ABSTRACT
Migrants' post-return experiences are influenced by different elements. Cassarino has proposed that differences in post-return experiences can be explained by migrants' 'return preparedness', composed of two elements: first, the free choice of migrants to return, or their willingness to return; and second, their readiness to return, above all their abilities to collect those resources that are needed to return. This chapter explores how migrants experience their return trajectories and how their wellbeing is shaped throughout the return migration process. It examines the first two years in the return process of four migrants who were returning from Belgium to Armenia. The respondents were selected out of a larger study, in which a longitudinal follow-up of 65 migrants who were returning to Georgia and Armenia with support from the Belgian assisted voluntary return and reintegration (AVRR) programme as provided by the non-governmental organisation (NGO) Caritas International.
