Return Migration of Foreign Students

Area of Science:

• Sociology
• Economics
• Demography

Background:

• Understanding foreign student return migration is crucial for talent retention and economic development.
• Previous studies often overlook the interplay between labor market dynamics and personal life events.

Purpose of the Study:

• To empirically analyze the factors influencing the return migration decisions of recent foreign students in the Netherlands.
• To investigate the impact of labor market changes (unemployment, employment) and marriage formation on departure.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing administrative panel data for a comprehensive empirical analysis.
• Employing a model that accounts for correlated unobserved heterogeneity across migration, labor market, and marriage formation.
• Stratifying the analysis by country of birth into five distinct groups.

Main Results:

• Unemployment significantly increases the likelihood of students leaving the Netherlands.
• The effect of securing employment on return migration is nuanced, with varied impacts across different origin country groups.
• Students from developed countries show minimal change in return propensity after finding employment.
• Students from less developed countries and the Antilles/Surinam region are more likely to leave post-employment.
• Marriage in the Netherlands is associated with a higher propensity for students to remain in the country.

Conclusions:

• Labor market status, particularly unemployment, is a key driver of foreign student return migration.
• The influence of employment on return is heterogeneous, depending on the student's country of origin.
• Marriage acts as a significant factor promoting the settlement of foreign students in the Netherlands.