Although it is widely accepted that knowledge plays a key role in the economic activities and social life of knowledge societies, our understanding of what counts as knowledge is often incomplete. The explicit features of knowledge enable it to be codified and thus disseminated globally. This can lead to all knowledge simply being reduced to explicit knowledge. However, scholars draw our attention to the unarticulated, contextualised or tacit dimension of knowledge. This article seeks to explore the role of, and relationship between, the two forms of knowledge in the transnational mobility of migrant Chinese knowledge workers. It combines quantitative data on skilled Chinese immigrants who moved to New Zealand from Mainland China after 1990 along with a case study of interviews with 14 migrant Chinese knowledge workers, to provide evidence on the value of different forms of knowledge for migrants in accessing and carrying out their work and daily life. It argues that, through cultural values, social networks, institutional arrangements and interpersonal relationships in the process through which these skilled Chinese immigrants enter and adapt to New Zealand's knowledge society, tacit knowledge is not separate from, but interacts with, explicit knowledge. Therefore, the development of immigration policies should build on a complete concept of knowledge in order to effectively facilitate its cross-cultural application.