A TikTok video, a private message, then a departure: the website of the American public radio station NPR documents a clear trend, Americans moving to Southeast Asia, attracted by a lower cost of living and the possibility of working remotely.
The numbers are significant: the number of Americans living in the region has increased from about 32,000 in 1990 to nearly 88,000 in 2024, not including several countries – suggesting the actual total is higher. Moreover, a cited study indicates that in 2025 the United States could experience a negative migration balance for the first time in at least half a century.
In Da Nang, Chad Dunn has taken advantage of this trend. Former laborer, he now assists his compatriots in their settlement.
“I can pick you up at the airport, get you a phone, a bank account, and settle you in an apartment in less than a week. This is becoming very popular,” he said.
His clients often discover him on TikTok, where he shows his daily life and details the steps to follow.
For 37-year-old nutritionist Mia Moore, the departure marks a slower evolution. She describes the pressure felt in the United States: “Every day revolved around this question: how to earn more money and maintain this standard of living?” Settled in Vietnam, she emphasizes the concrete change in material conditions. “I pay about one-fifth of what I paid for rent,” she said. And she specifies, “A bowl of pho near my place costs about $2, and even with extras, about $4.”
These individual journeys are part of a broader transformation of work. Brooke Erin Duffy, a communication professor at Cornell University, “thinks that this is part of a broader trend…especially the rise of digital nomadism. More and more people are working remotely and trying to find ways to integrate work into their lifestyle, rather than the other way around.” Social networks play an accelerating role in making these lifestyles visible.
But the article strongly nuances these stories. “The images circulating about life and work are filtered through a bright prism,” emphasizes the academic. Behind these representations, expatriates often rely on dollar incomes and remain on the fringes of local job markets. Visas are short-term, installations sometimes precarious. Chris Michaels recalls his early days in Thailand: “I would wake up at 2 or 3 in the morning thinking, ‘What have I done?'”
