Despite the emerging consensus that return does not necessarily bring an end to mobility, returnees’ future migration aspirations have received limited attention. Our article contributes to this under-researched area by examining how return migrants view future migration, based on 97 in-depth interviews with Romanian returnees from four European countries. We focus on young, working-age returnees, who are nevertheless well settled in their work and domestic lives. Comparisons between “then” and “now” are at the heart of participants’ reflections and draw attention to two temporal dimensions that become entangled in their future mobility considerations: prior migration experience, and life-course transformations. We show how returnees’ experiences of difficult and precarious work conditions, marginalization, and social isolation abroad, place important limits on migrating again, and generate specific parameters for future mobility, in conjunction with present family commitments and life-stage norms and aspirations. Future migration is thus often conditioned on preserving family unity and “decent” work opportunities, which reflect one's skills but also protect one's economic stability and wellbeing. The findings advance understanding of return and migration aspirations more broadly. Contrary to common assumptions, they show that prior migration experience does not simply facilitate but can also temper and recalibrate future migration aspirations, in conjunction with life-stage considerations. The findings additionally enrich the understanding of intra-European mobility dynamics, bringing in returnees’ perspectives, and revealing important temporal limits to European free mobility.

中文翻译：

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过去和现在：考虑未来移民的罗马尼亚返乡者


尽管人们已经达成共识，即返乡并不一定会结束流动性，但返乡者未来的移民愿望受到的关注有限。我们的文章基于对来自四个欧洲国家的罗马尼亚回国者的 97 次深入访谈，研究了回国移民如何看待未来的移民，从而为这一研究不足的领域做出了贡献。我们专注于年轻的工作年龄海归，但他们在工作和家庭生活中已经安定下来。“过去”和“现在”之间的比较是参与者反思的核心，并引起了人们对两个时间维度的关注，这两个维度与他们未来的流动性考虑纠缠在一起：先前的迁移经历和生命历程的转变。我们展示了返乡者在国外艰难和不稳定的工作条件、边缘化和社会孤立的经历如何对再次移民施加重要限制，并为未来的流动性生成具体参数，并结合当前的家庭承诺和生活阶段的规范和愿望。因此，未来的移民往往以维护家庭团聚和“体面”的工作机会为条件，这反映了一个人的技能，但也保护了一个人的经济稳定和福祉。这些发现更广泛地促进了对回归和移民愿望的理解。与通常的假设相反，它们表明，先前的移民经历不仅促进了移民，而且还可以结合生命阶段的考虑，缓和和重新调整了未来的移民愿望。这些发现还丰富了对欧洲内部流动性动态的理解，引入了海归的观点，并揭示了欧洲自由流动性的重要时间限制。