Set within the migration-development nexus, the developmental impact of return migration has been less studied than the return flow of remittances to the migrants’ countries of origin. Different theorisations of migration see return in different ways. For neoclassical economists, returnees are ‘failures’ who miscalculated the costs and benefits of migration. For followers of the ʼnew economics’ of migration, returnees are ‘successes’ who achieved their targets in migration. For neomarxists, return migrants are the ‘unwanted’ victims of the capitalist system, sent back when no longer useful due to sickness, old age, recession and unemployment. The standard view of returnees is that they have the potential to instigate development through their investment of saved capital and the deployment of the skills and experiences which they bring back - expectations often found to be over-optimistic. The chapter concludes by reviewing empirical evidence from various geographical settings around the world. This shows that the developmental impact of return is contingent on the place, time and circumstances of return.