Permanent migrants and temporary citizens: multinational Chinese mobilities in the Americas

Abstract

In this article, I examine the multinational mobility and citizenship practices of ethnic Chinese who moved to Chile after living in another Latin American country. Despite being permanent residents or Chilean citizens, some hope to return to a previous country of residence in Latin America. Based on 18 semi-structured interviews conducted between October 2016 and August 2018, their experiences illuminate two aspects of multinational migrations. First, unlike pre-planned serial migrations of global elites or ‘step-wise’ migrant workers, these multinational mobilities are nonlinear and open-ended, due to their contingence on volatile and racialized political economies. Second, unlike transnational migrants who typically maintain links to ‘origin’ countries, they seldom visit China or Taiwan, and instead visit other countries in the Americas, due to business, familial, and affective ties. I discuss the main factors shaping the contingent nature of their mobilities and attachments to Chile, which influences the multiple onward pathways possible in their futures.