Navigating Canadian permanent residency, citizenship, or returning home: sources and strategies of social protection among Chinese international students amid (geo-)political and economic risks

Chinese nationals are experiencing unprecedented risks due to increasing authoritarianism, economic and societal pressure in their home country, and rising anti-China sentiment in Western democracies. Using the hybrid transnational social protection framework, this study drew on interviews with 43 Chinese international students in Canada to examine how they navigated and sought protection against these risks. We found that choosing Canada over the U.S. for international higher education was, in part, a risk-mitigation strategy. Students were strongly motivated by state-market efforts to orchestrate an education-employment-immigration package that attracts talent. However generous, students found some educational rights constrained and faced challenges in securing employment without support from third-sector channels and other intermediaries. Although Canadian permanent residency (PR) was commonly sought to build transnational social protection, whether students viewed PR as enhancing sociopolitical security depended on their political orientation. Canadian citizenship as a form of protection was only partially sought, as it would entail loss of Chinese citizenship and associated entitlements under Chinese nationality law. This study illuminates heterogeneous understandings of resources and protection and highlights the trade-offs and new vulnerabilities faced by student migrants who seek transnational protection in multi-sourced resource environments.