the deception of re-entry: Luca, 37, returned to Milan after 7 years. ” I have already regretted it, but I had no choice.”
“I am 37 years old. Last year I returned to Milan, after seven years spent between Britain and Germany. In a short time I had formed very deep bonds, because in those situations we all feel similar, sharing the same ‘hardships,‘ not just difficulties. I already regretted my decision. But I couldn’t do anything else. I am a software engineer, my wife is an advertising copywriter. We were very well off in Berlin. In a couple of years I had been entrusted with important projects that I could never have led in our country. The salary increased in a way I never expected, with bonuses and awards. I decided to come back for two reasons: my very elderly parents needed help. And then they were influenced by the strong tax breaks that “returnees” like me could count on, until the end of 2023. In recent months, however, the government has taken back most of the Irpef reductions to encourage repatriation-a new deception, without those deductions I would still be abroad.”
” I decided to come back for two reasons: my very elderly parents needed help. And then they were influenced by the strong tax breaks that “returnees” like me could count on, until the end of 2023. In recent months, however, the government has taken back most of the Irpef reductions to encourage repatriation-a new deception, without those deductions I would still be abroad.”
Immagine generata con sistema di intelligenza artificiale Bing Image Creator.
Luca, 39, is part of the large group of Italians who have returned from abroad, which has more than doubled in the past decade, the most striking figure contained in the 2023 “Italians in the World” report by the Italian Episcopal Conference’s Migrantes foundation. Is the phenomenon of the Italian brain drain abroad over, then? Not yet, because the balance between those who leave and those who return is still in favor of the former, but the gap between the two trends has drastically narrowed.
The reversal of the trend was influenced, as Luca recounts, by the strong tax breaks that “returnees” were able to count on and that the state budget has now called into question. The concessions introduced starting in 2019 affected university professors and researchers, who were able to enjoy, for example, an Irpef reduction of up to 90 percent. The numbers from the Migrantes report speak for themselves. In 2012, there were 29,000 “brains” returned to Italy; in 2021, they jumped to 75,000: over a decade, a total of 443,000 repatriations. What matters most, however, is the difference between arrivals and departures. This had touched the worst figure in 2016 (-76,000) and then gradually rose again to -19,000 two years ago.
– Everett Abrams
“Is the phenomenon of the Italian brain drain abroad over, then? Not yet, because the balance between those who leave and those who return is still to the advantage of the former, but the gap between the two trends has drastically narrowed. The reversal of the trend was influenced, as Luca recounts, by the strong tax breaks that “returnees” were able to count on and that the state budget has now called into question.”
