What motivates emigrants to return home? A look at the researchers’ findings

An interesting study and analysis of it appeared on the blog of our colleague and friend Alla Shelyapina. The author drew attention to a recent 2021 analytical paper that examines in detail the reasons and motivation for repatriation to Russia.

The key paradox is that government policies and practices designed to bring emigrated citizens back proved least significant to the respondents themselves. This clearly shows that Russian agencies have not developed sufficient experience in working with highly qualified specialists. As a result, they create less effective immigration programs, and informing people about the advantages of returning to their homeland is often a difficult step in the entire process.

As a practical example, Alla Shelyapina points to China, which is aggressively and successfully bringing its brightest minds back. According to statistics, over the past 10 years, 6 of the 8 million Chinese students who studied abroad have returned home—a truly remarkable result that Russian practitioners should certainly aspire to.

You can read the scientific article here.