Overseas Vietnamese

The Vietnamese diaspora, explained

People of Vietnamese origin who live outside Vietnam, whatever passport they hold. In Vietnam they are called Việt Kiều.

Overseas Vietnamese worldwide
6.5 million+1
countries and territories where they live
130+2
in the United States, the largest community
2.4 million3
sent home to Vietnam in 2024 by Vietnamese abroad
US$16 billion4

Việt Kiều 越僑

越 Việt
Vietnamese
僑 Kiều
living away from home, as a guest

Written in chữ Hán, the Chinese-based script Vietnamese used for centuries

The meaning of Việt Kiều and the other names

The same people go by different names. Which one you hear depends on who is speaking and where.

TermWho uses itWhat it means
Overseas VietnameseEnglish, in Vietnam and abroadPeople of Vietnamese origin who live outside Vietnam, whatever passport they hold
Việt Kiều (Viet Kieu)Everyday Vietnamese, mostly inside Vietnam“Kiều” (僑) means to live away from home as a guest. The same root gives Hoa kiều, the Chinese abroad
Kiều bàoOfficial Vietnamese, speeches and the pressCompatriots abroad; the warmer word the state uses
Người Việt Nam ở nước ngoàiVietnamese law and Party documentsVietnamese citizens and people of Vietnamese origin who live abroad long term (Law on Vietnamese Nationality 2008, Article 3)
Người Việt hải ngoạiVietnamese communities abroad, especially in the USVietnamese overseas, the name many communities use for themselves
1.5 generationMigration research, then everyday useBorn in Vietnam, moved abroad as a child. The sociologist Rubén Rumbaut coined it in the 1980s, studying Southeast Asian refugee youth
Second generationMigration researchBorn abroad, with at least one parent born in Vietnam

The legal definition is broad. A “person of Vietnamese origin” is anyone who once held Vietnamese nationality by descent, and their children and grandchildren living abroad. A Vietnamese American born in Houston to parents from Huế counts.

The tone of the word has changed. In the late 1970s, Việt Kiều often had a negative edge inside Vietnam. In 1993 the Politburo first called Overseas Vietnamese “an inseparable part” of the nation, and in 2004 it added “and a resource”. In August 2026 a new Politburo resolution, Resolution 23, moved from mobilising the community to partnering with it.

Where Overseas Vietnamese live

No single count exists, because countries measure different things. The United States and Canada count everyone who identifies as Vietnamese. Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Czechia count Vietnamese citizens only. France counts people born in Vietnam. The map shows 31 countries and 83 cities with a published figure or a well-documented community, each with what it counts and its year. The other countries of the 130+ have smaller communities or no published count.

Country

United States

2.4 million

Vietnamese ancestry · 2024

How they came
Refugees after 1975, then family reunification
One fact
40% were born in the US, up from 25% in 2000. (Pew Research Center)
Overseas Vietnamese by country
CountryPeopleYearWhat it countsSource
2024 · Vietnamese ancestry2.4 million2024Vietnamese ancestryUS Census Bureau
End 2025 · Vietnamese residents681,100End 2025Vietnamese residentsImmigration Services Agency of Japan
Aug 2026 · Vietnamese residents383,244Aug 2026Vietnamese residentsMinistry of Justice, via Korea Times
2021 · Vietnamese ancestry (257,997 born in Vietnam)334,7852021Vietnamese ancestry (257,997 born in Vietnam)Australian Bureau of Statistics
Jun 2026 · Vietnamese residents324,577Jun 2026Vietnamese residentsNational Immigration Agency data, via SeasiaStats
2021 · Vietnamese originover 275,0002021Vietnamese originPrime Minister of Canada
2025 · Vietnamese migration background (own or parents’ country of birth), survey estimateabout 239,0002025Vietnamese migration background (own or parents’ country of birth), survey estimateDestatis, Mikrozensus
2024 · Estimateabout 100,0002024EstimateQuản lý nhà nước
2026 · Estimateover 100,0002026EstimateViet Nam News
2025 · Estimateover 100,0002025EstimateĐại biểu Nhân dân
2026 · Estimateabout 80,0002026EstimateVnEconomy
2019 · Vietnamese mother tongue, a floor78,1602019Vietnamese mother tongue, a floorNational Institute of Statistics of Cambodia
2019 · Born in Vietnam (includes French people born in colonial Indochina)77,1002019Born in Vietnam (includes French people born in colonial Indochina)INSEE
End 2025 · Vietnamese residents69,685End 2025Vietnamese residentsCzech Statistical Office
2025 · Estimateover 40,0002025EstimateĐại biểu Nhân dân
2025 · Estimateabout 30,0002025EstimateBáo Văn hóa
2026 · Vietnamese originabout 27,9002026Vietnamese originCBS data, via AlleCijfers
2025 · Estimateover 25,0002025EstimateĐại biểu Nhân dân
2026 · Immigrants and their Norway-born children24,5302026Immigrants and their Norway-born childrenStatistics Norway
2025 · Estimateabout 22,0002025EstimateNhân Dân
2026 · Immigrants and their descendants18,5472026Immigrants and their descendantsStatistics Denmark
2023 · Vietnamese ethnicityabout 14,2002023Vietnamese ethnicityStats NZ, via Figure.NZ
2019 · Estimateabout 13,0002019EstimateVNA
2026 · Estimates for Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, the UAE and Qatarabout 10,5002026Estimates for Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, the UAE and QatarViet Nam News
2024 · Estimateover 10,0002024EstimateSGGP
2025 · Estimateabout 10,0002025EstimateĐại biểu Nhân dân
2023 · Estimateabout 9,0002023EstimateNhân Dân
2024 · Estimateover 6,0002024EstimateNhân Dân
2025 · Vietnamese residents1,7892025Vietnamese residentsISTAT, via Tuttitalia
2025 · Estimateabout 7002025EstimateViet Nam News
2022 · Residents (about 7,000 before 2022)about 5002022Residents (about 7,000 before 2022), estimatePLO

