You Can Come Home Again: Narratives of Home and Belonging among Second-Generation Việt Kiều in Vietnam

Over the last decade, increasing numbers of second-generation overseas Vietnamese or Việt Kiều have returned to Vietnam to live and work. These are children of first-generation immigrant parents, who fled the country following the communist victory over South Vietnam in 1975. Since the 1990s, the government has implemented new laws and policies to encourage overseas Vietnamese to return to invest, work and live in Vietnam. However, recent state initiatives have also been hampered by substantial ambiguities and bureaucratic inefficiency. The narratives of second-generation Việt Kiều living in Hồ Chí Minh City reveal how — apart from state discourse and policies — personal motivations and pragmatic considerations also have an important bearing on their sense of “home” and “belonging” in Vietnam.