Introduction

The movement of individuals across borders is subject to monitoring and control through policies which establish requirements, quotas, and processes that aim to select those who have the most to contribute to the host country and exclude those who are detrimental to its interests (Beaglehole 2006). With policies for migration, then, the state creates the ideal immigrant – the imaginary individual who possesses all the qualities of a desirable immigrant and ‘deserves’ to become a citizen. Using the case of older Filipina migrants permanently settled in New Zealand and Japan, I posit that representations of migrant Filipinos as Bagong Bayani(modern-day heroes) and of older persons as modern retirees frame continued engagement in paid work as desirable in old age. I argue that such representations are linked to a neoliberal subjectivity that emphasises freedom, choice, and individual responsibility and that, although they may be perceived by individuals as empowering, both stem from and perpetuate ageist and anti-migrant positions that serve to obscure the discrimination produced by the multiple marginalized positions they occupy as women of colour, as migrants, and as older persons.

While Japan and New Zealand are not among the top destinations for migrant Filipinos, the study of ageing migrants’ experiences in these countries remains useful for migration studies in general, and for the study of Filipino migrant experiences in particular. Some important features of these countries are found in others, including: their first world status, which means greater economic and political power in comparison to the country of origin (Philippines), their identification of an ageing population as an urgent socio-political concern that needs to be addressed, and the use of migration as a strategy for economic stability and growth.