The year 2020, under the impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic and mobility-constraining lockdown regimes all over the world, brought in the Croatian context a noteworthy counter-dynamics of increased flexibilization to light: transnationally mobile people who temporarily settle in a place of origin or (independently of origin) of choice, and who work from there remotely. This practice of temporary settlement includes both people with Croatian origin, who can be considered temporary return migrants, but also people of various backgrounds engaging in professions which allow them to pursue their work virtually, i.e., so-called digital nomads. In interviews and focus groups with those new fellow contemporaries we inquire into experiences of transnational engagement, of (re-) rooting and remitting in local contexts. What are motives for setting up shop in Croatia: business opportunities, trust in development potentials, factors determining wellbeing, life-style matters, family reasons, or other? What are the ideas and initiatives shared by those temporary residents to participate in and impact on local development, and what the experiences of acceptance? Are the policy responses recently given to the quests for eased visa, temporary residency, and taxation regulations i.e., for digital nomads adequate to the needs and perspectives of those temporary (return) migrant? Do they provide for them to leave permanent traces in their provisional home environments? And what commitment can be recognized to engage into building local futures including the perspective of staying permanently?