The scale of movement of international students has increased dramatically in the post-war period, with the United States acting as a major destination owing partly to a good education system and generous funding of graduate studies. Officially, these migrations are expected to be temporary and visa restrictions are applied accordingly; in reality many international students never return to their home countries. Despite the large number of international students in the United States, little research has been done about this group of professional migrants. Using focus group interviews, we investigate the factors that motivate students to stay in the United States or return home on completion of their degrees. We identify three categories of motivating factors: professional, societal, and personal. Among our study participants, professional factors were generally cited as encouraging the students to stay in the United States, while societal and personal factors were more likely to draw them back to their home countries, although wide variations existed among individuals. Our results suggest that certain patterns exist among national groups. These operated in two main ways. First, specific characteristics of the home country (such as difficult political circumstances) provided state-specific influences on the decision-making process. Second, the relative weight assigned to each of the three groups of factors appeared to differ among national groups. 132Alberts and Hazen

Even though international students are officially temporary migrants, many eventually become immigrants to the United States. Despite the large number of students who adjust their status, little is known about their migration intentions and decisions. We used a questionnaire sent to international students at the University of Minnesota to investigate these migration intentions. Here we report the factors that students consider in deciding whether to stay in the US or return to their home country on completion of their studies, and how these factors vary by nationality or other characteristics, such as gender or field of study. We also investigate whether international students see their stay in the US as temporary or as a springboard towards permanent immigration. Our findings suggest that few students arrive in the US with the intention of immigrating permanently. Instead, a wide variety of professional, societal and personal factors influence students in an ongoing decision‐making process. Broadly speaking, economic and professional factors typically act as strong incentives to stay in the US, while personal and societal factors tend to draw students back to their home countries. In the long run, a natural progression of professional and personal decisions leads many to become permanent immigrants. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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