Foreign Science and Engineering Presence in U.S. Institutions and the Labor Force
Released: 2010-10-28T00:00:00

The increased presence of foreign students in graduate science and engineering programs and in the scientific workforce has been and continues to be of concern to some in the scientific community. Enrollment of U.S. citizens in graduate science and engineering programs has not kept pace with that of foreign students in those programs. In addition to the number of foreign students in graduate science and engineering programs, a significant number of university faculty in the scientific disciplines are foreign, and foreign doctorates are employed in large numbers by industry.

Those in the scientific community, arguing for ceilings on admissions for immigrants, maintain that foreign students use U.S. graduate education programs as stepping stones to immigration through sponsorships for legal permanent residence. Approximately 56% of foreign doctorate degree earners on temporary visas remain in the United States, with many eventually becoming citizens. Data on adjustments from temporary visas to permanent status reveal that approximately 6 in 10 new permanent residents occurred in both 2007 and 2008 from adjustments of status admissions. In 2008, approximately 15.0% of those individuals awarded legal permanent resident status resulted from employment-based preferences.

Few will dispute that U.S. universities and industry have chosen foreign talent to fill many positions. Foreign scientists and engineers serve the needs of industry at the doctorate level and also have been found to serve in major roles at the masters level. Not surprisingly, there are charges that U.S. workers are adversely affected by the entry of foreign scientists and engineers, who reportedly accept lower wages than U.S. citizens would accept in order to enter or remain in the United States. These arguments occur in the context of a debate on projections and potential imbalances in certain scientific and technical disciplines. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that between the years 2006 and 2016, employment in science and engineering fields will increase at a faster rate than other professional groups. The growth rate will result, primarily, from growth in mathematics and computer-related occupations.

Much attention in the scientific community has focused on the H-1B temporary admissions program. A report of the National Science Foundation (NSF) during the late 1980s claiming a nationwide shortage of scientists and engineers may have contributed to the decision by Congress to expand the skilled-labor preference system contained in the Immigration Act of 1990. The 1990 legislation more than doubled employment-based immigration, including scientists and engineers entering under the H-1B visa category. The act raised the numerical limits or ceilings on permanent, employment-based admissions, from 54,000 to 140,000 annually. In addition, the legislation ascribed high priority to the entry of selected skilled and professional workers, and simplified admissions procedures for foreign nationals seeking to temporarily work, study, or conduct business in the United States.

On October 17, 2000, the American Competitiveness in the Twenty-First Century Act of 2000 was signed into law ( P.L. 106 - 313 ), significantly changing the H-1B program and the employment-based immigration program. The legislation raised the annual number of H-1B visas to 195,000 for FY2001, FY2002, and FY2003, and returned to 65,000 in FY2004. It excluded from the new ceiling all H-1B nonimmigrants who are employed by institutions of higher education and nonprofit or governmental research organizations. The law authorized additional H-1B visas for FY1999 to offset the visas inadvertently approved for the year that exceeded the cap. In addition, the law increased the fees employers paid for each petition for nonimmigrant status—from $500 to $1,000 per petition. A portion of the fees were made available to the NSF for the development of private-public partnerships in K-12 education, the expansion of computer science, engineering, and mathematics scholarships, and the establishment of demonstration programs or projects that provide technical skills training for U.S. workers, both employed and unemployed.

Signed into law on December 8, 2004, P.L. 108 - 447 , The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2005, reauthorized H-1B funding. The fee employers pay for each petition was raised from $1,000 to $1,500 per petition. For employers with less than 25 full-time equivalent employees, the fee was set at $750 per petition. Also, the legislation created an additional 20,000 H-1B visas for FY2005, for those who had earned a masters degree or higher from a U.S. institution of higher education.

The scientific community has been divided over proposals to impose stricter immigration limits on people with scientific and technical skills. Attempts to settle upon the balance between the needs for a highly skilled scientific and technical workforce, and the need to protect and ensure job opportunities, salaries, and working conditions of U.S. scientific personnel, will continue to be debated. This paper addresses these issues.

