Repatriation
entry by Julie M. Marx, Global Family Expert at Expat Valley
The process of returning to one’s passport country after a period of living abroad. Often underestimated in difficulty, as returnees may experience significant cultural, professional, and social readjustment despite returning to a nominally familiar environment.
Comparable terms
Reentry (counseling, education — preferred in therapeutic contexts for its neutrality) · Going home (informal — contested; implies a straightforwardness that many returnees do not experience) · Reverse culture shock (experiential description rather than process term; see Reverse Culture Shock) · Repatriation transition (HR/mobility — emphasizes the managed process)
Why this matters
Repatriation is often harder than the original move because everyone expects it to be easy. It can trigger hidden immigrant feelings and career dissatisfaction. Naming it as its own transition invites proper preparation, not just a ticket home.
Cross-references
Re-entry Shock (Transitions & Mobility); Reverse Culture Shock (Transitions & Mobility); Reintegration (Transitions & Mobility); Hidden Immigrant (Identity & Belonging); ATCK (Identity & Belonging); W-Curve (Cultural Adaptation). Reintegration is the longer-term process of rebuilding a meaningful life in the passport country, of which repatriation is the formal organizational beginning. The hidden immigrant entry describes the specific social misrecognition that many returnees experience; the ATCK entry documents how repatriation frequently triggers identity challenges that have been dormant since childhood. The W-curve provides the structural model within which repatriation’s second adjustment dip can be normalized and communicated to assignees and families before return.
Sources
Black, J.S., Gregersen, H.B., & Mendenhall, M.E. (1992). Global Assignments. Jossey-Bass. A foundational HR/mobility text addressing repatriation as a managed organizational process.
Research on repatriated executives found that managers returning after extended periods abroad are more likely to resign and seek outside employment than colleagues with comparable experience who did not relocate internationally. Ebscohost Stroh, L.K., Gregersen, H.B., & Black, J.S. (1998). Closing the gap: Expectations versus reality among repatriates. Journal of World Business, 33(2), 111–124.
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