Agents of human development? The strategies of (irregular) Filipino migrant domestic workers in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom

While the positive contributions of migration to development are well-recognised following the mainstream idea that migration is a tool for economic growth and poverty alleviation, some scholars maintain that irregular migration is unlikely to have positive development effects and that migrants with irregular status are restricted in their capacity to be agents of development. This dissertation re-examines this view and addresses the research question: How and via what strategies do migrants achieve human development in the context of irregular status?
Drawing from interview data from 176 Filipino irregular migrant domestic workers (IMDWs) and 36 key informants, the four empirical papers that comprise the dissertation discuss different yet complementary strategies for human development - personal recognition, resilience, social navigation, and partnership- or marriage-based regularisation - calling attention to the capacity of irregular migrants for agency and transformation and, at the same time, underscoring the constraints that prevent them from achieving their full development potentials.