Do Bhutanese emigrants return?

Most do not. Roughly 60% of Bhutanese who go abroad for a master's degree do not return within five years; the comparable rate for those who go via the trade-and-work-visa pipeline is higher still. The first wave of returners — including the kind of people the book's composite characters Karma Dema, Tashi Yangchen, and Choki represent — is now beginning to land, but at scales smaller than the outflow.