Skip to content
Science and Engineering Doctorates

International students who intend to stay in the United States: What are the overall trends?

Stay rates by characteristics

Doctoral institution

Temporary visa holders earning a doctorate from high and very high research universities are more likely to stay in the United States than are temporary visa holders graduating from doctoral/research institutions. The magnitude and pattern of the stay rates of temporary visa holder doctorates graduating from very high and high research universities have been quite similar over the past 20 years, rising steadily from 1995 to 2005 with smaller increases since 2006. The stay rates of temporary visa holder doctorate recipients from doctoral/research universities exhibited more year-to-year variability and remained at a level consistently below that of the other two institution types (figure F).

Stay rates of temporary visa holder U.S. doctorate recipients, by type of academic institution: 1995–2015

Chart of Stay rates of temporary visa holder U.S. doctorate recipients, by type of academic institution: 1995–2015
(Percent)
Institution type All doctoral institutions Very high research universities High research universities Doctoral/ research universities
1995 55.2 55.1 55.3 44.0
1996 60.3 60.2 60.3 50.3
1997 64.2 64.1 65.3 40.3
1998 65.0 65.5 63.6 53.1
1999 66.4 67.3 62.4 50.0
2000 67.1 67.3 65.3 54.5
2001 71.4 72.5 68.4 52.4
2002 69.9 70.7 67.2 47.6
2003 68.4 69.2 66.3 53.3
2004 69.3 69.7 69.3 47.6
2005 72.1 72.6 70.0 58.9
2006 75.3 75.6 75.1 61.6
2007 76.0 76.3 75.6 61.1
2008 76.6 76.8 76.9 57.9
2009 74.0 73.8 74.6 68.1
2010 71.0 70.8 72.4 58.9
2011 71.9 71.9 72.7 57.5
2012 72.3 72.4 72.7 64.1
2013 72.9 72.8 74.1 63.5
2014 73.8 73.8 75.4 60.0
2015 74.8 75.1 75.4 57.3
Table of Stay rates of temporary visa holder U.S. doctorate recipients, by type of academic institution: 1995–2015