The Dilemma of Returning: the Liquid Migration of Skilled Spaniards 8 years down the Economic Crisis

Abstract

Parallel to Spain’s economic recovery (2015–2017), there has been an increase in the return of skilled young adults who left the country in the years of the crisis. In this post-crisis stage, the dilemma of returning offers the perspective of a liquid migration, a process that is closely linked to legal labor migration, temporariness, and transnational circuits, nuanced by political activism and complex feelings of belonging. Migrants’ motivations, opinions, and emotions in front of the decision of staying abroad versus coming back home constitute the main contribution the paper makes to the academic literature on migration and return.