This paper analyzes the migration processes on the island of Olib, that much of its history was a place of intensive emigration to overseas countries. Particular emphasis is placed on the return migration trend of the islanders who, after years of absence, decided to spend their retirement days on Olib. Cultural implications of return migration manifest itself by implementing American experience of returnees in the rural surroundings of the north Dalmatian island. In the context of these changes, the authors question diverse visions of the Olib’s identity: romanticized images of the Olib’s past on the one hand, and, on the other hand, contemporary cultural transformations made by the migration experience. The authors question the notion of belonging to the island as a criterion of identity perceiving it in a wide range of meanings: from literary physical belonging to the notion of symbolical belonging to Olib’s social space.