Blog: Unity and Repatriation: From Idea to Implementation

The return of Ukrainians from abroad is an urgent issue that began to be actively considered immediately after a significant number of our fellow citizens left the country due to the start of a full-scale invasion.

But if earlier there was talk of special programs and incentives for the return of citizens to their homeland, then the idea of ​​creating a specialized agency that would be tasked with this task was formulated by the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, who in November last year announced the creation of the Ministry of Unification of Ukrainians.

“Ukraine needs institutional strengthening of the policy towards Ukrainians abroad, towards our people from all waves of migration. We must create a central executive body – the Ministry of Unification of Ukrainians, which will deal with the affairs of the global multi-million Ukrainian community – not among other things, but purposefully,” the head of state said then.

Reunification and repatriation

In fact, the president’s speech defined the main mission of the new, at that time not yet formed, government body – to return Ukrainians from migration. The mechanism was also outlined – purposeful work with the multi-million Ukrainian community abroad.

The next step on this path was taken on December 4, 2024, when the Government of Ukraine reformed the Ministry for the Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine into the Ministry of National Unity of Ukraine.

On January 24, 2025, the government adopted a Resolution that defines the activities of the Ministry of National Unity, regulates its powers and areas of work, in particular:

• formation and implementation of state policy on issues of national unity of Ukraine and joint development; Ukrainian national identity; information policy of unity of Ukraine and strategic communications;
• formation and implementation of state policy on ensuring the rights and interests of persons who have left abroad, as defined by the legislation of Ukraine, in particular as a result of armed conflict. As well as creating conditions for their voluntary return to the abandoned place of residence or integration at a new place of residence in Ukraine;

On the same day, the Cabinet of Ministers adopted Resolution No. 73-p “On the establishment of the state non-profit enterprise “Agency of National Unity”, which brought the Agency under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of National Unity. According to the Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine – Minister of National Unity of Ukraine Oleksiy Chernyshov, “The Agency of National Unity will be an instrumental body for implementing the policy of the Ministry of National Unity, in particular, it will be engaged in opening Unity Hubs in key countries where Ukrainians are currently located.

I will highlight a few more important points from Chernyshov’s interview:

• The Ministry of National Unity has great support from European governments and international organizations;
• The implementation of the national unity strategy involves broad cooperation with executive authorities and legislators;
• Key functions of Unity Hub: to provide cultural, educational, social and administrative support to the Ukrainian community, to facilitate the return of Ukrainians home;
• Unity Hub will become a kind of “one-stop shop” where you can receive consular services, postal and banking services, and thanks to cooperation with the State Enterprise “Dokument”, you can go there to obtain the necessary documents;
• The Job Center at Unity Hub will help you find a job both in your host country and in Ukraine, which is actually very important;
• Market Place and Ukrainian cafe based at Unity Hub: relax, chat with fellow citizens, purchase goods from Ukrainian manufacturers, etc.

Of course, all this will require huge funds, and the Ministry of National Unity understands this, so they are counting on financial assistance from international organizations, European governments, and businesses.

Another quote from Chernyshov: “Forcing someone to return is impossible and impractical. Instead, we want to create conditions that will make return attractive.”

In fact, the Ministry of National Unity and the Agency face a very difficult task given the current realities, short-term and medium-term prospects. However, difficult does not mean impossible. There are examples of successful repatriation policies, the return of citizens in modern history, and this is, in fact, inspiring.

Israel. Repatriation and absorption

The Declaration of Independence of the State of Israel, which was proclaimed on May 14, 1948, officially announced the creation of a new state, the State of Israel. Interestingly, the document literally spells out a policy aimed at the return of Jews to their historic lands: “The State of Israel shall be open to Jewish repatriation and the ingathering of the exiles.”

At that time, the population of Israel was 806,000.

The Ministry of Aliyah (Jewish Repatriation) and Absorption was established that same year. It has been reformed several times since then, but its key role has not changed – state assistance to new repatriates and Israelis who have returned to the country previously.

On July 5, 1950, the Knesset passed the “Law of Return.” Since then, it has remained one of the most important legal acts of this country, because it was thanks to it that Israel became the state it is today. This law established the historical and political right of Jews from all over the world to return to Israel, guaranteeing them the opportunity to become citizens of this country. It remains a key document in Israel’s immigration policy today, as it is the legal basis for the automatic acquisition of Israeli citizenship under the “Citizenship Law” of 1952.

Interestingly, the Jewish Agency “Sochnut” was founded and began its work 20 years before the formation of the State of Israel. It is an international organization that has offices in about 60 countries, and its main mission is to help people with Jewish roots return to Israel.

Today, Sokhnut addresses a wide range of issues: assistance to Jews living in the diaspora, development of Jewish education for youth from the diaspora, support for repatriates. When a person applies to Sokhnut, he or she receives, so to speak, full support – from choosing a repatriation program to organizing free relocation, assistance with housing, language learning, and full integration into Israeli society (a personal coordinator is even appointed for this purpose). As the agency itself notes, Sokhnut has helped over 3 million Jews repatriate to Israel over the years of its existence.

