Return Migration Research Articles

Across the Sea to Ireland: Return Atlantic Migration before the First World War

Abstract Are return migrants “losers” who fail to adapt to the challenges of the host economy, thereby exacerbating the brain drain linked to emigration? Or are they “winners” whose return enhances the human and physical capital of the home country? This article analyzes databases constructed from the 1911 Irish population and 1910 US censuses to address these issues for returnees to Ireland from North America more than a century ago. The evidence suggests that returnees had the edge over Ireland’s population, but not those who stayed on in the US in terms of human capital, as proxied by occupation and literacy; returning couples also had fewer children than the stay-at-homes, and their children spent longer at school. It also shows that returnees were less likely to return to the poorer regions of Ireland.

Niamh Dillon, Homeward Bound: Return Migration from Ireland and India at the End of the British Empire

Niamh Dillon, <i>Homeward Bound: Return Migration from Ireland and India at the End of the British Empire</i>

Health selection in three cohorts of outmigrants, return migrants and non-migrants

Abstract Background The two main hypotheses behind the healthy migrant effect are selection of healthier migrants and the salmon bias. However, these hypotheses have not been thoroughly and simultaneously investigated in distinct cohorts due to data limitations. Methods Linking national and provincial immigration registers with health care utilization datasets at the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy, we assembled a cohort of 816,185 adults who resided in Manitoba, Canada and were followed up for at least one year between 1985 to 2023 to outmigration, return migration or death. We included three subcohorts of international immigrants (16.4%), interprovincial migrants (10.8%) and all other Manitobans (AOM) (72.8%). Within each subcohort, we matched ‘stayers’ who never migrated, outmigrants and returnees on sex, birth year and place of residence and compared their hospitalization rates and Charlson and Elixhauser comorbidity scores 1-year before outmigration and 1-year after return migration. Results Outmigrants had lower hospitalization rates than stayers among AOM [Adjusted Relative Rate (RR): 0.80; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.78, 0.82] and in the other two subcohorts. Comorbidity scores were also consistently lower among outmigrants compared to stayers in all three subcohorts, even after restricting to hospitalized cases. Outmigrants whose destination was another country were healthier than those who migrated to other provinces. Returnees had better health status than stayers upon return in the AOM subcohort only but lower than those who did not return at the time of outmigration in all three subcohorts. Conclusions Contrary to common belief, health selection is not restricted to international immigrants but also among interprovincial migrants and the local population. Migration dynamics may bias comparisons between population subgroups. Key messages • Migration is not only associated with positive health selection among international immigrants but also among interprovincial migrants and the local population. • Selective migration may represent a source of bias in health-related population-based studies.

The state of voluntariness? (Re)migration policy in Post-Fascist Germany between denazification, decolonization and development

ABSTRACT Between 1949 and 1980, voluntariness became a key element in West Germany’s post-fascist migration regime, intended to ethically frame the forced deportations of migrants. Voluntariness appeared in German migration legislation as a euphemistic term for forced removals. Politicians and lawyers emphasized the need to offer voluntary repatriation to those facing inevitable deportation. To avoid any association with Nazi deportations, both liberals and ‘former’ Nazis involved in Germany’s migration policy underscored the notion of voluntariness in what were essentially forced deportations. The paradigm of voluntariness in repatriation management was influenced by a specific German need to denazify deportations and migration practices, as well as by a global shift towards voluntariness associated with liberalization, decolonization, development, Cold War rivalries and the rise of liberal internationalism. Global practices and discourses of return migration both emerged from and helped shape this paradigm of voluntariness, as the liberalizing world sought to distance itself from its fascist legacy and align with emancipatory and progressive ideals, despite the ongoing deportation of migrants from the Global South. I argue that West Germany played a significant role in shaping and globalizing the concept of voluntary repatriation within this historical context, transforming it from a paradigm into a dispositive.

