Welcome Home? Challenges and Chances of Return Migration

Summary:

This publication is the outcome of a project funded by the German Marshall Fund of the United States and the Robert Bosch Stiftung. In the year 2008, these two institutions created the Transatlantic Forum on Migration and Integration (TFMI), a multidisciplinary young leaders’ network in the field of immigration and integration. During five years of international exchange several topics in the field of immigration and integration seemed to play a prominent role in the discussions amongst the TFMI fellows. The topic of return migration was without doubt one of them. Several questions related to this complex subject turned out to be constantly discussed topics during the TFMI annual conferences, workshops and site visits.

One objective of this publication is to reveal the topic of return migration as a common phenomenon of several migrant sending countries, even if the relevant political, economic, social and cultural patterns of these countries are not at all comparable. Furthermore, this publication wants to show other experts in the field the different approaches a multilateral network like TFMI can provide analyze a complex subject like return migration and the potential that can be gained by these different approaches.