Policy toward employment-based immigration is often mired in accusations that companies ignore U.S. citizens in the recruitment process. In reality, the issue is not companies hiring foreign nationals instead of Americans. It’s that when companies recruit on college campuses they find a high proportion of students in important disciplines are foreign nationals.
In 2007, U.S. universities awarded about half of master’s degrees and 73 percent of Ph.D.s in electrical engineering to foreign nationals, according to the National Science Foundation. Patents produced by foreign nationals are indicators that international students completing their studies not only make up a large proportion of new potential entrants to the labor market but also end up producing important innovations.
As Tables 1 and 2 show a substantial percentage of fulltime graduate students at U.S. universities in important fields are foreign nationals on student visas. Such visas do not allow an individual to stay and work in the United States long-term. To work for years in the United States an international student generally would need an H-1B visa.
Table 1
Percentage of Foreign Nationals in U.S. Graduate School Programs
in Selected Fields (2006)
| Field | Percent of Fulltime Graduate Students with Foreign |
Student VisasTotal Fulltime Graduate Students with Foreign Student VisasStatistics
60.8%
1,960
Economics (except agricultural)
59.6%
5,966
Computer Sciences
58.4%
16,801
Cardiology
50.0%
16
Physics
45.9%
5,707
Chemistry
40.7%
7,712
Mathematics/Applied Mathematics
39.4%
4,862
Pharmaceutical Sciences
36.8%
1,650
Radiology
31.5%
58
Source: National Science Foundation/Division of Science Resources Statistics, Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering. Tables 18 and 21 of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering: Fall 2006.
Table 2
Percentage of Foreign Nationals in U.S. Engineering Programs (2006)
| Field | Percent Fulltime Graduate Students with Foreign Student Visas | Fulltime Graduate Students with Foreign Student Visas |
| Petroleum Engineering |
83.9% |
543 |
| Electrical Engineering |
68.2% |
18,683 |
| Mining Engineering |
56.9% |
103 |
| Agricultural Engineering |
56.6% |
505 |
| Industrial Engineering |
56.5% |
3,625 |
| Mechanical Engineering |
52.4% |
6,640 |
| Chemical Engineering |
52.1% |
3,241 |
| Metall./Matl. Engineering |
51.7% |
2,390 |
| Engineering Science |
48.0% |
795 |
| Engineering (other) |
44.6% |
1,830 |
| Civil Engineering |
42.5% |
5,554 |
| Aerospace Engineering |
39.3% |
1,327 |
| Biomedical Engineering |
34.4% |
1,948 |
| Nuclear Engineering |
33.0% |
300 |
| ENGINEERING (TOTAL) |
54.1% |
47,484 |
Source: National Science Foundation/Division of Science Resources Statistics, Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering. Tables 18 and 21 of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering: Fall 2006.
In computer sciences, statistics and economics, international students made up 58 to 60 percent of the fulltime graduate students on U.S. campuses in 2006. In mathematics (39 percent), chemistry (41 percent) and physics (46 percent) the proportion of international students in graduate programs is also significant. In graduate level engineering programs in the United States, 47,484 of the 87,818 fulltime students (54 percent) were in the U.S. on temporary student visas in 2006.
When an employer recruits at a U.S. college and finds an outstanding international student a company can file for him or her to be on OPT (Optional Practical Training) for 12 months, with the possibility of an extension for an additional 17 months. At some point in that process, the individual could be hired on an H-1B visa, if one is available. If the individual was educated outside the country or OPT is not appropriate or the best option for that person, the employer would generally attempt to hire them directly in H-1B status.
Depending on their size, U.S. employers hire either all U.S. workers or some combination of Americans and foreign nationals. When companies recruit on campuses, they find a high percentage of foreign nationals in key fields. To ignore all these candidates because they were not born in America would concede many talented individuals to competitors. It would be difficult for companies to remain successful with such a policy.
