The role of family dynamics in (return) migration aspirations among Ukrainian protection holders in Germany

Abstract This article examines the role of family dynamics in shaping return and stay aspirations of Ukrainian protection holders in Germany. Germany, as a proximate and attractive country hosting one third of all Ukrainian refugees, provides a compelling case for studying their return intentions. Survey research indicates that having family members in the country-of-origin influences return intentions, but these influencing factors are not well understood, and the role of accompanying family members has not yet been addressed. This article compares the intra-family negotiations over the options of staying or returning across time, accounting for family members in Ukraine and in exile. Drawing on feminist geography, this article considers the family as a domestic “site of geopolitics”. Using five-wave-qualitative panel data on Ukrainian protection holders in Germany, we highlight the temporal dynamics of return aspirations and demonstrate how different and at times competing family obligations prompt the ‘transnational option’. Our study suggests that future research needs to focus on whether and to what extent accompanying family members and the age of children influence refugees’ return aspirations.