International Return Migration Research Articles

Locational preferences of high‐level overseas talent returning to China: Evidence from microdata analysis

AbstractWhile Chinese national and local governments have made every effort to attract high‐level overseas talent, limited scholarly attention has been paid to their decision of where to stay in China. Using resume data of 3372 individuals involved in the “Thousand Talent Program”, this study makes the first attempt to identify both regional and personal factors that affect locational choices of overseas talent in China. Descriptive results show that returned talent are unevenly distributed and are mostly concentrated in a few coastal provinces. Results from conditional logit models show that both academic career prospects and (natural and man‐made) amenities play an important role in shaping overseas talent's choices of where to work, but regional prosperity exerts no effect. Alumni social networks, scientific collaboration networks, and educational trajectories are found to greatly influence their locational choices. Results from mixed models suggest that the effect of these provincial factors may vary by age, time spent abroad, the type of talent, the location of undergraduate study, and the country of stay before return. This study enhances our knowledge of the international return migration of the highly skilled by focusing on state‐led academic migration and by challenging the conventional wisdom that high‐level global talent are rootless and cosmopolitan elites with similar locational preferences.

Economic reintegration postreturn—examining the role of return voluntariness, resource mobilization and time to prepare

AbstractThis paper examines conditions of international return migration and their relation to risks of experiencing economic difficulties postreturn. Relying on unique survey data among Senegalese and Romanian returnees, we revisit and provide an empirical examination of the theoretical notion of return preparedness, involving aspects of voluntariness, resource mobilization and time to prepare. The lack of time to prepare return, more commonly associated with self‐declared involuntary returns and deportations, is found to significantly increase the risk of economic difficulties post return in both contexts. Whilst emphasizing the complexity of voluntariness, the findings show that, additionally, returns compelled by external circumstances or negative return motivations (‘semi‐involuntary’) are associated with higher risks of economic difficulties. Compared to nonmigrants, returnees experienced decreased risks of economic difficulties in Senegal, but not significantly in Romania. Those forced back to Senegal or compelled to return to Romania did, however not experience such risk decrease.

Push–pull factors influencing international return migration intentions: a systematic literature review

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to review motivational factors driving migration return by assessing both push and pull factors that influence return intentions. The study aims to expand current literature of migration return, and proposes a conceptual framework.Design/methodology/approachA systematic literature review was conducted to determine the push–pull factors that influence international return migration. The authors did a comprehensive search of electronic databases using relevant key terms.FindingsThe findings highlight motivational factors in detail and classify them into three categories: economic, psychological and situational. Most of the literature concerning motives of migration return discussed economic and psychological as the two major factors, but here other motivational factors are presented, which are named as situational factors in this study.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper adopts a systematic literature review method to probe into existing literature, inevitably lacking some empirical studies; thus, the results may not be generalizable. Therefore, future research is suggested to test the proposed propositions.Practical implicationsThe paper offers compelling propositions, which could be a useful reference for migrants’ repatriation motives. It will shed light on motivational factors beyond economic and physiological factors.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to provide a comprehensive review of motivational factors of migration return using push–pull theory and propose beyond psychological and economic factors.

Return migration and the transfer of gender norms: Evidence from the Middle East

Does international return migration transfer gender norms? Focusing on Jordan, an Arab country where gender inequality and emigration rates are high, this paper exploits unique data in which detailed information on female empowerment allows us to construct several measures of social norms in Jordan on the role of women, female freedom of mobility, and female decision-making power. Controlling for both emigration and return migration selections, we find that women with a returnee family member are more likely to bear traditional gender norms than women in households with no migration experience. Further analysis shows that results are driven by returnees from more conservative Arab countries, suggesting a transfer of conservative norms from destinations with highly traditional gender roles. We also show the implications of our results beyond perceptions for several economic and development outcomes, such as female labour force participation, education and fertility.