Indonesian domestic workers: Hong Kong migrants’ activism, value creation, and post-migration entrepreneurship

ABSTRACT Hong Kong has become a center of migrant domestic workers’ (MDWs) social activism, but its longer-term effects are still understudied. Therefore, we researched Indonesian MDW return migrants and found that they obtained extensive social capital through their overseas group engagement. Many women started businesses in Indonesia by utilizing the networks and knowledge nurtured during their Hong Kong activism, in a way that is different from typical local businesses. These women’s businesses reveal their unique social awareness and goals of making their home society better. Nonetheless, the women also struggled to balance their entrepreneur identity with that as wives and mothers, and this negotiation has helped transform local village gender norms, which otherwise would limit women’s agency in choosing paid work. By framing this type of enterprise as a form of ‘value creation’ through entrepreneurship, the authors point out the critical importance of developing social capital overseas for return migrants’ successful re-integration into their communities of origin.

Multiple Views on Return Migration to Northern Syria

ABSTRACTMedia, humanitarian organisations and host governments have increasingly talked about returning refugees affected by a more than a decade‐long conflict in Syria. However, the northern Syria region does not offer adequate living conditions for return; this region is currently unfit for settlement, and it is impossible to attract Syrians to return to it, regardless of the lack of security and the political issues that many scholars have discussed. This study was conducted in early 2023 in two regions including four areas in northern Syria (Jarabulus, Azaz, Al‐Bab and Afrin) and three provinces in Türkiye (Istanbul, Gaziantep and Mersin). We compare the opinions of Syrian refugees in Türkiye and Syrians who had been internally displaced and who resettled in the northern region. The purpose of the comparison is to understand the views of both Syrians in Türkiye and in northern Syria regarding whether the region is attractive to them or not. However, the results confirm that people are not willing to return, as the push factors overcome the pull factors. The data collection among Türkiye‐based Syrians and northern Syria's residents enabled us to work with different opinion‐making processes: The assessment of today's Syrian services results from the direct witness of current dwellers and the views of Türkiye‐based refugees. Through a large‐scale survey, our study aims to identify the push factors that induce refugees to discount the possibility of returning to the northern Syrian region, including the lack of job opportunities and basic services such as potable water, electricity, fuel, Internet, adequate education and healthcare.

What do host country natives think of return migration? resentment and calls for refugee return

ABSTRACT Amidst rising hostilities and repatriation calls in countries hosting refugees, understanding the dynamics of native perceptions becomes crucial for addressing the growing tensions. This study utilizes an original factorial survey experiment to explore native perceptions of refugee return. In doing so, it identifies resentment -arising from perceived unfair resource allocation to refugees- as a driving factor shaping respective native attitudes. Results suggest that as resentment builds up, natives become more likely to demand refugees' repatriation. Resentment's influence is particularly pronounced in healthcare and education policies, highlighting its context-dependent nature in explaining attitudes. Moreover, the effect of resentment remains robust even when considering alternative predictors (i.e. threat perceptions and contact). This underscores the complex nature of host attitudes towards refugees, suggesting that perceptions of fairness and justice in resource distribution are central to understanding the increasing number of calls for repatriation among native populations. Providing insights from Turkey, an understudied case in migration studies, this study also contributes to our understanding of whether and how existing theories about the drivers of attitudes toward refugees play out in non-Western contexts.

Conceptual Complexity About Return Migration of Refugees/Asylum Seekers

Return migration is one of the complex categories of migration, which becomes even more complicated in the context of refugees’ return to their country of origin. A plethora of terms is used to describe the return of refugees/asylum seekers, having strong political and policy relevance. To unpack the features and drivers of conceptual complexity, I propose three interrelated arguments. The first is that labelling – the choice of one concept over another – in return migration often depends on who uses the term (e.g. scholars, policymakers, practitioners, migrants) and in which part of the world. The second argument is that return, similar to binaries in other areas of migration, is often associated with binaries, such as voluntary and forced return. Despite policy categories that reiterate the ‘voluntary’ character of return, the actual practices rarely confirm that return is voluntary and often remain in grey areas, as the emerging literature on bordering practices shows. The third argument is that there are multiple levels at which labelling and binaries are constructed in relation to each other. The identifiable scales include the academic level, the policy level and the migrants themselves.

