• Migration and transnationality redefine class boundaries. • Migration aspirations are socially situated and culturally mediated. • It is important to adopt a transnational lens in analysing how middle-classness is understood and embodied. Transnational migration is often viewed as a pathway to upward social mobility for working- and middle-class migrants from the Global South. However, middle-class professionals frequently face challenges in securing jobs matching their skills and aspirations in destination countries. These challenges largely stem from the devaluation of foreign credentials and employer perceptions of migrants’ cultural capital as incompatible or inadequate. Drawing on a qualitative study of Vietnamese migration to Australia (2019–2024), this paper explores how middle-class migrants experience downward social mobility and what motivates them to take the hard road. By focusing on space, place, and temporality in migrants’ reflections on their middle-class identity, I highlight the fluid and situated nature of middle-classness and illustrate the importance of analysing class through a transnational lens.
Lan Anh Hoang (Sun,) studied this question.