Can I Have Permission to Leave the House? Return Migration and the Transfer of Gender Norms

Does international return migration transfer gender norms? Focusing on Jordan, an Arab country where discrimination against women and emigration rates are high, this paper exploits unique data in which detailed information on female empowerment allows us to construct several measures of discriminatory social norms in Jordan on the role of women, female freedom of mobility, and female decision-making power.Controlling for both emigration and return migration selections, we find that women with a returnee family member are more likely to have internalized discriminatory gender norms than women in households with no migration experience. Further analysis shows that results are driven by returnees from conservative Arab countries, suggesting a transfer of negative norms from highly discriminatory destinations. We also show the implications of our results beyond perceptions for several economic and development outcomes, such as female labour force participation, education and fertility.

Immigration quotas, World War I, and emigrant flows from the United States in the early 20th century

Little is known about international return migration because governments rarely track out-migrants. However, one exception occurred early in the 20th century when the United States kept records of emigrants. Using within-country changes in quota allocations in 1921, 1924, and 1929 in combination with 1908–1932 data on specific countries of intended destination of the emigrants, we estimate the effect of quotas on (1) out-migration rates, (2) emigration across skill groups, and (3) the duration of temporary migrants' stays in the U.S. Higher quota restrictions reduced emigration rates, mostly for unskilled laborers and farmers. Higher quota restrictions also increased duration of stay, as the share of migrants staying less than 5years fell and the share staying 5 to 10years rose. Return migration behavior was also associated with changes in previous immigrant cohort's networks and savings. Return migration rates were also low during World War I, and more significant population losses from the War in home countries discouraged return migration. Finally, out-migration of German migrants increased substantially during the 1920s.

English

  Although international migration has received significant attention in the literature, this is usually in respect of development and remittances. Methodological issues on the subject are very scarce more so relative to the interface of kinship and international return migration. Yet methodological issues remain crucial to useful understanding of the processes and dynamics of the problem. This article thus fills the gap by concentrating on methodological lacuna in the literature on this all important subject. The paper relied on the authors’ methodological experiences while undertaking research among international returnees and their kin in Nigeria and concludes that it is impossible to successfully research international migration, especially return, within kinship frameworks, for sustainable development in developing nations without deploying original, innovative nuanced and context specific research methodology like the one adopted in this article.   Key words: Research, methodology, return migration, kinship networks, Nigeria.

Uncertainty and international return migration: some evidence from linked register data

This article provides the first empirical evidence about the role of uncertainty in international return migration decisions using high-quality and detailed micro-data that cover migrants who were observed in both the source country before emigration and in the host country subsequent to immigration. We find that uncertainty in the initial migration decision might be an important driving mechanism behind the decision to return migrate, because migrants with a worse-than-expected outcome in the host country upon arrival and shortly thereafter have a notably higher probability of return migration than other migrants.

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

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.

The effects of integration and transnational ties on international return migration intentions

While return migration is receiving increasing attention, there is still insufficient insight into the factors which determine migrants’ intentions and decisions to return. It is often assumed that integration in receiving countries and the concomitant

The Effect of Mexican Workforce Migration on the Mexican Maquiladora Labor Market

A great deal has been written about the effects of foreign migration on the wages of U.S. workers. However, little is known about the effects of Mexican interstate immigration (i.e., internal Mexican migration) and international return migration of labor and foreign capital on wages and employment in the maquiladora industry in Mexico. We examine these issues by first computing cost and demand functions for Mexican skilled and unskilled labor in the Textile maquiladora industry in 20 Mexican states and the Food, Beverage, and Tobacco industry in 10 Mexican states for 1998-2001. In both industries we find that the demand for skilled workers is more elastic than that for unskilled workers and that foreign direct investment is beneficial for skilled workers, increasing their demand and relative wage. Separately, using the 2000 Mexican Census, we estimate the effect of migration on the equilibrium wage and employment of each labor type in the manufacturing industry labor market. We find that interstate immigration and international return migration have a positive effect on wages. A combination of these two models allows calculation of the effects of labor and capital migration on the demand for each factor and changes in factor wage and employment shares. We find that wages and employment in the maquiladora industry have remained relatively constant due to substantial migrant inflows in all but one Mexican state, where substantial reductions in the wage of unskilled labor and the quantity of skilled labor have occurred.

