This study attempts to advance the migration-development debate by emphasizing the role of migration in social development at the family level. More specifically, drawing on longitudinal data, this research documents the relationships between migration and development by showing how migration and resultant remittances create a condition that promotes human capital development, quality of life, social positioning, gender and intergenerational relations, and, last but not least, female empowerment. The paper attempts to push migration-development debates beyond the realm of economic development by a close consideration of family dynamics. Migration outcomes affect, first and foremost, families in third world countries (Pflegerl et al. 2003).