Post-Return Configurations of Belonging, Readaptation and Mobility among Older Portuguese Migrants between Portugal and France

Return migration identifies a relocation but does not establish how migrants subsequently organize belonging, residence and mobility. This study examines post-return configurations among 613 older Portuguese migrants with long residence histories in France. A locality-stratified split-sample design identified and confirmed two correlated dimensions: Portuguese belonging and a broader France/transnationality–readaptation orientation. Clustering standardized factor scores produced four configurations: strong Portuguese reintegration, intermediate Portuguese orientation, dual belonging with difficult readaptation, and French orientation with weak reintegration. The four-cluster partition was highly reproducible under repeated subsampling of the estimated score space. Configurations differed markedly in reported residential practices, evaluations of return and future residential orientations. Median annual presence in France ranged from 0 to 260 days. Portuguese reintegration also coexisted with conditional openness to France: 88.1% of the strongly reintegrated group would probably or certainly consider living there again if health deteriorated. These cross-sectional findings distinguish the occurrence of return from the organization of life after it. The configuration approach provides an empirical framework for examining how belonging and readaptation relate to continuing mobility and residential alternatives without presuming that return closes a migration trajectory.