Back for good? Return aspirations of immigrants in the Netherlands

Abstract

Return migration is a complex process increasingly discussed in academic and policy circles. This study calls on complementary concepts and theories of migration, such as transnationalism, integration and family ties, to explore the return migration aspirations of first-generation immigrants in the Netherlands. It aims to examine to what extent an immigrant's contacts with their origin country, proximity to the host country and family location influence their return migration aspirations. We use the Survey of Integration of Migrants and the Survey of Integration of New Groups collected by Statistics Netherlands, which count amongst the rare surveys that capture these concepts. Our results show that, whilst return aspirations vary by country of origin, probably reflecting the conditions of the initial migration, having a family in origin and being active in transnational activities are positively related to return aspirations. Additionally, those more integrated into the host country are less likely to report aspirations to return. These results confirm the expectations that the ties to the origin and host countries matter in return aspirations.