This article compares the prevalence and determinants of international mobility intentions across immigrant generations (G1, G1.5, G2, and G2.5), using French survey data. Two types of migration intentions are analyzed: (a) return to the (parents’) origin country and (b) onward migration to a third country. Results highlight migration intentions’ intergenerational variation and underlying logics. The probability to state return intentions is larger for G1 yet surprisingly similar to the stated return intentions for G2. By contrast, G2.5 (one immigrant and one French native parent) stand out as they are primarily characterized by onward migration intentions and are significantly less likely to consider “returning” to their sole immigrant parents’ origin country. Echoing the conceptual framework of “reactive transnationalism” or “reactive ethnicity,” the specific determinant of G2 return intentions appears to be their perception of discrimination. These findings show the value of (a) disaggregating the traditional first versus second generation dichotomy to understand the complexity of migration intentions and (b) including countries other than the parental homeland when studying second-generation transnational practices. More broadly, the article contributes to a better understanding of integration mechanisms by using migration intentions not only as proxies for population movements but also as a valuable framework providing empirical insights into immigrants’ personal relationship to both the country of residence and expected destination.

This article reconciles contrasting findings on the effect of access to employment on remigration by showing that this effect is actually heterogeneous and depends on migrants’ initial educational selection from the origin country. Combining longitudinal data from England and Wales (1971–2011) with data on educational attainment distributions in migrants’ origin countries, we find that the impact of being out of a job (unemployed or inactive) on the probability to remigrate is larger among migrants who were initially more positively selected in terms of educational attainment. This interaction effect appears stronger for male and recent migrants. Thus, in addition to migrants’ access to employment in the host country, the mismatch between migrants’ initial selection — that partly captures their premigration expectations — and their employment status at destination helps explain remigration behaviors.

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