The term 'circular migration' has become a buzzword among European and international policy and academic circles in recent years. Many national and EU policy makers have heralded the idea of 'circular' migration with great enthusiasm as the solution to many of 'our' migration 'problems', supposedly addressing at once labour market shortages (by providing quickly and flexibly labour force on demand) and the migrant integration challenges (since circular migrants are not there to stay and hence will create very limited if any integration challenges).

This book studies the realities of circular migration on the ground by empirical analysis of seven pairs of countries: Greece-Albania, Italy-Albania; Italy-Morocco, Spain-Morocco; and Poland-Ukraine, Hungary-Ukraine, Italy-Ukraine. The book provides for a comparative and in depth analysis of circular migration between EU member states and countries in the EU's neighbourhood. It discusses critically the idea that circular migration is a triple-win situation (for migrants, states of origin, and destination countries) and looks at how relevant policies, migration statuses, labour markets, and other factors influence migrants' circulation. It poses and responds to the question whether circularity is a choice that brings higher economic and social or cultural gains than classical migration, or a necessity, a creative but not desirable strategy that migrants adopt in the absence of other options.