This study proposes that visa status is an important construct that is central to understanding how health selection occurs among immigrants. We used the 2017 baseline survey data of the Health of Philippine Emigrants Study (n = 1,632) to compare the health of nonmigrants remaining in the Philippines and migrants surveyed prior to migration to the United States. Furthermore, we compared migrant health by visa type: limited family reunification, unlimited family reunification, fiancé(e)/marriage, and employment. Migrants reported fewer health conditions than nonmigrants overall. However, health varied among migrants by visa type. Migrants with fiancé(e)/marriage visas were the healthiest, reporting significantly fewer health conditions than the other groups. Limited family reunification migrants reported more health conditions than nonmigrants and unlimited family reunification migrants. We discuss how the immigration visa process reflects broader forms of social and political stratification that cause heterogeneity in immigrant health selection.

这项研究提出，签证状态是一个重要的结构，对于理解移民之间的健康选择是如何发生的至关重要。我们使用了菲律宾移民健康研究的 2017 年基线调查数据（n= 1,632) 来比较留在菲律宾的非移民和移民到美国之前接受调查的移民的健康状况。此外，我们按签证类型比较了移民的健康状况：有限的家庭团聚、无限的家庭团聚、未婚夫（妻）/婚姻和就业。总体而言，移民报告的健康状况少于非移民。然而，移民的健康状况因签证类型而异。持有未婚夫（妻）/结婚签证的移民是最健康的，报告的健康状况明显少于其他群体。有限的家庭团聚移民报告的健康状况比非移民和无限的家庭团聚移民更多。我们讨论了移民签证程序如何反映导致移民健康选择异质性的更广泛的社会和政治分层形式。