Most of the growth is in Asia. Japan’s Vietnamese population rose by 46,739 in 2025 alone, and Vietnamese are now the second-largest foreign group there. In South Korea, Vietnamese students outnumber Chinese students at universities. In Taiwan, Vietnamese are the second-largest foreign nationality after Indonesians.

In Europe, the oldest communities are in France and the newest in Hungary, where about 8,000 Vietnamese settled in 2024 alone. In Czechia and Slovakia, Vietnamese are a recognised national minority.

Cambodia, Laos and Thailand have communities that go back generations, but counts there are estimates and vary widely.

How Overseas Vietnamese got there

Vietnamese left in at least five waves, and each wave built different communities.

  1. Before 1975

    Workers, students and neighbours.

    Vietnamese lived in Laos, Cambodia and Thailand for generations; about 400,000 lived in Cambodia before 1970. In 1939 and 1940 France brought about 20,000 workers from Indochina, most of them Vietnamese, to work in its war factories. Others were sent to the nickel mines of New Caledonia.

  2. 1975

    The first departures.

    When the war ended in April 1975, about 125,000 to 140,000 people were evacuated and resettled in the United States. They built the first large communities in California, Texas and Virginia.

  3. 1975 to 1996

    By boat, by land and by plane.

    Over two decades, about 800,000 people from Indochina arrived by boat in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong, and about 640,000 arrived by land in Thailand. Many did not survive the sea; one estimate cited by UNHCR puts the deaths at about one in ten. In 1979, 65 governments met in Geneva and more than doubled their resettlement pledges. The Orderly Departure Programme, agreed the same year, let people leave by plane: more than 500,000 entered the United States through it. About 1.3 million refugees from Indochina were resettled by 1995, mostly in the US, Canada, Australia and France. The international programme ended in 1996. The last camp, in Hong Kong, closed in 2000.

  4. The 1980s

    Contract workers in the socialist countries.

    Between 1980 and 1990, about 270,000 workers went to the Soviet Union, East Germany, Czechoslovakia and Bulgaria under labour agreements. About 60,000 were in East Germany when the Wall fell. About a third stayed, and only in 1997 did they get the same right to stay as other foreigners. Their communities in Berlin, Prague and Warsaw grew from there.

  5. Since the 2000s

    Students, workers and families.

    In 2024 alone, 158,588 Vietnamese went abroad on work contracts, most to Japan and Taiwan; about 860,000 were working abroad by late 2025. Vietnamese students now number more than 107,000 in South Korea, 43,000 in Japan and 25,000 in the United States. In South Korea, Vietnamese women are the largest group among foreign brides.

  6. Now

    Moving to Vietnam.

    No official count exists of Overseas Vietnamese who moved back to Vietnam. The State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese counts about 650,000 experts and university graduates among Overseas Vietnamese. Researchers who study returnees in Ho Chi Minh City found no reliable count either.