Is home where the heart is? Investigating the relationship between hometown and entrepreneurship

ABSTRACT The importance of home and hometown for entrepreneurs has significant implications for entrepreneurial identities, venture success, and broader contextual dynamics. Traditionally, the concept of home in entrepreneurship literature is viewed instrumentally, largely focusing on the unit of dwelling (i.e. premises/house/apartment), the implications of location choices, and their effects on performance. We employ a mobilities lens, broadening the concept of home to the city/town scale of ‘hometown’, offering a more holistic understanding of what it means for entrepreneurs from various origins and returns. Our qualitative case study in Norwich, UK, provides nuanced theoretical advancements into understanding home beyond materiality and mere location, highlighting how this is inextricably linked to dynamic renewal within peripheral urban places and different migration pathways (i.e. local, migrant, returnee). Our contributions are threefold: 1) we reveal that varying degrees of localness complicate the local versus non-local binary, impacting entrepreneurial dynamics; 2) our relational model of hometown entrepreneurship challenges the rigid leave-learn-return narrative, demonstrating return migration as a complex detach-experience-revalue socio-cultural reconnection which feeds into the local entrepreneurial ecosystem; 3) exploring the interactions of diverse actors in peripheral urban hometowns provides insights into regional development moving us beyond instrumental views in existing literature.

The role of rural circular migration in shaping weather risk management for smallholder farmers in India, Nepal, and Bangladesh

Circular migration, defined as migration where migrants return to their original home area, has become an increasingly important component of rural livelihoods and can significantly impact the risk management strategies of smallholder agricultural households in the face of climate change. To unpack the associations between climate change, migration decisions, and agricultural outcomes for smallholder agricultural households, we use an embedded mixed methods approach that uses quantitative data from a structured household survey from over 2,000 rural households in Nepal, India, and Bangladesh, along with qualitative data from interviews and focus group discussions. We use these data to identify the influence of socio-economic, climate, and weather factors on long (≥12 months) and short-term (<12 months) migration decisions and the impacts of migration on risk management strategies in agriculture. Our research shows that the drivers and effects of migration differ based on migration characteristics, including the length of time a family member migrates and whether the destination is domestic or international. We find that households with limited resources, such as constrained irrigation access, use short-term migration to cope with weather variability, whereas long-term migration is generally undertaken by wealthier households motivated to improve long-term economic outcomes. Considering the impacts of migration on risk management, we find that short-term migration of household members results in increased investment in agriculture, such as increasing inputs and adopting new varieties. In contrast, long-term and international migration is associated with disinvestments in agriculture, such as reduced cropped area and inputs. Our results highlight the importance of migration in shaping agricultural management practices amidst the challenges of climate change.

Evaluating Current Demographic Challenges in Ukraine due to the Forced Migration of Economically Active Citizens

The relevance of the research topic is driven by the increasing risks to demographic development due to the war in Ukraine and the outflow of the economically active population. The article outlines the importance of demographic processes for the country’s economic stability and social development. The research aims to analyse the impact of migration flows on Ukraine’s demographic situation and develop proposals for improving demographics. The methodology includes the analysis of the current state of demographics, migration processes, development scenarios, and possible measures to ensure development stability. The research results reveal the problems of demographic development through the geographical diversification of the economically active population. An essential area of the study in the article is the analysis of the impact of forced migration on the labour market, social structure, and economic development of Ukraine. The practical significance involves the development of recommendations for state policy regarding supporting demographic development during the war and the post-war period. The article aims to evaluate measures to stimulate the return of migrants, support birth rates, and improve social infrastructure. The analysis results may help develop strategic plans to restore Ukraine’s demographic potential. Measures to strengthen demographic stability and their possible implementation are presented in the face of current challenges. Further directions for optimising state policy to ensure sustainable demographic growth and economic development of the country are outlined.

