<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>The academic debate in migrant entrepreneurship has mainly focused on movements from emerging economies into developed economies. Anecdotal evidence has suggested that the highest impact is generated by migrants in/from emerging economies. To extend this academic discussion in the Latin-American context, this study investigates why migrants are more entrepreneurial than natives. By adopting the human capital and the institutional approach, we theorize that individual and environmental conditions produce selection/discrimination effects in the host labour market. Consequently, these effects influence migrants’ decision to become entrepreneurs. We tested our hypotheses using a sample of 13,368 adults between the ages of 18–64 based across the 16 Chilean regions. Our results showed that being a high-skilled migrant in a dynamic emerging economy is not a guarantee of success in the labour market, but it is a determinant of international and necessity-driven entrepreneurship. Several implications and a provocative discussion emerged from these findings.</jats:p>
