The paper explores how migration intersects with important periods in the life course, including education, work and marriage. Particular attention is given to the fact that different scales of migration may occur over one’s life course, and be motivated by different reasons. By examining the lifelong migration choices of Vietnamese marriage-migrants to South Korea researched during two periods of fieldwork in 2007-2008 and 2011-2012, this paper joins the discussion of how migration decisions relate to the contexts of Vietnamese economic development, post-industrial socio-demographic changes in South Korea, and growing concerns about social reproduction in East Asian countries. It further contributes to the discussion on the relationship between development, social reproduction and gendered migration.