Please come back! How and why European governments try to reattract emigrated citizens

Abstract Many EU Member States have adopted emigrant return policies (ERPs) meant to encourage and assist emigrated citizens’ migration back to their country of origin. Despite the significance of this trend, there is a notable lack of comparative research on the nature of ERPs and explanations for their introduction. This article offers a comprehensive analysis of ERPs across all EU countries that have introduced such policies in the past two decades (2004–2023) – including 17 countries and 81 policies. We examine policy instruments, target groups, policy justifications, and the political contexts associated with the introduction of ERPs. Our analysis reveals that ERPs are largely symbolic in substance – although the use of more costly economic tools increased towards the end of the analysed period –, primarily targeting the young and highly skilled, and justified predominantly in relation to the economy. Furthermore, we demonstrate that ERPs are often introduced for political reasons: while many of these policies are likely to be ineffective in shaping migration, they have been adopted in contexts where emigration and/or related issues were salient to showcase action on a highly complex policy issue. The study covers new empirical ground regarding how and why EU Member States govern migration within a free movement space and the understudied politics of emigration and return.