Overseas Vietnamese
Overseas Vietnamese (, or ) refers to Vietnamese people who live outside Vietnam. There are approximately 5 million overseas Vietnamese, the largest community of whom live in the United States. Overseas Vietnamese make up the fifth largest Asian diaspora, after the Indian diaspora, Overseas Chinese, Overseas Filipinos and the Lebanese diaspora. The term ('Vietnamese sojourner') is used by people in Vietnam to refer to Vietnamese living outside the country and is not a term of self-identification. However, many overseas Vietnamese also use the terms ('Overseas Vietnamese') or ('free Vietnamese'). History These are some of the several categories of Overseas Vietnamese: People who left Vietnam before 1975. This population usually resides in neighboring countries, such as Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and China, as well as those who settled in Korea and Japan before French colonization. During the French colonial era, many Vietnamese also migrated to France as students or workers. People who fled Vietnam in the immediate aftermath of the Vietnam War, many of them via Operation New Life and Operation Babylift, and their descendants. This is the largest Vietnamese diaspora group, found mainly in North America, Western Europe, Hong Kong, and Australasia. People who migrated legitimately from Vietnam to other parts of the Soviet bloc during the Cold War era and chose to remain outside Vietnam after the Soviet collapse, and their descendants. This is the second-largest Vietnamese diaspora group, found mainly in the former Soviet Union and the ex-Warsaw Pact countries of Eastern Europe. Economic migrants who work in other Asian countries such Taiwan, Japan and South Korea. This includes Vietnamese women who married men from these countries through illegal marriage agencies. These agencies are the source of social tension, controversy, and have been criticized for resembling human trafficking. Many women in this category suffer violence by their foreign husbands. Vietnamese living in the Middle East and North Africa, in particular the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Morocco, Qatar and Kuwait. Many members of this population studied overseas and sought work in other countries. According to a 2014 report by the Associated Press, "women make up at least two-thirds of workers who leave the country", and sometimes leave fathers behind to care for children. The report also said that "the total amount of remittances sent back from all Vietnamese workers overseas now exceeds $2 billion a year." In addition, as of 2020, 190,000 Vietnamese were studying abroad. Most were studying in Australia (30,000), the United States (29,000), Canada (21,000), the UK (12,000) and Asian countries (70,000); as well as an unknown number of illegal Vietnamese immigrants, as unveiled by the Essex lorry deaths throughout massive networks of illegal human trades spanned from Asia to Europe. Around the world United States Vietnamese immigrants in the United States are one of the largest immigrant communities in the world. The community grew from 231,000 in 1980 to perhaps as many as 1.3 million in 2012. Mass migration from Vietnam began in response to the Vietnamese government in the 1970s. During the North Vietnamese military