The rights that are granted to migrant workers when arriving in high income countries is one of the most contentious issues related to international labor migrations.
In a recent book « The Price of Rights: Regulating International Labor Migration » Martin Ruhs finds that greater equality of rights for migrant workers can come at the price of more restrictive admission policies, especially for lower-skilled workers.
He advocates the liberalisation of international labour migration through temporary migration programs that protect a universal set of core rights and restrict a few specific rights that create net costs for receiving countries.