Returning home after living abroad? Return intentions among recent Portuguese skilled migrants

Abstract

Research on the return of recent Portuguese emigrants is scarce. In this paper, we present a study on return intentions based on a sample of 1,100 high-skilled Portuguese emigrant residents abroad, who answered an online survey carried out in 2017. The study presents contexts, protagonists, and the historical moment in which the intentions are revealed and the returns may occur. The analysis is centered on the return intentions according to age, residence country, period of immigration in the reception country, and other factors that, both in Portugal and in the destination country, contribute to explain the intentions of return by respondents.