Vietnamese Two-Step Migration to Australia within the Global Race for Talent

Abstract

This article explores the impacts of the global race for talent on migration policies. It also points out the relationality in transnational mobilities that is shaped by this global scape and migrants’ experiences in various aspects of life. By reviewing key policy documents and related literature, the article argues that the negotiation of transnational mobilities is an expression of two-step migrants’ entwinement with the world in interrelated domains. The argument presented in this article unsettles the conventional conceptualisation of transnational mobilities as disembodied brain flows for national economic benefits. Two-step migration from Vietnam to Australia is analysed to reflect this argument. This article highlights the relational aspects in transnational mobilities that influence migrants’ experiences across multiple scales. It calls for a more complex reading of education and professional migration, namely one that delineates the confusions and ambiguities of migrants’ experiences and life aspirations.