This introductory chapter outlines the central aims, conceptual framework and structure of this book. The book responds to the increased presence of ‘middle elements’, intermediaries or migration agents in the facilitation of labour migration and provides a new perspective on why such actors have become more relevant in contemporary migration landscape than ever before. Taking issue with prevalent scholarship on migration agents that provide either a functionalist explanation to their role, or approach it as a natural development of neoliberal capitalism, the book reconceptualizes brokerage as a market of service providers that is institutionally constituted and contested. It argues that a market lens provides a nuanced perspective on why migration agents emerge as a consolidated industry, how it serves the interests of remittance-dependent emigration states like Nepal, and why they continue to exist despite the stabilization of migrant social networks and state mechanisms that replicate, and sometime attempt to replace brokerage. The introductory chapter sets the rationale for this study, discusses the key questions driving this research and provides an overview of the subsequent chapters in how they help reframe our existing understanding of labour migration, brokerage and the role and identity of migration agents.