Return Migration and Transnationalism: Evidence from Highly Skilled Academic Migration

Based on a study of U.S. public university employees from Brazil, Russia, India, and China (BRIC), this article explores transnational practices among highly skilled migrants. Although our interviewees reported considering returning to their home countries or participating in onward migration to other nations, they prefer engagement in transnational practices on the professional and personal levels to long-term return. As we highlight the factors that influence their decision making about return and engagement in transnationalism, our findings suggest that the wide array of transnational activities by the highly skilled needs to be studied as an important complement to the focus on return migration.