Participatory action research, or PAR, is a research design that is led or co-designed by participants who have lived experience and are impacted by the research topic, and who are positioned to benefit, whether materially, epistemologically, or historically, from any outcomes or interventions resulting from an investigation. PAR is used in migration research both in its ideal form, and in more pragmatic participatory approaches that draw from elements of the PAR principles. In migration research, academics must often balance the ideals of PAR with the realities of institutional funding and timelines to ensure false promises are not made and pathways to social change are not compromised. Despite ethical and political challenges, migration studies in general can benefit from a more democratized balance of knowledge production and validation, which can be achieved through PAR.