Figurations of high-skilled mobility and re-migration – professional identity, the family and social incorporation – determinants of future mobility in a context of multinational migrations

When high-skilled professionals become high-skilled migrants, they often relocate with families. Drawing on a larger study of 52 professionals who moved to Denmark to take up a high-skilled employment positions, we focus in this article on a sub-sample of fifteen families. To examine the specific factors influencing decisions around potential re-migration in these constellations, we introduce Elias’s figuration framework, to more carefully consider the interaction and interdependency between the ‘I’ of the interviewee and ‘We’ of their family. The analysis identifies three main dimensions that determine future mobility plans: professional identity/aspirations, family needs and experiences of social incorporation. We show that various configurations of these three dimensions are possible, usually with one dimension being more dominant in shaping re-migration decision-making. Our findings highlight how the various needs and desires of the ‘I’ and ‘We’ within the family are negotiated and how these processes are shaped by macro-, meso- and micro-structures. Our contribution is situated within the framework of multinational migrations, offering scholars an approach for more closely considering how figurations of mobility are negotiated within the relational dynamics of the ‘I’ and ‘We’ that constitute families on the move.