Undertaking further education can be attractive for those seeking to improve their professional mobility, including post-migration. This article shares findings from a digital ethnography of a diverse group of graduate students hoping to begin a new career practicing migration law. Drawing on longitudinal qualitative interviews, virtual classroom observations and de-briefing discussions conducted during practical role-play activities, the article explores participants’ evolving perceptions, experiences, and practices in developing professional communication skills and professional identity. Adopting a critical sociolinguistic approach, the investigation finds that the students make sense of their diverse language practices and resources by contextualising them within the study setting, within the broader professional and socio-political contexts, and relative to their classmates. Further, how students value particular practices and resources can change over time, influenced by these factors. Therefore, the project offers innovative findings to, and a replicable model for, research on minoritised students’ communication and professional identity development in educational contexts. It also provides novel support for a shift away from conceptualisations of intercultural communication in which culture is a static attribute responsible for barriers to participation, instead emphasising the dynamic and socially situated nature of students’ language, identity and learning experiences.