The growing diversit y of migrat ory c at egories (ranging f rom ec onomic migrant s t o ref ugees and asylum seek ers) nec essit at es a dist inc t ion bet ween t he various t ypes of ret urnee. We st ill need t o k now who ret urns when, and why; andwhy some ret urnees appear as ac t ors of c hange, in spec if ic soc ial and inst it ut ional c irc umst anc es at home, whereas ot hers do not. The f irst obj ec t ive of t his paper is t o analyse how ret urn has been dealt wit h by int ernat ional migrat ion t heories, emphasising part ic ularly t he assumpt ions on whic h t hey rest. This t heoret ic al overview is nec essary t o show how ret urn has been def ined and loc at ed in t ime and spac e, andhow t he ret urnee has been depic t ed. The sec ond obj ec t ive is t o t ak e t he various approac hes t o ret urn migrat ion a st ep f urt her by elaborat ing on t he t heoret ic al insight s t hat have been ex t ensively proposed. The c onc ept ual approac h t o ret urnees is t hen revisit ed, t ak ing int o ac c ount a set of dist inguishing c rit eria, i.e. t he ret urnee' s " preparedness " and " resourc e mobilisat ion ".