ABSTRACT
Studies of highly skilled migration have been broadly imbued with the illusion of a ‘smooth circulation of skills’, focusing on the legal, economic and political mechanisms (Lowell & Findlay 2003; Martin 2003; Shachar 2006). As a consequence, such studies have been dominated by macro-level methodology that is mostly gender-neutral or male-focused and has largely ignored the implications for families and conjugal relations (Raghuram 2004b). Although highly skilled migration deserves case-specific attention on some levels (Iredale & Appleyard 2001), it is worth investigating the personal dimensions of the migration decision-making process as one would for any other migrant (Kofman & Raghuram 2006). Issues related to gender, family or generational impacts may account for the complex movements of this kind of migrants, as much as economic and sector situations do. In this chapter, I intend to illustrate the importance of such considerations to analyse the circulation and migratory patterns of highly skilled migrants, through the example of return migration.
