Continual return: Transnational circular migration of Turkish migrant workers in retirement

Many migrant workers do not return to their country of origin at retirement, but rather travel back and forth between Country of origin and country of former employment. This article presents the results of a case study of elderly Turkish migrant workers with regard to the biographical context of their decisions for circular migration in retirement, its patterns of organization and experience, as well as emerging forms of feelings of belonging. The theoretical background of this paper lies in approaches to transnationalism currently being discussed in the field of migration. In addition, a link between German research on labor migration and this new research perspective is established with reference to the notion of return orientation. The empirical study referred to here is based on ten biographical narrative interviews, of which three cases are presented in this paper and discussed with a special focus on return orientation. The reconstructive analysis of the interviews draws attention to transnational circular migration in retirement as a continuation of the transnationalism prevalent in the migration biography. Three patterns Of Circular migration can be distinguished according to the main location of residency: Bilocal circular migration, circular migration after return to the country of origin, and circular migration with primary residency in the country of former employment. In addition, the analysis indicates that transnational migrants develop feelings of national belonging which can no longer be classified as "either or," but rather as "both-and" or "neither-nor.