Diverse ways of thinking and performing return migration: Colombians and Romanians in Europe

Abstract

A transnational-mobility approach helps us understand better the ways in which current migrants consider and experience return migration in the European context, taking into account how different factors enabling and constraining return intersect with each other to expose increasingly complex mobilities. We explore this by looking at the experiences of two migrant groups, Colombians and Romanians, considering socio-economic and political contexts, family circumstances and sense of belonging in return perceptions and experiences. Based on in-depth studies using mostly qualitative data, the analysis focuses on three categories: migrant return considerations, experiences of return to the country of origin and mixed mobilities involving return. We find that some migrants relate to, or engage in, return as part of open-ended mobilities based on both structural and emotional considerations, in the process disturbing notions of what is “home” or “host” in relation to the country of origin and settlement.