Resolution 23: what Vietnam's new diaspora policy means for overseas Vietnamese

In August, Vietnam issued Resolution 23 on overseas Vietnamese affairs. It replaces the resolution from 2004 that shaped two decades of how the country works with its diaspora. Documents at this level appear about once a generation, and everything downstream, from ministry programs to visa rules, gets built to match them.

Most of us never read the 2004 document, but we know its results: dual citizenship pathways, the right for Viet Kieu to own property like locals, the homeland programs. It treated the diaspora as family abroad, people to stay connected with and welcome back.

What changed

One sentence sums up the new document. Diaspora work must move from “vận động, tập hợp, chăm lo” to “đồng hành, kiến tạo cơ chế”: from encouraging, gathering and caring for, to accompanying and building mechanisms. The old approach assumed what was missing was interest, so the country invited us home. The new one concludes that people need working systems.

Around that sentence, the resolution does five things. It calls overseas Vietnamese an inseparable part of the nation and an important strategic resource, the strongest language Vietnam has used about its diaspora. It names sectors for diaspora talent: semiconductors, AI, biotech and digital transformation. It promises easier citizenship, housing and investment. It commits to a national database of overseas Vietnamese. And it sets the goal of linking the diaspora through a lasting network of experts, entrepreneurs and younger Vietnamese worldwide.

The gap it is written for

The diaspora is about 6.5 million people in more than 130 countries. The State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese estimates 10 to 15% hold a university degree or higher, and counts around 650,000 engineers, doctors, PhDs and experts working in developed countries. The official networks of overseas Vietnamese experts have around 2,000 members.

Money tells the same story. The diaspora sent home 17.7 billion dollars in 2025. Direct investment registered by diaspora members adds up to 1.7 billion dollars across 457 projects, over decades. Foreign investors registered 38 billion in 2025 alone.

Money flows from the diaspora to Vietnam at scale, but as support for family, not as participation in the economy. The connection is strong. What has been thin are the ways to turn it into careers, companies and capital. The resolution reads like a direct response to those numbers.

Where it stands

A resolution sets direction. The concrete programs come after. In early September, state media reported that the Foreign Ministry is drafting the government’s action program, including the database and a platform that matches overseas Vietnamese experts and entrepreneurs with needs in Vietnam. As of early October, it has not been published.

My read

The deciding factor is careers. Vietnam’s culture and lifestyle already pull people in, as I wrote in Rising With Vietnam. What people weigh most carefully is whether a move fits the career they have built. That is where the resolution puts its weight, and it lands while the economy is creating openings in the same sectors it names.

One goal stands out to me. A network of the diaspora is something policy can frame but cannot complete on its own. The connections form between people: a hiring manager in Saigon meeting a candidate from Frankfurt, a returnee telling someone in Sydney what their first year took. That is what communities like OV are built for, and it is good to see the same direction written down at the national level.

Vietnam has said where it wants to go. Our part is making sure overseas Vietnamese are connected when it gets there.