Vietnam has just made a potentially historic change in the way it views more than 6.5 million Vietnamese living abroad.
For more than two decades, Vietnam’s policy toward its overseas community was built largely around connection: maintaining ties with the homeland, preserving Vietnamese identity, supporting overseas Vietnamese communities and encouraging them to contribute to the country’s development.
That philosophy has now evolved.
On 2 August 2026, the Politburo issued Resolution No. 23-NQ/TW on overseas Vietnamese affairs, replacing the policy framework established by Resolution No. 36-NQ/TW of 26 March 2004.
The significance of Resolution 23 lies not simply in another policy document.
It represents a fundamental change in perspective.
Vietnam now expressly recognizes overseas Vietnamese not only as an inseparable part of the Vietnamese national community, but as “one of the important strategic resources” of the country.
That language matters.
Vietnam is effectively saying to its global community: you are not outside Vietnam’s development story. You are part of it.
And for a country entering a new phase of economic, technological and geopolitical development, that could have far-reaching consequences.
From “Staying Connected” to “Building Together”
Vietnam’s overseas community has changed dramatically since Resolution 36 was adopted in 2004.
Today, more than 6.5 million Vietnamese live in over 130 countries and territories. They include entrepreneurs, investors, engineers, scientists, academics, physicians, technology specialists and professionals working in many of the world’s leading companies, universities and research institutions. (scov.gov.vn)
The economic contribution of this community has long been recognized.
But Resolution 23 goes further.
Vietnam is no longer looking primarily at its diaspora through the traditional lenses of remittances, cultural ties and investment capital.
It increasingly sees overseas Vietnamese as a source of something even more valuable:
knowledge, technology, international networks, innovation and human capital.
Vietnamese officials themselves have described the new philosophy as a transition from “mobilizing, gathering and caring” toward “accompanying and creating mechanisms.” (scov.gov.vn)
That distinction is critical.
The old question was essentially:
How can overseas Vietnamese contribute to Vietnam?
The new question is becoming:
What must Vietnam change so that overseas Vietnamese can contribute effectively?
That is a much more ambitious proposition.
Talent Becomes Strategic Infrastructure
The timing of Resolution 23 is no coincidence.
Vietnam is attempting one of the most important economic transitions in its modern history.
The country has already established itself as one of Asia’s major manufacturing locations. The next challenge is considerably more difficult: moving upward from manufacturing and assembly toward an economy increasingly based upon technology, innovation, research, sophisticated services and Vietnamese intellectual property.
That transformation cannot be achieved through physical infrastructure and foreign investment alone.
It requires people.
And increasingly, it requires globally experienced people.
Resolution 23 therefore specifically emphasizes mobilizing overseas Vietnamese resources in areas including science and technology, innovation, digital transformation, artificial intelligence, semiconductors, biotechnology and the startup ecosystem. (scov.gov.vn)
This connects diaspora policy directly with Vietnam’s wider technology and industrial strategy.
Consider the opportunity.
A Vietnamese semiconductor engineer working in California may understand technology and supply chains that Vietnamese institutions want to develop.
A Vietnamese AI researcher in Europe may have access to scientific networks that would take years to reproduce domestically.
A Vietnamese entrepreneur in Singapore may connect Vietnamese startups with capital, customers and regional markets.
A Vietnamese professor in Australia, Germany, Japan or the United States may contribute to a Vietnamese university or research program without permanently relocating to Vietnam.
The strategic asset, therefore, is not simply the individual.
It is the global network surrounding that individual.
Resolution 23 recognizes this reality by calling for databases, networks and ecosystems connecting overseas Vietnamese experts, intellectuals, scientists, entrepreneurs and younger generations, including mechanisms allowing them to contribute remotely from abroad. (scov.gov.vn)
That could prove to be one of the Resolution’s most consequential elements.
Vietnam does not necessarily need every talented overseas Vietnamese to return permanently.
It needs to make Vietnam part of their professional universe.
A Global Vietnamese Innovation Network
There is a broader strategic idea behind Resolution 23.
Modern economies increasingly compete through networks.
Capital moves internationally. Research teams operate across continents. Semiconductor supply chains span multiple jurisdictions. Artificial intelligence development is international. Venture capital, universities and technology companies operate within global ecosystems rather than national silos.
