Jamaican migrants living in the United Kingdom send 3.6 times more money home than those living in Canada.
April 26, 2026
Original Paper
Residential Integration, Brain Drain, and Remittances in the Caribbean Diaspora: An Immigration Systems Approach
SSRN · 6609038
The Takeaway
Economic theory suggests that migrants who are well integrated into their new country send less money home over time. Jamaican families in London and Toronto have similar levels of integration, yet their financial behavior is wildly different. The historical memory of racial exclusion in Britain, particularly the Windrush scandal, creates a stronger emotional tie to the home country as a safety net. This lingering sense of not fully belonging in the UK drives migrants to invest more heavily in their place of origin. The economic connection to a homeland is shaped more by past social trauma than by current income or status.
From the abstract
Does the immigration system that best integrates migrants into the destination society simultaneously minimise their economic contributions to the islands that produced them? This article tests that hypothesis in the Caribbean-a laboratory uniquely suited to the purpose: the same islands send migrants to three destination systems of sharply contrasting selectivity, enabling a comparative design that holds cultural and historical context broadly constant while varying the institutional filter. Us