The City of Warsaw has made available the report Return Migrants as a Development Resource for Warsaw: Insights from the Warsaw Talent Cluster Project. The publication was prepared as part of Warsaw Talent Cluster 2, a research initiative conducted in cooperation between the City of Warsaw and the Center for Research on Social Change and Human Mobility (CRASH) at Kozminski University.
The report focuses on people who, after a period of international mobility, decide to return to Warsaw. It shows that return migrants are an important development resource for the city. They bring back not only professional experience and specialist knowledge, but also intercultural skills, international networks, new models of work, and familiarity with different organisational cultures.
Warsaw plays a special role in this process. As Poland’s largest labour market and one of the key academic, business, and technology hubs in Central and Eastern Europe, the city attracts people who want to use their international experience in further career development. For many returnees, Warsaw is perceived as a city of opportunity - a place where global experience can be translated into professional growth, entrepreneurship, and social engagement.
The report shows that return migrants are not a homogeneous group. Their decisions to return are shaped by different factors: family and personal reasons, career ambitions, the need for cultural belonging, quality of life, as well as external events such as the COVID-19 pandemic, Brexit, or changes in foreign labour markets. The authors identify several types of return migrants, including family-oriented returnees, professional and economic returnees, identity- and value-driven returnees, hybrid returnees, pragmatic quality-of-life seekers, and strategic returnees.
One of the key conclusions is that migration often acts as an intensive investment in human capital. People returning to Warsaw bring back technical and professional competences, language skills, experience of working in international environments, and new organisational practices. At the same time, they often develop strong soft skills, resilience, independence, and a greater sense of agency.
The report also highlights challenges related to reintegration. Returnees may face difficulties in rebuilding professional networks, translating international experience into local career paths, having their skills fully recognised, or adjusting again to local workplace norms. For this reason, the authors point to the need for practical support mechanisms.
The recommendations include creating a dedicated first-contact point for return migrants – a Welcome Back Point operating as a one-stop shop - as well as developing mentoring, career counselling, networking platforms, tools for skills validation, and initiatives supporting entrepreneurship and social integration.
The project is an example of how cooperation between local government and academia can support evidence-based urban policies. Research conducted by CRASH at Kozminski University provides knowledge that can help Warsaw better understand mobility, talent, and the potential of people returning to the city after international experience.
The report is available on the website of the City of Warsaw: https://um.warszawa.pl/waw/wspolpraca-z-nauka/-/migranci-powrotni-jako-zasob-rozwojowy-warszawy-wnioski-z-projektu-warsaw-talent-cluster (publication in Polish)