Foreign Students in U.S. Institutions19

The number of non-U.S. citizens enrolling in U.S. colleges and universities slowed following the September 11 th terrorist attacks. The slowing of enrollments has been attributed to, among other things, the tightening of U.S. visa policies and increased global competition for graduates in the scientific and technical disciplines from countries such as China, India, and Canada. However, a 2009 report of the Institute of International Education reveals that for the academic year 2008-2009, the number of foreign-born students (in all disciplines) increased by 8.0%, the largest recorded increase since 1980. The growth of students from China contributed significantly to the increase. In addition, new foreign student enrollment for 2008-2009 increased by approximately 16.0% from the previous academic year. The new enrollments are said to result from both recruitment efforts by U.S. institutions and recently improved visa processing for students. The international student enrollment changes are reflected differently by types of institutions, levels of study, and disciplines.

There are noticeable differences by world region of origin in the flow of foreign students to the United States. India's students were 15.4% of the population for academic year 2008-2009. The other countries of origin of foreign students falling within the top ten were China (14.6%), South Korea (11.2%), Canada (4.4%), Japan (4.4%), Taiwan (4.2%), Mexico (2.2%), Turkey (2.0%), Vietnam, (1.9%), and Saudi Arabia (1.9%). The top ten fields of study for all foreign students were: business and management (20.6%), engineering (17.7%), physical and life sciences (9.2%), social sciences (8.5%), mathematics and computer sciences (8.4%), health professions (5.2%), fine and applied arts (5.2%), intensive English language (4.2%), humanities (2.9%), education (2.7%), and agriculture (1.3%).

Participation Rates in Science and Engineering

NSF data reveal that in 2006, the foreign student population earned approximately 36.2% of the doctorate degrees in the sciences and approximately 63.6% of the doctorate degrees in engineering. In 2006, foreign students on temporary resident visas earned 32.0% of the doctorates in the sciences, and 58.6% of the doctorates in engineering. (See Figure 1 .) The participation rates in 2005 were 30.8% and 58.4%, respectively. In 2006, permanent resident status students earned 4.2% of the doctorates in both the sciences and engineering, a slight change from the 2005 levels of 3.8% in the sciences and 4.4% in engineering. Trend data for science and engineering degrees for the years 1996-2005 reveal that of the non-U.S. citizen population, temporary resident status students consistently have earned the majority of the doctorate degrees. (See Table 1 and Table 2 .)

Disaggregated data for the subfields of science provide a detailed picture of degree recipients by U.S. citizenship and non-U.S. citizenship status. In 2006, foreign students (temporary and permanent resident status) were awarded 47.9% of the doctorates in the physical sciences, an increase from the 46.2% awarded in 2005. In mathematics, 55.3% of the doctorates were awarded to foreign students in 2006, a slight increase from the 55.1% awarded in 2005. For the computer sciences, 61.3% were awarded to foreign students, an increase above the 2005 level of 58.8%. The earth, atmospheric, and ocean sciences and the agricultural and biological sciences awarded 35.4% and 33.6% of the degrees respectively to foreign-born students in 2006, compared to the 2005 levels of 35.7% and 32.1%. In the social sciences and psychology, 24.6% of the doctorates were awarded to foreign students in 2006, almost level with the 24.5% awarded in 2005.

The NSF provides specific data on the country of origin of foreign-born science and engineering doctorate awards. Data for 2006 reveal that of the earned doctorate degree holders (non-U.S. citizens), 33.5% were from China, 11.9% were from India, 3.4% were from Taiwan, 2.8% from Canada, 3.4% from Africa, 2.8% from Turkey, 1.7% from Japan, and 1.4% from Germany. See Figure 2 for additional disaggregated data on doctorate degrees awarded to non-U.S. citizens by country of origin.