Vietnam therefore has an extraordinary potential asset: millions of people with a cultural or family connection to Vietnam who are simultaneously embedded in other economies.
Properly connected, this community can become a bridge between Vietnam and international capital, technology, universities, corporations and markets.
The Resolution explicitly recognizes overseas Vietnamese as a bridge between Vietnam and the world and envisages their direct participation in national development. (scov.gov.vn)
This means Vietnam’s diaspora policy is becoming part of its economic development policy.
It is also becoming part of its international integration strategy.
The Legal Question: Turning Political Direction into Rights
For lawyers, investors and businesses, however, an important distinction must be made.
Resolution 23 is a Politburo Resolution. It is not itself a law passed by Vietnam’s National Assembly.
It establishes strategic political direction.
The next and ultimately decisive phase will be implementation.
The Government, ministries, provinces and other authorities will need to translate that political mandate into laws, decrees, decisions, administrative procedures, programs and budgets.
Resolution 23 itself requires authorities across the Vietnamese system to implement the Resolution within their respective responsibilities and replaces Resolution 36 and the previous Politburo and Secretariat policy documents governing this field. (scov.gov.vn)
For the international business community, the question is therefore no longer whether Vietnam wants to mobilize its overseas Vietnamese resources.
That policy decision has essentially been made.
The question is:
What legal and regulatory mechanisms will follow?
Several areas deserve particularly close attention.
- Citizenship and nationality
If Vietnam wishes to attract highly qualified overseas Vietnamese, nationality rules and procedures will inevitably become important.
Vietnam will have to continue considering how citizenship, nationality status and connections with Vietnam can be administered in ways that reflect the reality of globally mobile professionals and families.
- Housing and property
The ability to establish a meaningful presence in Vietnam is closely connected with practical questions surrounding housing and property rights.
Greater certainty and simpler procedures could materially influence whether overseas Vietnamese decide to establish businesses, invest, work or spend significant periods in Vietnam.
- Investment
Overseas Vietnamese entrepreneurs represent a particularly interesting category of potential investors.
They combine international business experience with cultural familiarity and frequently possess Vietnamese networks.
Reducing unnecessary regulatory friction could therefore unlock not merely additional capital but potentially higher-quality investment connected with technology and international markets.
- Employment and remuneration
Vietnam competes globally for talent.
If it wants world-class semiconductor specialists, scientists, AI researchers or biotechnology experts, the relevant institutions must be capable of offering competitive professional environments.
Compensation matters.
But so do research freedom, facilities, intellectual-property protection, career opportunities, international mobility and the ability to work efficiently within Vietnamese institutions.
- Taxation
Tax treatment will also matter.
Globally mobile professionals frequently have income, investments and employment relationships spanning several jurisdictions.
Clear and internationally competitive tax treatment could become an important part of Vietnam’s talent-attraction strategy.
- Administrative procedures
Perhaps the least glamorous issue may prove among the most important.
Talent does not move because governments publish strategies.
Talent moves when systems work.
Visas, residence, citizenship documentation, work arrangements, professional recognition, investment approvals and other administrative procedures need to become sufficiently predictable and efficient to make participation easy.
The ultimate test of Resolution 23 will therefore be whether its powerful political message produces equally powerful administrative simplification.
An Opportunity for International Investors
Resolution 23 should also be watched carefully by foreign companies operating in Vietnam.
Why?
Because the policy could expand Vietnam’s pool of internationally experienced executives, scientists, engineers and specialists.
A German technology company investing in Vietnam, for example, may eventually find it easier to recruit a Vietnamese engineer who has spent 15 years working in Germany.
An American semiconductor company may benefit from programs connecting Vietnamese engineers working in the United States with Vietnam’s emerging semiconductor ecosystem.
A pharmaceutical or biotechnology investor may gain access to Vietnamese researchers working in international universities and laboratories.
Overseas Vietnamese can therefore become a valuable interface between foreign technology and Vietnamese implementation.
That could strengthen Vietnam’s competitiveness as an investment destination.
From Brain Drain to Brain Circulation
Perhaps the most interesting conceptual change is that Resolution 23 offers Vietnam an opportunity to move beyond the traditional idea of “brain drain.”
