Stay rates vary by place of origin. From 1985 to 2000, most U.S. S&E doctoral degree recipients from China and India planned to remain in the United States for further study and employment. In 2001, 70 and 77 percent, respectively, reported accepting firm offers for employment or postdoctoral research in the United States (figure 2-31 ).

Recipients from South Korea and Taiwan are less likely to stay in the United States. Over the 1985–2000 period, only 26 percent of South Koreans and 31 percent of Taiwanese reported accepting firm offers to remain in the United States. Both the number of S&E students from these Asian economies and the number who intended to stay in the United States after receipt of their doctoral degree fell in the 1990s. This decline may be because Taiwan and South Korea have expanded and improved their advanced S&E programs and created R&D institutions that offer more attractive S&T careers for their expatriate scientists and engineers. Still, by 2001, about 50 percent of their new U.S. doctorate holders reported accepting U.S. appointments.