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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Return Migration Process in Policy and Practice

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AbstractThis chapter focuses on return migration processes in Latvia, integrating analysis of return migration policy and the experiences of return migrants. The analysis considers the extent to which return policy activities correspond to the needs and expectations of the target group, and addresses the role of this policy in the process of making the decision to return. The data used for the analysis are policy planning documents, The Emigrant Communities of Latvia survey and in-depth interviews. The main empirical evidence of the return experiences of migrants in the chapter comes from 18 in-depth interviews with Latvian returnees from various age and social status groups, who left Latvia within a period between 1991 and 2011. This research finds that although the government’s policy corresponds to the general needs of return migrants, this policy has no impact on individual return decisions among Latvian migrants. The main reasons for return are non-economic. If economic reasons dominate the reasons for leaving – alongside a wish to see the world or get an education – then coming back is connected with homesickness, a willingness to spend more time with relatives in Latvia, a longing for Latvian nature, a desire to speak Latvian and to live in the Latvian environment. It also eliminates the risk of assimilation for their children in the society of the country they have emigrated to.