The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the effect of a few alternative national migration policies on the regional location choices and labor market outcomes of migrant workers. We use data on a group of individuals who started arriving in Israel in large numbers from theformer Soviet Union (USSR) toward the end of 1989. These new immigrants were allowed to freely choose their first locations of residence. Government housing policy presumably influenced these first location choices, as well as subsequent relocation choices, by substantially changing the regional housing cost structure.