Support of Foreign Students in Graduate School

Certain restrictions have been placed on foreign students with temporary resident student status who are enrolled in graduate programs in U.S. institutions. Foreign graduate students are required to be full-time students, and are prohibited, due to visa restrictions, from seeking employment. While they are prohibited also from obtaining most fellowships, traineeships or federally guaranteed loans, they are able to be employed as research assistants or teaching assistants on federally funded research projects.

Foreign and U.S. science and engineering graduate students receive financial support from many resources—personal, university (primarily through teaching assistantships, research assistantships/traineeships, fellowships/dissertation grants) , foreign government, employer, and other. Many foreign students receive support from their home country, though it is generally limited to the first year of study. For the continuing years, the university usually provides support mostly in the form of research assistantships or teaching assistantships. While temporary resident foreign students are ineligible for direct federal aid, the university support provided to them through research assistantships and teaching assistantships often results from federally funded research grants awarded to their home institution.

The 2007 report, Doctorate Recipients from United States Universities: Summary Report 2006 , reveals that institutions of higher education provide a significant amount of support, primarily through teaching assistantships, research assistantships/traineeships, and fellowships/dissertation grants, to foreign students on temporary and permanent resident visas. In all fields, a greater percentage of non-U.S. citizen doctoral recipients receive financial assistance from universities than do U.S. doctoral recipients. (See Table 3 for primary sources of financial support.) A disaggregation of the data by race/ethnicity reveal that 40.6% of Native Americans/Alaska Natives doctoral students relieved on their own resources to finance their graduate studies, followed by blacks at 38.8%, whites, at 30.1%, Hispanics, at 30.7%, and Asians, at 16.9%.

In the physical sciences, which include mathematics, computer and information sciences, universities provided the primary support for 84.6% of temporary resident students, 73.1% for permanent residents, and 58.8% for U.S. citizens. In engineering, 84.8% of temporary resident students received primary financial support from universities, as did 63.9% of permanent resident students, and 42.8% of U.S. citizen doctoral students. Even in those disciplines where foreign students do not participate with any degree of frequency (i.e., education and the social sciences), larger percentages of foreign doctoral students on temporary and permanent resident visas obtained their primary financial assistance from universities than did comparable U.S. students. In the field of education, 43.6% of temporary resident doctoral students received their primary financial support from universities; for permanent resident students, 41.5%, and for U.S. citizens, 13.4%. In the social sciences, universities provided financial support to 54.0% of temporary resident doctoral students, 43.9% for permanent residents, and 35.7% for U.S. citizens.

Perceived Benefits and Problems

There are divergent views in the scientific and academic community about the effects of a measurable foreign student presence in graduate science and engineering programs. Some argue that U.S. universities benefit from a large foreign citizen enrollment by helping to meet the needs of the university and, for those students who remain in the United States, the nation's economy.

Foreign students generate three distinct types of measurable costs and benefits. First, 13 percent of foreign students remain in the United States, permanently increasing the number of skilled workers in the labor force. Second, foreign students, while enrolled in schools, are an important part of the workforce at those institutions, particularly at large research universities. They help teach large undergraduate classes, provide research assistance to the faculty, and make up an important fraction of the bench workers in scientific labs. Finally, many foreign students pay tuition, and those revenues may be an important source of income for educational institutions.

The noticeable participation of foreign students in graduate programs has generated critical responses by many in the minority community. Blacks, Hispanics, and Native Americans, historically underrepresented in the science and engineering fields, contend that disparity exists in the university science community with respect to foreign students. It is charged that there is not equal access for U.S. minorities to graduate education, receipt of scholarships, promotion to higher ranks, receipt of research funds, access to outstanding research collaborators, and coauthorship of papers and other outlets for scientific publications. Frank L. Morris, former professor, University of Texas, charged that colleges and universities employ exclusionary mechanisms. Rather than supporting minority graduate students, institutions provided the majority of their resources to departments that have admitted foreign students. In testimony before the Subcommittee on Immigration and Claims, Morris stated that:

The generous immigration policy coupled with the much better and disproportionate and much better subsidy out of U.S. taxpayer funds of foreign doctoral student over all American minority students and especially much better than the support given to African American doctoral students.... This has created a situation that place the economic well being of the African American community in jeopardy because we have received inadequate doctoral training to prepare for or compete in an increasing information and higher order scientifically technologically driven current and future U.S. economy.

