International Ph.D. Students in STEM

From the Congressional Research Service:

According to the National Science Foundation’s 2017 survey of STEM doctorate recipients from U.S. IHEs, 72% of foreign doctorate recipients were still in the United States 10 years after receiving their degrees. This percentage varied by country of origin; for example, STEM graduates from China (90%) and India (83%) stayed at higher rates than European students (69%). There are several avenues—both temporary and permanent—by which foreign students may remain in the United States after graduation (see “Selected Options” in the text box), but some categories have annual numerical limits (“caps”). Practical training programs that give U.S. work authorization to students to be employed in their field while enrolled in school or after graduation do not have caps and have seen a steady increase (see Figure 4). These programs also allow foreign students to remain in the United States legally while they pursue longer-term options, such as H-1B or LPR status