Reason for Immigration and Immigrant's Health

Abstract

The existing literature on the health trajectories of UK immigrants has mainly focused on the relationship between ethnicity and health. There is little information on the role of immigration status and no previous information on the role of reason for immigration to the UK. This study fills this gap in the literature by analysing the heterogeneity of immigrant-native differences in health by reason for immigration. Results indicate that natives are more likely to report suffering from a long-lasting (one year or more) health problem than immigrants do. This pattern generally remains the same when we consider the specificity of the long-lasting health problem. Those who migrated for employment, family and study reasons have better health outcomes than natives, while those who migrated to seek asylum have worse health outcomes than natives. There is convergence to natives over time for those who migrated for non-asylum reasons, but not for those who migrated to seek asylum.