Migrant networks and the immigrant professional: An analysis of the role of weak ties

Weak ties, particularly those to potential employers, play a more important role than strong ties in the immigration of professionals to the United St ates. I operationalize network strength through the class of admission vari able in the Immigration and Naturalization Service's public use data files, Immigrants Admitted to the United States, 1972-1992. I also examine the di fferential impact of legislative measures on the availability of strong ver sus weak ties for four groups of professionals: physicians, nurses, enginee rs and scientists. Not only do weak ties figure heavily on the immigration experiences of professionals, but those impacts affect women differently th an men. Professional women rely more heavily on strong ties than on weak ti es when compared with males in their respective professions, with the excep tion of nursing. These findings suggests a need for further study into the migration experiences of professionals as well as more research into how ge ndered networks develop among immigrant professionals and how those network s influence (either positively or negatively) immigrant adaptation to Unite d States' society.