Abstract In the past couple of decades, the field of language policy studies has witnessed significant development, particularly in the area of immigration language research. In this paper, I aim to conduct a comprehensive review of international literature on immigration language policy from 1990 to 2022 using researches obtained from the Web of Science. The findings reveal an overall stable growth in research on immigration language. Most of the important research institutes in this field are primarily located in North America. The research mainly focuses on six key areas: human migration and the global distribution of languages, the impact of immigrant languages on human cognition, the role of immigrant languages in social integration, the connection between immigrant languages and health, the influence of immigrant languages on employment and socioeconomic status, and the relationship between immigrant languages and public services. The researches demonstrate that different categories of international immigrants bring valuable contributions to host countries, and language proficiency is one of the key competencies that is crucial for immigrants. Therefore, it is necessary for the academic community to give adequate attention to this aspect. Immigrant language research is primarily driven by the values of social justice, fairness, and equality. Regarding methodological issues, the predominant approach is based on standardized and mature quantitative instruments, although qualitative approaches are also quite common. However, discursive research grounded in theoretical frameworks is rather rare. At present, immigrant language has emerged as a crucial factor for analyzing public health, public policy, public services, and social management. Therefore, it is essential for Chinese researchers to actively engage in interdisciplinary research and develop theoretical frameworks that are tailored to the domestic contexts. By doing so, scholars can contribute to the discussion of sound immigration policies in China, while also providing assistance in enhancing the multilingual environment and improving the capabilities of multilingual services in China’s international metropolis.
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