Economic migrant – a person leaving his/her habitual place of residence to settle outside his/her country of origin in order to improve his/her quality of life. This term is also used to refer to persons attempting to enter a country without legal permission and/or by using asylum procedures without bona fide cause. It also applies to persons settling outside their country of origin for the duration of an agricultural or tourist season, appropriately called seasonal workers. [2]

Formal Transfer Systems – formal money transfers are offered by banks, post offices, exchange houses and money transfer companies (such as Western Union , Thomas Cook and Money Gram). Formal international remittances can be measured through the IMF Balance of Payments Statistic Yearbook. [3]

Frontier worker – this expression refers to a migrant worker who retains his/her habitual residence in a neighbouring state to which he/she normally returns every day or at least once a week. [2]

Informal Transfer Systems – range of informal systems which include the migrants carrying money themselves or sending it with relatives, friends or money couriers. There are also a number of informal services, typically operating as a side business to an import-export operation, retail shop, or currency dealership. Most of them operate on the basis of no or very little paper or electronic documentation. They are generally well organized, effective and inexpensive and senders do not need to provide identification. Official estimates of remittances usually do not include money sent through informal channels, leading many experts to believe that they are significantly undervalued. [1]

Irregular migration – the movement of a person to a new place of residence or transit using irregular or illegal means, as the case may be, without valid documents or carrying forged documents. This term also covers trafficking in migrants. [2]

Migrant stock - Number: The mid-year estimate of the number of people who are born outside the country.  For countries lacking data on place of birth, the mid-year estimate of the number of non-citizens. In either case, the migrant stock includes refugees, some of whom may not be foreign-born. The letter code indicates the type of data underlying the estimates: B (Birth place): indicates the data refer to the foreign-born; C (Citizenship): indicates the data refer to non-citizens; I (Imputed): indicates no data were available and estimated by a model.  Percentage of population: The migrant stock as a percentage of the total population. Source: A5.  Data available online at: http://www.unpopulation.org (4)

Migrant worker – a person engaging in a remunerated activity in a country of which he/she is not a national, excluding asylum seekers and refugees. A migrant worker establishes his/her residence in the host country for the duration of his/her work. This term is applied to irregular migrant workers, as well as to staff of multinational companies whose duties require them to move from one country to another. The 1990 International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families defines other more specific categories such as “seafarers”, “project-tied workers” and “itinerant workers” (Article 2). [2]

Net migration - Number: Net average annual number of migrants, that is, the annual number of immigrants less the annual number of emigrants, including both citizens and non-citizens. Rate: The net number of migrants, divided by the average population of the receiving country over the period considered. It is expressed as the net number of migrants per 1,000 population. Source: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, World Population Prospects: The 2004 Revision, Volume I: Comprehensive Tables, Sales No.E.05.XIII.5. Data available online at: http://www.unpopulation.org. (4)

Orderly migration – the movement of a person from his/her usual place of residence to a new place of residence, in keeping with the laws and regulations governing exit of the country of origin and travel, transit and entry into the host country. [2]

Re-emigration – the movement of a person who, after returning to his/her country of departure for some years, again leaves for another stay or another destination. [2]

Remittances - portion of a migrant’s earnings sent from the migration destination to the place of origin. Although remittances also can be sent in kind, the term “remittances” usually refers to monetary transfers only. The total remittances as reported by the World Bank include three types of transactions:  Workers' remittances are all current transfers from migrants staying in a country for a year of longer to households in another country. Usually they are regular transfers from members of he same family resident in different countries.  Compensation of employees include the wages, salaries and other remuneration earned by migrants staying in a country for less than a year and paid by residents of that country.  Migrants' transfers are he net worth of migrants who are expected to remain in the country for more than a year.  They are not transactions but rather contra-entries to flows of goods and changes in financial items that arise from the migration of individuals.  All data are reported in current U.S. dollars. The main sources of these data are the Balance of Payment Statistics compiled by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).  For countries that do not report remittance data to the IMF, the World Bank produces estimates base on either data from central banks or information provided by World Bank country desks. See Dilip Ratha, "Workers' Remittances: An Important and Stable Source of External Development Finance", Global Development Finance 2003, World Bank. (4)

Remittances as percentage of gross domestic produce - the percentage of the gross domestic product attributable to remittances.  Source: Global Economic Prospects 2006: Economic Implications of Remittances and Migration, World Bank; United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Statistics Division.  See: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/nationalaccount/default.htm (4)

Seasonal worker – a migrant worker whose work depends on seasonal conditions and is performed only during part of the year. [2]

Smuggling of migrants – this term describes the procurement, in order to obtain, directly or indirectly, a financial or other material benefit, of the illegal entry of a person into a state of which he/she is not a national or a permanent resident. Illegal entry means the crossing of borders without complying with the necessary requirements for legal entry into the receiving state. [2]

Social remittances - usually defined as the ideas, practices, identities and social capital that flow from receiving to sending country communities. Social remittances are transferred by migrants and travellers or they are exchanged by letter or other forms of communication, including by phone, fax, the internet or video. [3]

Trafficking in persons – this term describes the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation includes, at the minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs. [2]

Undocumented migrant - a person without legal status in a transit or host country owing to illegal entry or the expiry of his/her visa. The term is applied to non-nationals who have infringed the transit or host country’s rules of admission; persons attempting to obtain asylum without due cause; and any other person not authorized to remain in the host country. [2]

[1] Migrant Remittances to Developing Countries. A scoping study overview and introduction to issues for pro-poor financial services. UK Department of International Development, 2003. http://www.bannock.co.uk/PDF/Remittances.pdf
[2] World Migration 2003: Managing Migration - Challenges and Responses for People on the Move. International Organization for Migration, 2003. http://www.iom.int/iomwebsite/Publication/ServletSearchPublication?event=detail&id=2111
[3] The development dimension of migrant remittances. Danish Institute for Development Studies. International Organization for Migration, Migration Policy Research, Working Paper Series No.1, 2004. http://www.iom.int//DOCUMENTS/PUBLICATION/EN/mpr1.pdf

(4) United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, International Migration 2006,  (United Nations Publication, Sales No. E.06.XIII.6).