A Regretful Journey Home: Albanian Return Migration in the Wake of the Global Financial Crisis of 2008

Abstract

Despite occurring almost a decade ago, the effects of the 2008 global financial crisis continue to influence the lives of many people today. Intra-European migration literature, for example, suggests that migration patterns were reshaped in its aftermath and emerging literature details mobilities and experiences of migrants in destination societies post-crisis. To date, less research documents the experiences of individuals who, in the wake of the crisis, were forced to abandon their migratory endeavours and had to navigate returning to their country of origin in a particularly challenging socio-economic context. Utilising in-depth interviews and family case studies with purposively recruited Albanian return migrants who had lived in Greece and Italy pre-crisis, the current study highlights how conditions in both destination and origin countries impacted return experiences. Findings illustrate an adverse interplay of circumstances that led to the unsettled return and portray a perturbing fluidity in the lives of return migrants who appear overcome by a sense of ‘double failure’ with regard to both outward migration and subsequent return to their country of origin.