There are also other organizations similar to Sokhnut. For example, Nefesh be-Nefesh is a non-profit organization that helps Jews from the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom immigrate to Israel.

However, it was not only state bodies and public organizations that made efforts to unite Jews on their land. One cannot fail to mention the famous philanthropist Baron Edmond de Rothschild, who in the early 1880s began to buy up land in Palestine at his own expense, where Jewish settlements were later organized.

Within a decade and a half, the area of ​​these lands had grown to more than 27,000 hectares. Compared to the current area of ​​Israel, this is, of course, not so much. However, it is precisely because of such deeds that Rothschild is considered one of the “founders” of Israel. Grateful citizens, recognizing his contribution, name streets and even cities and settlements after Rothschild and his family members.

In total, over the 76 years of independence, according to official data, more than 3.4 million Jews have repatriated to Israel, of which 1.6 million (47%) have done so since 1990. Since 1938, the population of Israel has grown more than 12 times and today there are about 9.9 million citizens. This is an absolutely successful example, because throughout its modern history, Israel has been constantly under attack from unfriendly countries. And this did not prevent people from returning, obtaining citizenship, living, working, and creating a society where everyone can realize themselves.

Therefore, the Israeli experience of establishing relevant authorities and developing special programs for repatriates deserves special attention given the successful activities of organizations dealing with these issues.

“Sea turtles”, “bamboo ceiling”, “A thousand talents”. How to bring back students – the example of China

Unlike Israel, China does not set itself the task of returning all Chinese. It has placed its bets on something else – on the “quality” (qualifications and skills) of the repatriates, encouraging them to return to their homeland.

Haigui is the name given to Chinese people who have returned home after more than two years of studying or working in another country. This is a separate category of repatriates, and the term itself is a homonym for the word “sea turtle”, which, as is known, returns to its place of birth to give offspring. “Sea turtles” are called Chinese people who have received a high level of knowledge and skills, and are fluent in foreign languages.

In the early 2010s, the country began to notice that most students and scholars who had earned degrees abroad were staying there. These professionals were highly valued by Chinese companies because of their high level of education and skills. To encourage them to return, companies today offer them higher-than-average salaries, bonuses, and benefits.

Last June, The Economist magazine published an article titled “China Has Become a Scientific Superpower,” which analyzed the steps the country has taken to become a world leader in some scientific fields (physics, chemistry, geology, environmental sciences). The article cites data from the Chinese Ministry of Education, which says that between 2000 and 2019, more than 6 million Chinese students studied abroad. Recently, they have been returning – since the late 2000s, more scientists have returned to the country than left. China now has more scientists than the US and the EU.

Repatriation was largely facilitated by Chinese state policy, which recognized the value of qualified, talented specialists. Since the early 1990s, they began to develop special programs for their citizens who had received education abroad.

For example, the Thousand Young Talents program, launched in the late 2000s, offered researchers under the age of 40 bonuses of $150,000 and grants of up to $1 million to set up laboratories in their homeland.

“It worked. A study published in the journal Science last year showed that the scheme brought back high-caliber young researchers—on average, they were the top 15% of their peers (though the real superstars tended to decline the offers). Within a few years, with access to more resources and an academic workforce, these returnees became leading scientists, writing 2.5 times more scientific papers than their counterparts who remained in America,” the publication states.

A striking example is research in the field of artificial intelligence. In 2019, only 34% of students remained in China. In 2022, this figure increased to 58%. As of 2024, the share of global research in the field of AI is 40% (the US – 10%, the EU and the UK – 15%).

Another factor influencing the return migration of Chinese people is the so-called “bamboo ceiling”. The expression means that Chinese students who study abroad can rarely boast of a successful career, becoming a top manager of a company. That is, there is a certain career line that is extremely difficult for them to cross.

It is also worth mentioning the changing attitude towards Chinese students and researchers working abroad by educational and scientific institutions. This refers to the fact that both students and researchers have increasingly become suspected of industrial espionage. There have been reports that Chinese students have even been deported due to their possible links to the “military-civilian fusion strategy” – a state program aimed at leveraging military and commercial programs and experience to strengthen both the armed forces and the economy and scientific developments.

Migration theory

A large number of scientists and experts have been and are engaged in the study of migration processes. But it is believed that the theoretical foundations in this field were formulated by the English scientist Ernst-Georg Ravenstein. During the 70s and 80s of the 19th century, he published several works, and in the main one he formulated the “laws of migration”. One of them reads as follows: “Every migration flow generates a counterflow (return, counter-migration)”. That is, some emigrants eventually return to their country of origin. The fact that some of our fellow citizens will also return is also obvious. It is difficult to predict when, but it will definitely happen. It all depends on the realities that Ukraine will find itself in in the medium term. However, the key question is how many Ukrainians will return to their homeland.

