This chapter examines the historical path that has led to the status quo of migration in East Asia, focusing on Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong as major migrant destinations. I illustrate the three-layered structure of migration in this region in the following way. (1) What divides this region is the legacy of colonialism and the ongoing effects of the Cold War: these have greatly influenced the status of intra-regional migrants. (2) The developmental states, in which rights may be sacrificed for economic growth and order, have sponsored guest worker programmes that recruit temporary labour migrants, who are denied rights such as family reunification and access to permanent residence. (3) Feminisation of migration in this region is characterised by the importance of marriage migrants as well as domestic and care workers because marriage has become one of the very few legal channels for people seeking to settle in these societies. It has been said that strict immigration controls in East Asia are based on the ethno-nationalist ethics that justify restrictions on the rights of migrants, but a careful look at the three-layered structure reveals that ethnic nationalism is not the basic principle underlying them. What determines migration ethics in this region are the logics of economically motivated developmental states and geopolitical confrontations surrounding postcolonialism and the Cold War.