There has been an increase of 40 percent of USA overseas Vietnamese students returning to the homeland, according to the USA Overseas Vietnamese Student Association.
There were 50 thousand Vietnamese students studying in the USA from 1998 to 2008, according to Pham Anh Khoa (pictured), Founder of VietAbroader, a student run nonprofit organization. From 2008-09, the number of Vietnamese studying in the USA increased 46.2 per cent or 12,823 students. This demonstrates the fastest growth of USA overseas Vietnamese students worldwide
The USA financial crisis is one of the reason students are returning home. At a time where most nations are in recovery, the Vietnamese economy is developing rapidly and overseas Vietnamese students benefit from more favourable working conditions and have better chances to find good jobs at home.
Regarding the “Regulations on overseas Vietnamese citizens management” issued recently by the Ministry of Education, Khoa commented that the new regulations, to some extent, tended to approach and control information and feedback of Vietnamese students living overseas. However, he goes against some points such as they are required to return to Vietnam after 3 years and imposed with double taxation.
Khoa revealed that they had done some researches on this issue in many other countries. Take China for example: Before 1970, China always encouraged but never enforced overseas Chinese students to come back home to work. Living abroad, they contributed to their homeland even more than working at home. Thus he believes the Ministry should consider this possibility.
Referring to double taxation, Khoa said tax payment is a citizens’ duty. No matter where we work, we should pay taxes. Vietnam and America should have an agreement of double taxation avoidance in favour of employees, otherwise they cannot bear the burden of double taxation.
Khoa also disagreed with the regulation under which overseas Vietnamese students must report to the Ministry on their periodical study results. He cited that educational systems are different country by country. It is impossible to manage over 100 thousand overseas Vietnamese students all over the world.
At present it is not as difficult as students used to think to find a scholarship to study in the USA. The information sources on USA schools and scholarships are available on internet, schools’ websites and Vietabroader website as well.