Chinese student migrants in the transition period in the United States: from human capital to social and cultural capitals

Since the 1990s, the United States has been increasingly hosting large numbers of foreign students in its higher education sector and continues to accommodate these skilled college graduates in its job market. When international students graduate, they can transition from an international student to a skilled migrant. Yet their decision-making process to stay in the receiving country (the United States), to return to sending countries, or to move on to another country, at different stages of such transition period, is not presently understood. This dissertation examines the experiences of these “migrants in transition period” when they face the “to return or to stay” choices under structural and institutional forces from the sending and receiving countries. This research adopts the conceptual framework of human capital, social capital, and cultural capital, to investigate how social capital and cultural capital impact the economic outcomes of migrants’ human capital under different societal contexts, and how migrants in the transition period cope with such situations and develop their stay or return plans accordingly. It further analyzes their decision-making process for return during this transition period. The empirical study of this dissertation investigates contemporary Chinese student migrants and skilled migrants from People’s Republic of China to the United States, as well as Chinese returnees who returned to China after graduation with a US educational degree. Findings reveal the impact of social and cultural capitals in shaping career experiences of skilled Chinese migrants, and also explore their mobility and the decision-makings of such movement of talent.