Opportunity knocks

China's rapid growth, coupled with stagnant Western economies, has created an increasing level of reverse migration. The trend poses opportunities and challenges for migrants and the companies that hire them to leverage their skills acquired abroad.

'What brings them back is what drove them to leave: opportunity,' says John Skrentny, director of the Centre for Comparative Immigration Studies at the University of California-San Diego.

The trend extends to ethnic Chinese who were born overseas. 'There is naturally a curiosity about the culture and language that is only experienced in part while in another country,' says an American-born worker who has lived in China for the past seven years.

The trend arises because there is now a closer match between returnees' skills and the ability to use them in China. 'For many returnees, their skills are only relevant given the right infrastructural development,' says Dan Wang, a PhD student in sociology at Stanford University who has surveyed 4,200 skilled migrants who returned to their homelands after working in the United States.

Businesses use these returnees to bring best practices to local branches. 'My company operates in seven countries and [returnees] improve our global operation through their understanding of international business practices and culture,' says Daniel Hong, CEO of Clenergy, a multinational designer and manufacturer of renewable energy products.

Returnees also lean on their newly developed connections. 'They bring the personal networks they made while abroad. Much business and science occurs collaboratively across borders, and they can take advantage of that,' Skrentny says.