Foreign Students and Migration to the United States

Using panel data for 78 countries of origin we examine the impact of the inflow of foreign students in to the United States on migration patterns in the country over the 1971-2001 period. We find that the stock of foreign students is an important predictor of subsequent migration. The estimated relationship shows that an increase in the number of students by 10% increases immigration to the United States by a maximum of 0.94%. This suggests that student flows result in a significant brain gain for the United States.