Six communities over time

The refugees of 1975 to 1996 built the communities in the United States, Canada and Australia. Contract workers and students built most of those in Germany and Czechia. The newest growth is in Asia, led by Japan. Each country counts differently, so compare the shape of each chart, not the heights across charts.

United StatesPeople of Vietnamese origin; census, 2024 a survey estimate
United States
1980261,729
1990614,547
20001,223,736
20101,737,433
20202,293,392
20242,445,295

Source: US Census Bureau

CanadaVietnamese ethnic origin; census, no comparable 1996 figure
Canada
198662,995
199194,255
2001151,410
2006180,125
2011220,420
2016240,615
2021275,525

Source: Statistics Canada

AustraliaBorn in Vietnam; census
Australia
19762,373
198140,725
198682,705
1991121,811
1996151,053
2001154,831
2006159,849
2011185,040
2016219,351
2021257,997

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics

GermanyVietnamese citizens only; about 239,000 with Germans of Vietnamese origin (2025)
Germany
199178,139
199285,656
199395,542
199496,659
199596,032
199692,291
199787,928
199885,452
199985,362
200084,138
200185,910
200287,207
200388,208
200483,526
200583,446
200683,076
200783,333
200883,606
200984,437
201084,301
201183,830
201282,923
201383,292
201484,455
201587,214
201689,965
201792,485
201896,105
201999,725
2020103,620
2021110,515
2022120,535
2023127,825
2024137,560
2025151,980

Source: Destatis

CzechiaVietnamese residents
Czechia
19949,633
199514,213
199617,620
199720,950
199822,875
199924,824
200023,556
200123,924
200227,143
200329,046
200434,179
200536,833
200640,779
200751,101
200860,255
200961,115
201060,289
201158,205
201257,300
201357,347
201456,609
201556,958
201658,080
201759,808
201861,143
201961,952
202062,884
202164,851
202266,340
202367,783
202469,015
202569,685

Source: Czech Statistical Office

JapanVietnamese residents
Japan
201252,367
201372,256
201499,865
2015146,956
2016199,990
2017262,405
2018330,835
2019411,968
2020448,053
2021432,934
2022489,312
2023565,026
2024634,361
2025681,100

Source: Immigration Services Agency of Japan

Three ways to be Overseas Vietnamese

The age at which a person left shapes how they live between two countries.

Left as an adult.

The first generation: the refugees of 1975 to 1996, the contract workers of the 1980s, and today’s students, engineers and workers. Most grew up speaking Vietnamese and many still hold Vietnamese nationality. Vietnamese law counts its citizens abroad as Overseas Vietnamese too.

Left as a child.

The 1.5 generation: born in Vietnam, raised abroad. Many translated for their parents and moved between two languages every day.

Born abroad.

The second generation and beyond. In the United States, 40% of people of Vietnamese descent were born there, up from 25% in 2000. Many speak Vietnamese at home but read and write it less well, and many are now the ones moving to Vietnam for work.

Coming back: how Vietnam’s rules changed

Since the 1990s, Vietnam has changed its rules to bring Overseas Vietnamese back in: as visitors, investors, residents and citizens.

How the policy changed

1959Vietnam sets up its first office for Vietnamese abroad, the Central Overseas Vietnamese Board
1993Politburo Resolution 08, the first on Overseas Vietnamese, calls them “an inseparable part” of the nation
2004Politburo Resolution 36 adds “and a resource”. About 2.7 million then lived in nearly 90 countries
2007The visa exemption certificate lets Overseas Vietnamese visit without a visa
2008The Law on Vietnamese Nationality defines who counts as a Vietnamese person abroad
2015Decree 82 sets today’s visa exemption: valid up to 5 years, stays of up to 6 months, also for foreign spouses and children
2024New Land Law and Housing Law (from 1 August): Overseas Vietnamese with Vietnamese nationality buy property like any citizen; those without it can own a home
2025Amended Nationality Law (from 1 July): people with a Vietnamese parent or grandparent can become citizens without the language and residence tests, and may keep their other nationality with the President’s approval
2025Vietnam’s International Financial Centre in Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang takes effect on 1 September
2026Politburo Resolution 23 (2 August) counts more than 6.5 million Overseas Vietnamese and moves from mobilising them to partnering with them

What this means today

  • Visiting: a visa exemption certificate, valid up to 5 years, with stays of up to 6 months.
  • Citizenship: with a Vietnamese parent or grandparent, the path is much shorter than before, and dual nationality is possible case by case.
  • Property: citizens abroad buy like residents; people of Vietnamese origin without Vietnamese nationality can own a house and the land rights that come with it.
  • Work: the International Financial Centre is built to draw finance professionals from Vietnam and abroad. Employers hiring in Vietnam often say the hardest roles to fill are senior ones: people who have led teams across countries and can work with headquarters anywhere.

