chain migration

American  

[cheyn mahy-grey-shuhn] / ˈtʃeɪn maɪˌgreɪ ʃən /

noun

1. a form of family immigration where one person is granted legal residency or citizenship to a country, and then petitions to bring their immediate or extended family into the country.

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Etymology

Origin of chain migration

First recorded in 1940–45

Example Sentences

From the 1950s, Indians and Pakistanis came to Leicester through so-called chain migration - via previous family members or villagers who were already settled in the city.

From BBC

Some of this, he said, is because of chain migration, the process by which migrants from a particular place follow others from that place to a new destination: Sheskin says 30 percent of the area’s Jews are Hispanic, most from Venezuela, Colombia and Argentina.

From Washington Post

Back were the “coyotes,” “the vicious evil smugglers,” “the illegal aliens,” “mass amnesty,” “chain migration” and every other epithet and catchphrase that form his tapestry of nativism.

From Washington Post

The president has also repeatedly derided family-sponsored migration over the years, referred to by some as “chain migration.”

From Washington Post

About Melania’s own visa and citizenship issues, and how she brought her parents and sister to the United States while her husband railed about “chain migration,” there is much we don’t know.

From New York Times