Migration and development are prominent themes in international and Asian development debates and are also the topics of the 2009 Human Development Report (HDR 2009), which finds that ‘more mobility would be beneficial’ and posits that countries should make migration easier rather than bolster border control regimes. In Asia, current migration flows indicate an accentuation of trends, reflecting longer-term shifts in the region. The guest worker programmes are also designed for the benefit of host countries whose main aim is to manage the effects of migration. Thus, while the positive impacts of migration remittances for labour-sending countries – such as increased household incomes and better access to education and health care – are indisputable, changes in global migration governance are also crucial for an extension of migrant rights and are the subject of continuing dialogue in regional and international fora. The contributions to this special issue of the 'Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy' call attention to the exploitative nature of guest worker programmes for low-skilled workers in terms of the institutions and practices that constitute the nation state’s governance of migration. In dissimilar ways they address agency and structure in migration and migration’s impact on development and contribute to our knowledge of population movements and border issues in Asia.