A Bibliometric Review of the Utilization of TILDA Data in the Literature

Abstract Background The TILDA dataset refers to the data collected as part of The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing. It is a nationally representative longitudinal study of aging in Ireland, focusing on people aged 50 and older and it includes information on demographics, health status, cognitive function, psychological well-being, social support, lifestyle factors, and use of health services. Methods Bibliometric methods are used in several research domains to assess the impact of the field, specific researchers, papers, journals, and to identify knowledge inputs, research gaps and future opportunities. The study examines 609 scientific documents from 2011 to 2023 published on Web of Science (WoS) utilizing “TILDA” as keywords, aiming to identify prevalent themes and their evolution over time. Through thematic maps, clusters were generated to visualize thematic shifts. The Sankey plot illustrates temporal trends, revealing significant themes and their development. Results We defined three different time slices to clearly distinguish the themes present in scientific production. Initially (2011-2015), there's a focus on treating frailty, orthostatic hypotension, and physical interventions. Emerging themes include the analysis of cognitive functions and return migrants. In the second time slice (2016-2019), mental health concerns like depression, anxiety, and loneliness gain prominence. Essential aspects of aging such as mobility, self-care, and cognitive decline are also explored. Alcohol consumption and retirement experiences become significant topics. In the latest time slice (2020-2023), quality of life and biomarker studies emerge as prominent themes, along with continued exploration of frailty and fundamental health aspects like cancer and diabetes epidemiology. Conclusion The analysis shows the shifting research priorities evident in scientific output utilizing the TILDA dataset. These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the dataset's implications and inform future research directions, emphasizing its significance in advancing scientific knowledge.

Academic return migration amidst North-to-South trend: an integrative inquiry into the case of Chinese international STEM researchers

ABSTRACT Set against the booming reverse migration of scientific talents from developed nations to newly-emerged advanced economies, this study particularly examines the return of Chinese early career researchers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Deploying a mixed research design that integrates quantitative and qualitative traditions, it aims to address three prominent knowledge gaps surrounding this emergent pattern of transnational academic migration. According to survey results, caring duties, career prospects, and cultural attachments have consistently emerged as the primary drivers for returnees who received PhD training in various host destinations. In contrast, economic and lifestyle concerns were of much less import to those completing the doctorate in leading Anglophone countries. Stark gender disparities were also observed, with male returnees’ desire to secure cultural familiarity and upward mobility especially evident and their use of transnational academic networks more prevalent. Moreover, participants who made the decision to return toward the end of their overseas sojourn and whose doctoral education was sponsored by the Chinese government demonstrated a significantly higher likelihood of considering onward migratory movement. While largely corroborating the quantitative findings, interview data further highlights the vital role of a justice-oriented university environment in attracting high-skilled talents from across different axes of social disadvantage. Throughout, it points to the prospective stickiness of return migration instigated amidst the radical shifts in global science. We conclude the paper with critical reflections on our empirical and methodological focus.

Digital Migration Infrastructure in return-writing: visualizing the migration landscape of India.