For decades, developing economies worried that their brightest people would study abroad and never return.
But the modern global economy provides another possibility:
brain circulation.
A Vietnamese scientist does not necessarily have to choose between Boston and Hanoi.
A technology entrepreneur does not necessarily have to choose between Singapore and Ho Chi Minh City.
An engineer does not necessarily have to choose between Munich and Da Nang.
They can operate across both worlds.
Knowledge can move.
Capital can move.
Research can be collaborative.
Companies can operate internationally.
Mentorship can happen digitally.
Investment networks can span continents.
Resolution 23’s recognition that overseas Vietnamese can participate through flexible mechanisms, including remotely, suggests that Vietnam increasingly understands this new reality. (scov.gov.vn)
The objective should therefore not simply be “bringing Vietnamese home.”
It should be connecting Vietnamese everywhere.
That is potentially a much more powerful strategy.
The Real Challenge Begins Now
Resolution 23 is ambitious.
But ambitious resolutions do not implement themselves.
The next phase will determine whether this becomes primarily an important political declaration or one of the significant institutional reforms of Vietnam’s next development period.
Implementation should therefore be measured against practical outcomes.
Can an overseas Vietnamese scientist establish a research project in Vietnam easily?
Can a semiconductor specialist divide professional time between Silicon Valley and Ho Chi Minh City?
Can an overseas Vietnamese entrepreneur invest without unnecessary administrative obstacles?
Can universities recruit internationally competitive Vietnamese professors?
Can ministries identify precisely which expertise Vietnam needs and connect those needs with Vietnamese professionals worldwide?
Can younger generations of overseas Vietnamese who may speak limited Vietnamese nevertheless participate meaningfully in the country’s development?
Those are the questions that will determine the ultimate success of Resolution 23.
Vietnam’s 6.5 Million-Person Competitive Advantage
Vietnam already possesses many of the ingredients required for its next stage of development: political stability, a strategic geographical position, a large domestic market, extensive international trade agreements, a strong manufacturing base and increasingly sophisticated infrastructure.
Resolution 23 highlights another asset that is harder to quantify:
6.5 million Vietnamese living around the world.
They are connected to international universities.
They work inside global technology companies.
They understand foreign markets.
They operate businesses.
They conduct scientific research.
They build professional networks.
They raise families that belong simultaneously to Vietnam and to the wider world.
For many years, Vietnam understandably viewed this community primarily as Vietnamese people living abroad who should remain connected with their homeland.
Resolution 23 introduces a more ambitious vision.
They are increasingly being viewed as part of Vietnam’s global human infrastructure.
And that may be exactly what Vietnam needs as it attempts to move from manufacturing powerhouse to innovation economy.
Conclusion: Vietnam’s Next Great Resource May Already Be Global
Vietnam’s extraordinary economic development over recent decades was built upon opening the country to the world.
The next phase may partly depend upon connecting the Vietnamese people already living throughout that world back into Vietnam’s development.
That is why Resolution 23 deserves considerably more attention than an ordinary policy announcement.
After more than twenty years under the framework established by Resolution 36, Vietnam has redefined its relationship with its global community.
The message is no longer simply:
Stay connected to Vietnam.
Increasingly, it is:
Help build Vietnam — wherever in the world you may be.
If the legal and administrative reforms that follow are sufficiently ambitious, Resolution 23 could help transform Vietnam’s diaspora from a community connected by heritage into a globally distributed strategic network of capital, knowledge, technology and influence.
That would represent something larger than diaspora policy.
It would represent a new model of national development.
Vietnam’s next competitive advantage may not lie exclusively within its borders.
It may consist of 6.5 million people beyond them.
And if Vietnam succeeds in connecting that extraordinary global resource with the country’s domestic ambitions, Resolution 23 may ultimately be remembered not simply as a new policy toward overseas Vietnamese, but as the moment Vietnam began to think of itself as a truly global Vietnamese nation.
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Please do not hesitate to contact Dr. Oliver Massmann (the architect of market access) under [email protected] if you have any questions or require further information regarding the above. Dr. Oliver Massmann is the General Director of Duane Morris Vietnam LLC.