Circular Migration of Health Professions – Overview and Critical Issues

Circular and return migration are the globally endorsed preferred models for health workforce mobility. Australia is the sole country to date to record emigration as well as immigration flows, including data permitting analysis of migration dynamics and scale in specific vocational fields. Within this context, the prevalence and health workforce impacts of circular and return migration remain largely unknown. This will continue to be the case until more comprehensive migration data capture systems have been introduced, recording immigration, emigration and re-entry data for health professionals in both sending and receiving countries