A double-barrelled look at foreign-born graduate students in the United States suggests that the percentage of those students who remain, will likely decrease.

This article from today’s Washington Post highlights the increasing amount of opportunities for students back in their home countries.  The author, Vivek Wadhwa, does not paint a concrete trend in this particular piece, but if trends at his institution, Duke University, are representative, his concern over a decreasing amount of entrepreneurs and innovators in the United States is not an empty one.  While the current economic downturn is not limited to the United States, a tightening labor market here will likely make foreign-born scientists and engineers think more about opportunities in their home countries.

While Wadhwa makes mention of the immigration regulations that make it harder for skilled foreign-born students, scientists and engineers to enter and stay in this country, a New York Times article from March 3 (H/T Science Careers) provides more examples of how this problem has reemerged in recent months.  Combine difficulty entering the country with an increase in opportunities in other countries, and another advantage this country has enjoyed in attracting top science and engineering talent is decreasing.

Now, I understand an essential policy tension at play here.  There are generic security concerns about people entering from countries where we are not on the best of terms.  I don’t know what an effective way of resolving that tension would be.  But there is another essential policy tension at play – the United States’ preference for family-based immigration over employment or skills-based immigration.  In a past life I assisted immigration attorneys in bringing over highly qualified immigrants for temporary and/or permanent stays.  When it is so much easier to bring over a top-level international athlete because he is married to an American citizen, I think it’s possible the tension is pushed a bit too far away from attracting skilled immigrants.