In the Bahamas, the issue with reference to migration is becoming of great importance. Migration is a term used to describe the process of a permanent move to a different location. James M. Rubenstein (2014), states the two migrations in which people move to. These two migrations according to Rubenstein , are international migration (voluntary and forced) which is moving permanently from one country to another country and internal migration (interregional and intraregional) which is a permanent move inside the same country of residency. In the Bahamas, there is a great percentage of internal migration when compared to international migration; internal migration involves Bahamians moving to different islands of The Bahamas, mainly for economic reasons. Rubenstein also defines the term immigration as, “migration to a new location” (p.108) and defines emigration as “migration from a location” (p.109). Push factors lead people to emigrate while pull factors lead people to immigrate. People migrate to places all over the world for various reasons but mainly due to economic, political and environmental or cultural reasons.
There are two terms to describe immigrants, legal and illegal immigrants. Legal immigrants are those persons who are authorized to stay and reside in a particular country with proper documents whereas, illegal immigrants are those persons who are unauthorized to stay and reside in a particular country without proper documents. In The Bahamas, the number of