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Workers' or migrant remittances occur when migrants return home a portion of their earnings in the form of cash or products to assist their family. They have grown quickly in recent years and are now the primary source of foreign income for many emerging nations.

The actual quantity of remittance movements is difficult to ascertain because many take place through unauthorised routes. Officially registered international migrant remittances are expected to surpass $596 billion worldwide in 2017, with $450 billion traveling to underdeveloped nations. These are documented in the balance of payments; an international technical group is reviewing how they should be recorded.Unrecorded flows through informal routes are thought to be at least half as great as documented flows. Remittances are not only significant, but they are also spread more equitably across emerging economies than capital flows, including foreign direct investment. Remittances are especially essential for low-income nations, accounting for roughly 4% of GDP, compared to around 1.5 percent of GDP in middle-income countries. 

Getting the cash there
A typical remittance transaction occurs in three stages:

• The migrant sender pays the sending agency with cash, check, money order, credit card, debit card, or a debit instruction delivered through e-mail, phone, or the Internet.

• The sending agency directs its representative in the recipient's country to deliver the money.

• The payment is made to the beneficiary by the paying agency.

In most circumstances, there is no real-time money transfer for agent settlement; the balance owing by the sending agency to the paying agent is resolved on a regular basis through a commercial bank. Informal remittances are occasionally handled through the exchange of items.