The Motivations and Reality of Return Migration to Armenia

• Main Authors: Lucie Macková, Jaromír Harmáček
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Centre of Migration Research, University of Warsaw, and Polish Academy of Sciences 2019-12-01
• Series: Central and Eastern European Migration Review
• Subjects: return migration; return motivations; reintegration; structural barriers; armenia
• Online Access: http://ceemr.uw.edu.pl/sites/default/files/Mackova_Harmacek_Motivations_and_Reality_0.pdf

Return migration has been increasingly gaining prominence in migration research as well as in migration policies across the world. However, in some regions, such as the Caucasus, the phenomenon of return migration is little explored despite its significance for the region. Based on 64 interviews with returnees and key informants together with additional online surveys with Armenian migrants, this study discusses important issues about return and reintegration with policy implications. It covers voluntary returnees as well as the participants of the assisted voluntary return and reintegration programmes and presents the case for a multiplicity of the return migration motivations and experiences which are dependent on the return preparedness and the strategies which the returnees use.