Digitization has carved out the migration patterns of immigrants over the recent years of increased technological interventions in human mobility. Migration infrastructures, which typically refer to the physical, commercial, humanitarian, and governmental modes of operation, are multidimensional in nature. Digital infrastructures are equally important to the physical ones as digital technologies facilitate these migration processes through agents like hardware, software, and mediating actors. Amongst the multiple forms of migration, the concept of return-writing and nostalgia-struck-returnees encompass individuals whose life trajectories run parallel to the homeland. The narrative of return to the homeland emerges aβs a dominant motif in literature due to the rising trends of globalization, the writers' reflection on their own migrant experiences, and publishing trends meeting the demand of the global book market. The objective is to assess the role of digital migration infrastructures in return migrations to India through a close reading of the selected texts and review of postcolonial literary theories by using conditional operation in Python. The study here explores the varied nuances of return migration with a primary focus on the external conditions of travel in migration literature. The paper aims to analyze the genre of return-writing in Indian English literature, through three novels over a period of two decades, i.e., from 2000-2023. The selected texts, beginning with Amit Chaudhuri's A New World (2000), Gun Island (2019) by Amitav Ghosh, and Devika Rege's novel Quarterlife (2023), offer a panoramic view of return migration. These novels are extensive in the time period of technological interventions and in depiction of return migration. The Python code examines the extent of existence of a set of digital migration infrastructure keywords by analyzing the content of the novels and creates bar plots and charts to offer a visual representation of the classification results. The resulting trend traces the increased intervention of Digital Migration Infrastructure in the recent migration literature.

Post-return emotions: everyday food practices of overseas returned students in Shanghai

ABSTRACT Taking post-return everyday food practices as the primary analytical lens, this paper interrogates how the emotions of transnational returnees are structured by shifting spatio-temporalities in the process of return. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Shanghai, the empirical discussion examines the experiences of overseas returned students in Shanghai through three cases. These respectively highlight how practices and emotions relate to the persistence of hometown tastes throughout migration, the embrace of host foods while studying overseas, and the adaptation to new dietary patterns after return. These cases of post-return exemplify the intricate connections between food, place, and emotions. There are two implications drawn from the empirical discussion. First, from the spatial perspective, the post-return emotions of transnational return migrants are intricately linked not only to the place to which they return and currently reside in but also to the places they previously experienced as emigrants. Second, the emotions of transnational return migrants should be comprehended under specific temporal frameworks, which, in this paper, refer to transitional life stages. By investigating the post-return place-related emotions indicated by everyday food practices, this research contributes a more intricate understanding of the emotional worlds of transnational returnees and sheds light on the emotionality of transnational return migration.

Greener pastures: why Indian international students leave the US labor market

ABSTRACT This paper revisits conventional wisdom on US degree premiums for immigrant workers and shows that, despite the benefits of a US degree, migration policies and substandard labor conditions contribute to international student motivations to return home. Using two original datasets, I find that about a third of Indian-born US graduates leave the US, seeking employment opportunities abroad and a respite from US work visa restrictions. I draw on 105 in-depth interviews and 7,177 employment histories constructed from LinkedIn, and the analysis demonstrates the use of digital data to shed new light on under-studied patterns of return migration in institutional perspective. I find that US work visas are related to the underemployment of immigrant workers, and gaps in visa availability are associated with US labor market departure for Indian international students. At the same time, foreign employers reward skills and credentials developed in the US, and the results suggest that US degrees carry a higher premium in foreign labor markets. The paper emphasizes the role of institutions in the skilled migration system and identifies disjunctures in US migration policy. I identify opportunities for policy reform to improve immigrant labor conditions and increase the retention of US-educated migrants in the US labor market.

On the up and up: the job mobility of skilled return migrants

Abstract This paper examines the labor market incorporation of skilled Indian migrants returning home after working in the United States. I analyze a novel dataset of 7,177 time-varying transnational employment histories from LinkedIn using logistic regression and survival analysis. I find that skilled Indian migrants experience occupational upgrades when re-entering their home labor market, buoyed by foreign human capital and compensating for US legal status restrictions. While immigrants often face initial occupational downgrades and job mobility constraints in foreign labor markets, return migrants experience stability, promotions and accelerated rates of job mobility at home. The paper contributes to the literature on return migration, a significant but understudied dimension of international migration due to data constraints. I offer LinkedIn employment histories as digital data source to address these limitations and leverage their rich spatio-temporal information. These data help expand prior research on return migrant wages to broader questions about transnational migrant career trajectories. The findings shed light into where high-demand migrants might maximize their career growth, and have implications for understanding the policies shaping the recruitment and retention of skilled workers in the global labor market.