Another criticism noted by some is that foreign student teaching assistants do not communicate well with American students. Language as a barrier has been a perennial problem for some foreign students. There are charges that the "accented English" of the foreign teaching assistants affects the learning process. A large number of graduate schools require foreign teaching assistants to demonstrate their proficiency in English, but problems remain. Several states have passed legislation setting English-language standards for foreign students serving as teaching assistants.

Some academics and scientists do not view scientific migration as a problem, but as a net gain. These proponents believe that the international flow of knowledge and personnel has enabled the U.S. economy to remain at the cutting-edge of science and technology. A 2005 report of the National Academies states that:

The participation of international graduate students and postdoctoral scholars is an important part of the research enterprise of the United States. In some fields they make up more than half the populations of graduate students and postdoctoral scholars. If their presence were substantially diminished, important research and teaching activities in academe, industry, and federal laboratories would be curtailed, particularly if universities did not give more attention to recruiting and retaining domestic students.

Foreign Scientists and Engineers in the U.S. Labor Force

During the 1980s, the number of immigrant scientists and engineering entering the United States remained somewhat stable (12,000), registering only slight annual increases. In 1992, there was a marked increase in the admissions of scientists and engineering, fueled primarily by the changes in the Immigration Act of 1990 that allowed significant increases in employment-based quotas of H-1B visas. By 1993, the number of scientists and engineers on permanent visas increased to 23,534. The numbers were increased further as a result of the Chinese Students Protection Act of 1992. The proportion of foreign born scientists and engineers in the U.S. labor force reached a record in 2000, revealing high levels of entry by holders of permanent and temporary visas during the 1990s. The issuance of permanent visas in the past few years has been impacted by administrative changes at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), changes in immigration legislation, and any impact of September 11 th .

Foreign scientists and engineers on temporary work visas have generated considerable discussion. As previously stated, recent legislation has increased the annual quota for the H-1B program in which foreign-born workers can obtain visas to work in an occupation for up to six years. The H-1B program, generally, is thought of as an entry for technology workers, but it is used also to hire other skilled workers. A report of the NSF notes that "An H-1B visa is sometimes used to fill a position not considered temporary, for a company may view an H-1B visa as the only way to employ workers waiting long periods for a permanent visa." Data on selected occupations for which companies have been given permission to hire H-1B visa workers are contained in Table 4 .

Some argue that the influx of immigrant scientists and engineers has resulted in depressed job opportunities, lowered wages, and declining working conditions for U.S. scientific personnel. While many businesses, especially high-tech companies, have recently downsized, the federal government issued thousands of H-1B visas to foreign workers. There are those in the scientific and technical community who contend that an over-reliance on H-1B visa workers to fill high-tech positions has weakened opportunities for the U.S. workforce. Many U.S. workers argue that a number of the available positions are being filled by foreign labor hired at lower salaries. Those critical of the influx of immigrant scientists have advocated placing restrictions on the hiring of foreign skilled employees in addition to enforcing the existing laws designed to protect workers. Those in support of the H-1B program maintain that there is no "clear evidence" that foreign workers displace U.S. workers in comparable positions and that it is necessary to hire foreign workers to fill needed positions, even during periods of slow economic growth. A September 2006 report of the Government Accountability Office (GAO), H-1B Visa Program: More Oversight by Labor Can Improve Compliance with Program Requirements, states that:

