In some areas, returnees have been asked to prove their historical ties to a place before they are allocated land there. For those who may have been away for 30 years, providing such documentation is impossible.

Such long absences have often been spent in urban environments such as Khartoum, while allocated plots tend to be in rural areas with little or no amenities or commercial opportunities, increasing the hardships of host communities in receiving areas.

According to Refugees International, government development plans treat "the return and reintegration of hundreds of thousands of people as a short-term issue, requiring only a food package and assistance with shelter. However, this assistance, valuable as it is, does not help the returnees to integrate into South Sudan's social, political and economic life."

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