Dimensions of Social Stratification and Anomie as Factors of Religious Affiliation in El Salvador

This paper tests the relevance of social stratification and anomie theories on individuals' decisions of religious affiliation to Catholic, Protestant, and other non-Christian churches, or to remain non-affiliated to any religious group in El Salvador. These objectives are pursued by using a sample of Salvadorans living in poor suburban areas of fourteen cities, one from each state of the country. Based on this sample, several logistic regression models are estimated. The results show that access to medical care, if not available within the community, increases the likelihood of joining Protestant churches; younger individuals are more likely to join Protestant or other churches rather than the Catholic one; unemployment increases the probability of individuals joining non-Christian churches; international return migration compels people to break away from Catholicism and join Protestant or other non-Christian churches; and the presence of community organizations increases the odds that individuals would become Protestant.

Determinants of International Return Migration Intentions

This paper analyzes the determinants of international return migration intentions using survey data on guestworkers in Germany, 1970–1989. It is hypothesized that return migration intentions are influenced by personal attributes, residential and job satisfaction, and three time-dependent variables: a temporal trend, a duration effect, and years prior to retirement. The hypotheses are tested using logit models of the intention to return. The results indicate that return intention probabilities are strongly affected by satisfaction and time-dependent variables while the influence of personal attributes is of little importance.

Determinants of International Return Migration Intentions*

This paper analyzes the determinants of international return migration intentions using survey data on guestworkers in Germany, 1970–1989. It is hypothesized that return migration intentions are influenced by personal attributes, residential and job satisfaction, and three time-dependent variables: a temporal trend, a duration effect, and years prior to retirement. The hypotheses are tested using logit models of the intention to return. The results indicate that return intention probabilities are strongly affected by satisfaction and time-dependent variables while the influence of personal attributes is of little importance.

Assimilation and attachment in the context of international migration: the case of guestworkers in Germany.

"Immigrants' attachments to home and their assimilation into the host society have been identified as major factors influencing international return migration. This paper provides an empirical analysis of the determinants of attachment and assimilation, with a special focus on the impact of duration of stay. Using survey data on guestworkers in West Germany in 1984 and 1989, the study finds that assimilation increases at a decreasing rate as the duration of stay is extended. The relationship between attachment and length of stay is less strong, but shows a general trend of decreasing attachment levels as guestworkers prolong their stay in Germany. The resulting trends for return migration are characterized by an overall decline in the propensity to return as the duration of stay is extended. However, the rate of decline varies by gender, marital status, and nationality. Overall, the results allude to the importance of distinguishing between short term and long term immigrants."

A parametric failure time model of international return migration

International return migration is conceptualized and modeled as the outcome of two opposing forces: assimilation into the host society and attachment to the home country. Assimilation is a cumulative learning process that, over time, lowers the tendency to return; attachment levels are less predictable: they might decrease, increase, or remain constant over time. From this proposition, we derive a generalized gamma function for the probability density function of the duration of stay, allowing for increasing, decreasing, and constant hazards of return. The applicability of the model is explored using the case of foreign migrants returning to their home countries from West Germany.

The First European Conference on International Return Migration

The First European Conference on International Return Migration

Return migration.

The author reviews the findings of the growing literature on return migration. Topics covered include typologies of return migrants, reasons for return, adaptation and readjustment of returnees, and the impact of return migration on the migrants' home societies. The focus of the study is on international return migration, migration to Northern Europe and northeastern North America, and return migration to the southern and eastern fringes of Europe and the Caribbean