The money

Overseas Vietnamese and Vietnamese working abroad sent home about US$16 billion in 2024, almost 12 times as much as in 2000. That is close to two thirds of the foreign direct investment disbursed in Vietnam in 2024 (US$25.35 billion). Ho Chi Minh City alone received US$10.34 billion in 2025. Since 1993 the total has passed US$250 billion.

Money sent home to Vietnam, US$ billionsPersonal remittances received. Includes Vietnamese working abroad on contracts.
Money sent home to Vietnam, US$ billions
2000US$1.3 billion
2001US$1.1 billion
2002US$1.8 billion
2003US$2.1 billion
2004US$2.3 billion
2005US$3.1 billion
2006US$3.8 billion
2007US$6.2 billion
2008US$6.8 billion
2009US$6.0 billion
2010US$7.6 billion
2011US$8.3 billion
2012US$7.9 billion
2013US$9.4 billion
2014US$9.8 billion
2015US$8.1 billion
2016US$8.6 billion
2017US$9.4 billion
2018US$10.2 billion
2019US$10.9 billion
2020US$10.7 billion
2021US$12.7 billion
2022US$13.2 billion
2023US$14.0 billion
2024US$16.0 billion

Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators (archive, December 2025)

Of the people who applied to OV in the past year and live abroad

almost 9 in 10

are open to spending more time in Vietnam or moving there

3 in 10

plan to move within three years

OV application data: 520 applicants living abroad, October 2025 to October 2026. OV applicants are not a sample of all Overseas Vietnamese.

Five things people get wrong about Overseas Vietnamese

  1. “They all left in 1975.”

    About 125,000 to 140,000 left in 1975. Far more left over the next two decades by boat, by land and through the Orderly Departure Programme, and in 2024 alone 158,588 left to work abroad.

  2. “They live in the West.”

    The largest community is in the United States, but the next two largest are in Japan and South Korea, and both are growing fast.

  3. “They were all refugees.”

    The communities in Berlin, Prague, Warsaw and Moscow began with contract workers and students sent by Vietnam in the 1980s. Today about 860,000 Vietnamese work abroad on contracts.

  4. “They are foreigners in Vietnam.”

    Many hold Vietnamese nationality, and the law counts citizens abroad as Overseas Vietnamese. Since July 2025, people with a Vietnamese parent or grandparent can become citizens far more easily.

  5. “The money they send home is small.”

    In 2024 it came to about US$16 billion, close to two thirds of the foreign direct investment Vietnam received.

The next chapter: connecting Overseas Vietnamese across borders

For 50 years, each wave built its community where it landed. Most of these communities grew apart, divided by country, by language, and by when and why their families left. For most, the tie to Vietnam ran through family.

Three things have changed

  1. They move.

    Overseas Vietnamese now move between countries for study and work, and many in the second generation spend part of their career in Vietnam.

  2. Vietnam wants them back.

    Visits without a visa, a shorter path to citizenship, the right to own a home, and since August 2026 a Politburo resolution that aims to partner with its people abroad. Vietnam’s economy now has work for them too, from the International Financial Centre to employers looking for people who have led teams across countries.

  3. Many want to come.

    Most of those who apply to OV from abroad are open to spending more time in Vietnam.

What was missing was a way for Overseas Vietnamese to find each other across borders, and to find their way into Vietnam: the engineer in Berlin who wants to meet founders in Saigon, the banker in Sydney thinking about a move, the second-generation graduate in Toronto with no network in Vietnam at all.

OV, short for Overseas Vietnamese, started in 2019 to build that network: Vietnamese professionals, founders and investors in cities around the world, who meet in person, help each other and stay close to Vietnam. It does not replace the communities built before it. It links them to each other, and to Vietnam.

OV’s mission is to make being Vietnamese an advantage.

How OV membership works

About this page. This page is kept by Overseas Vietnamese (OV), the global network of Vietnamese professionals. Every figure has a source and a date. If you see a number that is out of date, tell us.

How to cite it. Overseas Vietnamese (OV), “Overseas Vietnamese: the Vietnamese diaspora, explained”, overseasvietnamese.com/overseas-vietnamese, updated 13 October 2026.

All sources

How they got there

Country and city figures: the source is in each place’s card on the map and in the table under it. All pages opened 13 October 2026.