increase migrants’ wellbeing more generally. It also aims to strengthen migrants’ engagement in diaspora activities that contribute to development in the Philippines.

We identify the effects of the new PDOS by randomly assigning migrants to different types of PDOS and tracking the impact on 1,273 migrants and their family members remaining in the Philippines over a period of two years after departure.