Labor's review of employers' H-1B applications is limited by law to identifying omissions and obvious inaccuracies, but we found it does not consistently identify all obvious inaccuracies. ...Labor's Wage and Hour Division (WHD) enforces H-1B program requirements by investigating complaints made against H-1B employers and recently began random investigations of previous program violators. From fiscal year 2000 through fiscal year 2005, complaints and violations increased but changes in the program, such as temporary increases in visa caps, may have been a factor.... However, USCIS does not have a formal mechanism to report such information to Labor, and current law precludes WHD from using this information to initiate an investigation of an employer. Justice pursues charges filed by U.S. workers alleging they were not hired or were displaced so that an H-1B worker could be hired instead, but it has not found discriminatory conduct in most cases.

The maturing of the computer industry has wrought its own set of problems relative to employment of foreign scientists and engineers. There are some who contend that the salary of the foreign-born computer professionals working in the United States is lower than that of their U.S. counterparts who are the same age and educational level. Others charge that the hiring of H-1B workers "undermines the status and bargaining position of U.S. workers." The Department of Labor (DOL) has sought to enforce the existing policies on temporary employment of nonimmigrant foreign workers under H-1B visas, and to penalize those employers who are found to be in violation.

Many in the scientific community maintain that in order to compete with countries that are rapidly expanding their scientific and technological capabilities, the United States needs to bring in those whose skills will benefit society and will enable us to compete in the new-technology-based global economy. Individuals supporting this position do believe that the conditions under which foreign talent enters U.S. colleges and universities and the labor force should be monitored more carefully. And there are those who contend that the underlying concern of foreign students in graduate science and engineering programs is not necessarily that there are too many foreign-born students, but that there are not enough native-born students entering the scientific and technical disciplines.

A May 2010 report of the National Science Board states that:

Attracting and retaining foreign-born talent remains an essential pillar of our Nation's STEM [science, technology, engineering, and mathematics] enterprise. As global demand for STEM talent surges, we cannot reliably expect that the best and brightest from abroad will remain in the United States and continue to be a sufficient source of talent. It is essential that we develop our own domestic human capital as well. Ideally, foreign talent should augment a robust domestic STEM talent pipeline, not compensate for its deficiencies.

Policy Implications

The debate on the presence of foreign students in graduate science and engineering programs and the workforce intensified following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. It has been reported that foreign students in the United States are encountering "a progressively more inhospitable environment." A June 2006 report of the Association of International Educators, Restoring U.S. Competitiveness for International Students and Scholars , states that " ... [F]or the first time, the United States seems to be losing its status as the destination of choice for international students."

Concerns have been expressed about certain foreign students receiving education and training in sensitive areas. There has been increased discussion about the access of foreign scientists and engineers to research and development (R&D) related to chemical and biological weapons. Also, there is discussion of the added scrutiny of foreign students from countries that sponsor terrorism. The academic community is concerned that the more stringent requirements of foreign students may have a continued impact on enrollments in colleges and universities. Others contend that a possible reduction in the immigration of foreign scientists may affect negatively on the competitiveness of U.S. industry and compromise commitments made in long-standing international cooperative agreements.

The issue of tracking foreign students attending U.S. institutions has generated particular debate in the academic and scientific community following the September 11 th terrorist attacks. Prior to September 11 th , the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act ( P.L. 104 - 208 ) authorized the Student and Exchange Visa Program/Coordinated Interagency Partnership Regulating International Students (SEVP/CIPRIS). This electronic information reporting system for tracking foreign students and researchers was to replace the existing paper-based format. The legislation required colleges and universities to monitor and compile data on foreign students attending their respective institutions in such areas as date of enrollment/reporting, field of study, credits earned, and source of financial support for the student. The information was to be provided to the INS by the colleges and universities. However, the system was never fully implemented, primarily because institutions described it as being too costly, an "unnecessary burden on colleges and universities," and "an unreasonable barrier to foreign students."

