Staying or Remigration among Afghan Returnees and its Determinants

Considering the political, social and economic dynamics of the contemporary world, the return of migrants and refugees has become important in recent years. However, despite the mass returns that have taken place in recent decades, the sustainability of these returns has never been guaranteed. This article examines the sustainability of the return of Afghan refugees to their home country from Iran and studies the effects of demographic, contextual and structural factors on their decisions to stay in Afghanistan or re-migrate. For this purpose, a survey of 425 people was conducted in Kabul, Herat and Mazar-e-Sharif cities in 2014. According to the results, the return experience of Afghan refugees from Iran to Afghanistan is not successful and sustainable, as more than half of the returnees are planning to remigrate from the country or are hesitant to stay in Afghanistan. The results of multivariate analysis indicated that such variables as ethnicity, education, marital status, neighbor's composition, duration of migration in Iran, type of return, social satisfaction, feeling of discrimination, and social reintegration levels have a significant effect on staying or re-migrating among the returnees.