“Forbidden Return”: Return Migration in the Age of Restriction

Abstract

Historically, international migration was a movement of people from overcrowded, resource-poor areas to ones that were underpopulated, had resources, and could put migrants to work. Return or temporary international migration then was basically a survival strategy for rural families that did not have the skills to easily hold year-round jobs in the country of destination. The present period is different; this is an age of restriction. A greater proportion of international return migration is involuntary return migration. It is in the aforementioned contexts that we seek to investigate return and the differential impacts of diverse experiences of returnees in India, Mexico, Guatemala, and Europe. Our findings confirm that we are indeed in a moment of transition in the nature of international migration—more marked in some countries than in others—where it is unlikely to contribute to development in the countries of origin because of the changing nature of their economies—from rural to urban—and is increasingly rejected by the countries of destination. The exceptions will be highly skilled migration, which is attractive to both countries of origin and countries of destination. Thus, return migration and international migration are probably more sharply differentiated in their outcomes by class than they were in the past.