Acoustic telemetry captures the full annual migration of alewife between Chesapeake Bay and the Gulf of Maine

Anadromous fish are declining at a global scale, and a more holistic approach to management is needed that addresses threats across their freshwater, estuarine, and ocean habitats. In this study, we used acoustic telemetry to track adult alewife Alosa pseudoharengus in Chesapeake Bay, USA, to evaluate, for the first time, habitat use throughout the entire annual migration cycle. Fifty adult alewife were tagged in the Choptank River, Maryland, in spring 2022, and detection data were obtained via collaborative acoustic telemetry networks along the Eastern Seaboard of the USA and Canada. Water temperature data were also collected using data loggers in the Choptank River and from satellite measurements of sea surface temperature in Chesapeake Bay and the ocean. In total, 48 tags (96%) were detected at least once, 14 tagged fish (28%) were detected in the ocean migrating north to the Gulf of Maine and Bay of Fundy, and 5 tagged fish (10%) returned to the Choptank River in spring 2023. With few exceptions, tagged fish were detected at temperatures of 7-16°C across all habitats (river to ocean and back). Alewife made extensive use of tidal and non-tidal portions of the Choptank River during spring, migrated to summer habitats that are experiencing rapid warming, and passed through areas of high incidental catch on both the outgoing and return migration. This study highlights how acoustic telemetry can refine our understanding of river-specific migrations of anadromous fish and the management implications of their movements in regions with collaborative acoustic telemetry networks.

EXPRESS: Cultivating Sustainable Return Migration to Lebanon: Supporting Young Migrants through Marketing Systems Amidst Ongoing Conflict

Amidst Lebanon's enduring conflict and its consequences, young Lebanese are driven to seek stability and opportunities abroad, impacting the demographic balance among religious communities, which generates tensions and threatens the fragile peace prevailing in the country. This study delves into these migration dynamics, exploring how marketing systems can mitigate challenges and encourage emigrants to return to Lebanon. Semi-structured interviews with Lebanese migrants across five continents were conducted to ascertain primary motivations for emigration, obstacles to return, and factors encouraging repatriation. Findings reveal that while young Lebanese pursue better lives abroad, insecurity and persistent barriers hinder their return. By integrating marketing systems and adapting the "Transformative Refugee Service Experience Framework," this research proposes comprehensive public policy and managerial strategies tailored to Lebanon’s context. Key recommendations include targeted job placement programs, enhanced communication with the diaspora, and community-based educational reforms. By fostering a hospitable environment, Lebanon can support sustainable development, resilience, and well-being, encouraging the return of its young migrants. This study bridges theory and practice, offering actionable insights for policymakers and extending existing frameworks to other socio-political settings.

Linguistic landscape of immigrants in Japan surrounding social issues and ideologies: a study on prohibition signs and schoolscape

ABSTRACT From the perspective of linguistic landscape, this article reports on the use of Portuguese in the communities of Brazilians as return migrants in Japan, focusing on prohibition signs in public areas and signage in schoolscape to examine their relationship to social issues rooted in the cultural and ideological gap between Japanese locals and Brazilians of Japanese descent. Given the lack of detailed guidance from the national government, this study specifically investigates the process of employing Portuguese on signage. It reveals that Portuguese prohibition signs, ideologically charged, are typically installed by individuals or neighbourhood associations, not by the city government. Although the city government distributes templates for these signs upon request, those who install them are responsible for maintaining or removing them. Consequently, the maintenance process, influenced by the prevalent ideology in the host society, leads to these signs remaining in place. Regarding schoolscape, this study emphasises that the use of Portuguese on signage reflects cumulative efforts of teachers challenging the monolingual ideology in educational spaces. Considering various challenges facing immigrant children in educational settings, incorporating Portuguese not only has practical benefits but also significant potential to promote social acceptance of the immigrants and enhance their school life and learning experience.