Diasporic policy, support of short-term stays in country of ancestors and their impact on intensification of ethnic return migration: Diasporic descendants' immigration from western Ukraine to the Czech Republic.

This article examines how short-term stays in the Czech Republic, financially supported by the Czech Ministry of Health through the Czech–Russian society, influence ethnic return migration of diasporic descendants from western Ukraine to the Czech Republic. Despite many descendants having largely lost their Czech ethnic consciousness due to assimilation and mixed marriages, these stays enhance the attractiveness of the Czech environment and motivate participants to utilize their Czech ancestry—proven through strict genealogical documentation—to obtain preferential immigration status and permanent residency. The study, based on qualitative interviews with diasporic descendants and their families in the Rivne and Volyn Oblasts, highlights that these short-term stays intensify migration decisions beyond nostalgic or ethnic belonging factors, emphasizing pragmatic and economic motivations within the framework of Czech diasporic policy.