Today, one of the recognized experts on migration issues is Oded Stark, a researcher at the Bonn University Research Center and an honorary professor at the University of Warsaw. The goal of his study “Behavior in reverse: reasons for return migration”, published in 2018, is to eliminate the imbalance that exists between the reasons for migration and the reasons for return migration.

So, Stark identified 12 reasons for return migration:

• Purchasing power – the difference in purchasing power in the country of immigration and the country of origin.
• Strategic accumulation of human capital – working abroad improves skills more than similar work at home. In this case, the goal of migration is to improve one’s competitive advantage in the labor market at home.
• Professional status and social prestige – this type of migration is usually undertaken by unskilled workers who do not want to do “demeaning” work at home, but are willing to do it in a new country. However, it can also be inherent in skilled workers if they have acquired a certain social status (for example, they have received a doctorate). However, social distance can play a key role here – it may be greater in the migrant’s country of origin and he will agree to return in order to feel more prestige from his professional status.
• Information asymmetry is a situation where employers in the host country have less information about a migrant’s individual skill level than employers in the country of origin.
• Social comparisons: ordinal advantages – not accepting lagging behind other workers in the income hierarchy of the host country.
• Relative deprivation: cardinal advantages – a sense of social injustice that arises as a result of an individual comparing his or her situation with that of other individuals, as well as the situation of his or her group with that of other groups
• Marriage market overlap and divorce is a situation where men migrate to increase their income in their place of origin and then marry back home. At the same time, divorce at home will make migrant men less likely to return.
• Receiving an inheritance – in situations where the eldest son, as well as other children, migrated, the probability of the eldest son’s return migration will be higher. The fact is that his remittances will be directed, for example, to business development, housing construction, and he will feel that he has “invested” in himself and his property.
• Goal achievement – ​​achieving the original purpose of migration (developing parents’ business in the village, for example). Then the migrant can return, already having a stable source of income, simply move to a more developed region of the country of origin, or to the capital
• Trouble at home – a threat to the livelihood of his household (for example, a natural disaster or fire that damaged the home)
• The “price” of separation from family due to migration – family members with young children, for whom the emotions of separation from family will be high, are more likely to return and choose seasonal migration.
• Failure is a return due to a negative migration experience. When migrants fail to find work and lose hope that their fate will change for the better.

Taking into account modern challenges, it can be argued that the number of reasons for return migration has increased significantly since 2018. These may include religious reasons, the policies of some countries regarding refugees (reduction of social assistance, bureaucracy, etc.). And it is these aspects that the new Agency for National Unity must also study in great detail so that the strategy for the return of Ukrainians is effective and successful.

Instead of a conclusion

According to Eurostat, as of November 30, 2024, 4.2 million Ukrainians had temporary protection status in the European Union countries. 27% of them were in Germany, 23% in Poland, 9% in the Czech Republic. The agency notes that the number of refugees increased by 1% over the year. It is quite difficult to say about the total number of those who left Ukraine since the start of the full-scale invasion. Different figures are given – up to 6.7 million (UN data). Therefore, the task before the Ministry of National Unity and the Agency for National Unity is extremely difficult. Including because the war is ongoing, which means that some territories are under temporary occupation, the economy is not working at full capacity, and the infrastructure is destroyed.

However, the example of different countries and other factors give reason for optimism. The formation of the above-mentioned authorities is a significant step in the implementation of the policy of returning Ukrainians. I am convinced that programs and incentives for repatriation are already being developed there, which are correlated with the processes taking place in the countries where Ukrainians have found temporary refuge.

As an educator, I am particularly concerned about the issue of returning our students and applicants. I wrote about how this can be done in one of my blogs. It is currently impossible to say exactly how many Ukrainian students are abroad, but according to some estimates, their number is about 450 thousand. And returning them to their homeland means returning our future. I am convinced that this area should become one of the priorities for the Agency and the Ministry of National Unity.

But for this, the state must create attractive conditions. First of all, to ensure physical protection during the educational process. Secondly, to bring the reform of higher education to its logical conclusion – to modernize educational programs, scale up the digitalization of the educational process, make it inclusive and as student-oriented as possible.

Continue work on providing grants for talented students, etc. The main thing is that students who are temporarily abroad know about these developments. And communication with them can be ensured precisely on the basis of the aforementioned Unity Hub. This, of course, will require close cooperation between the Agency and the Ministry of Education and Foreign Affairs, and, of course, higher education institutions, which in turn must provide maximum information about themselves – these can be catalogs, video presentations, virtual excursions, etc.

It should also become a regular practice to hold open days at Unity Hub with the participation of representatives of higher education institutions, during which students and applicants could learn all the necessary information. I am convinced that the Agency is aware of the role of youth in post-war development and will make every effort to return future generations to Ukraine.

Source:РБК-Україна