This paper discusses the type of professional learning that international academic mobility makes possible during a PhD program. The conceptual approach used Pierre Bourdieu's field theory, which allows analyzing PhD students as 'newcomer' members who bet on mobility under the idea of "illusio." The methodology used was qualitative. The information was obtained through semi-structured interviews with twenty-four new researchers who studied in four prestigious PhD programs in education and history in Mexico. The findings demonstrate that mobility fosters relationships with peers abroad, makes it easier to learn to do research, favors the reconversion of capital within the scientific field, and offers practical knowledge related to the need to publish results in order to achieve international recognition.