Executive summary

Over the past decade, return migration has emerged as a critical policy concern for both destination and origin countries. While much attention has been devoted on assisted voluntary return and reintegration (AVRR) programs, particularly for migrants with expulsion orders, these movements represent only a fraction of broader return movements which occur for many reasons. Return migration encompasses movements driven by a variety of factors, including employment, family, and retirement. Any policy measures designed to support return from OECD countries need to take into account the broader context of return migration.

To address knowledge gaps regarding return migration, this report assesses return flows by analysing exit rates of migrants in OECD countries and return rates to origin countries in different regions. The report also sheds light on the various determinants of return migration. It examines the specific role of family and local communities in these decision-making processes, bearing in mind that return migration has a potential to lead to subsequent migration.

Empirical evidence presented in the report underlines the scale of return migration, revealing that hundreds of thousands of settled migrants exit OECD countries each year, in addition to those whose shorter stays have concluded. Forced and voluntary returns are just a small fraction, and AVRR beneficiaries are an even smaller fraction of this total, even if they are one of the priorities for policy in OECD countries. Families emerge as the primary driver of return migration, whether or not this involves assistance. In AVRR, they provide extensive reintegration support in many areas, but can also pose barriers to reintegration. Local communities to which migrants return to also influence the return decision and reintegration experience, both in terms of the way returnees are perceived and the resources available for their reintegration. Local community organisations are often the best placed actors to provide certain forms of support to returnees. Within AVRR, they are the main implementers of activities – but may not have sufficient flexibility within programmes to define and adapt activities according to the profile and needs of return migrants. Finally, while little is known of the scale of subsequent redeparture, aspirations to re-migrate are common among return migrants. The availability of channels for re-migration are a factor in spontaneous return decisions.