Regulating Return Migration in the EU

Encouraging citizens’ return has in recent years become an increasingly salient topic in several European countries experiencing large outmigration, not least considering the economic and welfare implications of emigration. Systematic attention to whether, when and how states try to facilitate return migration is however lacking. Existing research on preferences and strategies of countries of origin concentrates on the Global South whereas the European context is largely understudied. While some country case studies are available, there have been few attempts to compare return policies across countries. What is more, in the European Union context, the EU is also involved in migration governance and has recently started problematising emigration-related challenges and financially supports Member States’ programs that encourage return migration, something which has hardly been studied.

To better understand how European states regulate emigration and emigrants’ return, we map in this project 'return policies' meant to encourage and organise return migration of previous residents or citizens in European Union Member States, in order to compare policy instruments, aims, target groups and the timing of their introduction. We also examine the involvement of the EU in funding such schemes and promoting best practice. 

This research is funded by the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science, Research and Arts and Eberhard Karl’s University of Tübingen