Reasons for Leaving and Coming Back: Migration Experiences of High-Skilled Professionals from Lithuania

This chapter explores the emigration and return migration of Lithuanian residents before and after the global pandemic. Lithuania, as a small European country, is also the one that has demonstrated high emigration numbers over the past two decades. However, in recent years, with the global pandemic, Brexit, and other turbulences the number of return migration has increased. Concerning the growing number of returnees, this chapter aims to explore the reasons for emigration and return migration and answer the question whether and how the global COVID-19 pandemic has influenced the return emigration over the past years. The empirical analysis dwells on the in-depth interviews with the returned high-skilled migrants. The research found that there are different combinations of push and pull factors driving the migration decisions of high-skilled Lithuanian residents.