Background. Although educational migration is common in modern higher education, research shows that students studying in another city or country often experience psychological distress and report lower levels of subjective well-being and increased anxiety. Migration can also evoke nostalgia, but its role during this period is not well understood. Objective. The present work aims to examine the nostalgia experienced by Chinese students who left to study in another city or country, and to establish the relationships between different aspects of nostalgia and subjective well-being, anxiety, and crisis symptoms. Design. A total of 167 Chinese students (Mean age 20.78, SD 4.30) participated in the study: 1) those who left to study in Russia, 2) those who left for another province in China, and 3) those who remained in their home province. The data were collected using GAD-7, WHO-5, Crisis Symptom Scale, Nostalgia Proneness Scale, and the author's questionnaire for qualitative study of nostalgia. Results. Results revealed statistically significant between-group differences in subjective well-being (η²ₚ = 0.07, p < 0.01), anxiety (η²ₚ = 0.10, p < 0.001), and crisis symptom severity (η²ₚ = 0.05, p = 0.02); however, no differences were found in nostalgia proneness, frequency, and content. Analysis on the full sample showed that higher frequency of nostalgia was associated with higher anxiety (rs = 0.40, p < 0.001) and crisis symptom severity (rs = 0.34, p < 0.001). Conclusion. The obtained results expand existing data on nostalgia in vulnerable populations, and its role as a psychological resource supporting international students.