This paper compares state-led approaches to global citizenship education, driven by the concerns of national security, with the kinds of citizenship formation transnational youth acquire through their experiences in transnational social fields. I show that these transnational experiences--particularly their relationships with loved ones in their countries of origin--naturally foster the types of skills, competencies and global awareness that are typically emphasised in global citizenship education, but also a more critical engagement with global structures of power. I suggest that diaspora third space pedagogies that build on these experiences can address some of the shortcomings of state-led GCE.