Permanent Imaginaries of Return and Fluid Realities: On Return Aspirations and Ambivalence among Nepali and Chinese Migrants in Australia

Extending the line of analysis on migrants’ desires and aspirations to return, this article examines the meanings and emotions attached to the question of return in the context of two migrant groups from Nepal and China in Australia. While studies have delved into aspects of return associated with reintegration into the labour market, adjustment upon return, or social remittances, here we examine return as an embedded migration experience rather than actual physical return. We draw on the cultural understanding of family, mainly the notions of Luoyeguigeng and filial piety to examine the common imaginaries of return among both migrant groups and situate our analysis within the ‘fluidity of return’ framework to show how return is continually postponed or how return might not materialise. We argue that despite the permanent imaginaries of return, shaped by similar cultural ideas of family, return remains fluid in reality, complicated by multiple factors attached to home and host country, including the levels of opportunities afforded by the home countries as well as the opportunities for careers, family and partnership/relationships in Australia. The data presented here draws on two qualitative studies conducted among Nepali education migrants and Chinese professional women migrants in Australia.