The USA Patriot Act ( P.L. 107 - 56 ) and the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act ( P.L. 107 - 173 ) revised and enhanced the process for collecting and monitoring data on foreign students and researchers in U.S. institutions. In response to the legislation, the INS developed the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS). SEVIS, a web-based system, was designed to maintain current information on foreign students and exchange visitors in order to ensure that they arrive in the United States, register at the institution or predetermined exchange program, and properly maintain their visa status during their stay. Congress directed the then INS to have the tracking system in operation by January 30, 2003. The deadline for implementation of SEVIS was extended to February 15, 2003. However, SEVIS experienced considerable problems and created excessive delays in processing visa applications. The more rigorous screening of visa applicants was one factor contributing to the delays. The existing problems with SEVIS are described as being primarily those relating to technical matters and personnel costs. Currently, there is a proposal to implement a second-generation system, SEVIS II, that would expand the capabilities of the current tracking system and address any reported technical difficulties or security issues.

On September 13, 2005, the House Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats, and International Relations held a hearing to examine the procedures put in place to correct the gaps and vulnerabilities in the visa process. Attention was directed at the mechanisms that are necessary to strengthen the visa process as an antiterrorism tool while simultaneously facilitating legitimate travel by foreign students, scientists, researchers, and others in the United States. Witnesses testified that consular workloads had increased significantly, yet the visa-processing offices continued to lack strategic direction, adequate resources, and training. In addition, reliable data were not readily available, across and among departments and agencies, to determine security and visa fraud related issues and overall increased visa wait times. Witnesses stated that because visa policies and requirements are ongoing and can change quickly, clear procedures on visa issuance and monitoring operations worldwide are necessary to guarantee that visas are adjudicated in a consistent manner at each visa-issuing post.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has released several reports detailing the efforts and the improvements that have been made in the visa processing. Other reports of the GAO assessed agencies' progress in implementing recommended changes in visa operations. An April 4, 2006 report— Border Security, Reassessment of Consular Requirements Could Help Address Visa Delays, stated that while steps have been taken to improve the visa application system, additional issues required immediate attention. The recommendations included clarifying visa policies and procedures in order to facilitate their implementation, and ensuring that consular officers have access to the needed tools to improve national security and promote legitimate travel.

Comprehensive immigration reform legislation was debated and under consideration during the beginning of the 110 th Congress. Those attempts at reform failed and comprehensive reform legislation was not revisited. Comprehensive federal immigration reform has been reintroduced in the 111 th Congress. H.R. 4321 , Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America's Security and Prosperity Act, would, among other things, exempt specified categories of U.S.-educated immigrants from employment-based immigration limits. The bill would also amend H-1B visa employer application requirements by lengthening U.S. worker displacement protection and prohibiting employer position announcements that specify positions solely to, or that gives priority to, H-1B immigrants. In addition, bills have been introduced in the 111 th Congress that are directed at attracting foreign students in the scientific and technical disciplines while maintaining the interests of American scientists. H.R. 1736 , International Science and Technology Cooperation Act, would, among other things, address the various issues that impact the ability of U.S. scientists and engineers to collaborate with foreign counterparts. S. 887 , H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform Act, would amend H-1B employer requirements by limiting the number of H-1B and L-1 employees that an employer of 50 or more workers in the United States may hire. The bill would also direct the DOL to conduct annual audits of businesses with large numbers of H-1B workers. H.R. 1791 , Stopping Trained in America Ph.D.s from Leaving the Economy Act (STAPLE), would direct numerical limitations on immigrants who have been awarded a doctorate degree in the scientific disciplines from a U.S. institution and who have an offer of employment from a U.S. employer in a degree-related field. In addition, the bill would provide H-1B visa numerical limitations on immigrants who have earned a doctorate in a scientific discipline and with respect to a petitioning employer, requires that education as a condition of employment.