Abstract
While temporary migrants, especially in labor-intensive industries, are expected to contribute to economic growth and the labor market in their host and home countries, the motives for their return to their home countries are ambiguous. Above all, we need to investigate the effects of occupational credentials as proof of skills on migrant behavior. This study quantitatively explores whether occupational credentials that migrant workers hold in their home and host countries, as signals of skills, influence their return aspirations using unique data from foreign elderly-care workers in Japan. We found that migrant workers who held occupational credentials in their home countries tended to expect to return much earlier than those who did not. Our findings imply that the occupational credentials issued in each country have functioned as one of the crucial factors for their return behaviors.