This project will provide estimates of the stay rate of foreign doctorate recipients from U. S. universities by examining Social Security Administration data on those working in the United States. This research will strengthen current information of stay rates of foreign students obtained from the "states intentions" given in the annual NSF Survey of Earned Doctorates. Intentions can change. The research approach utilizes the social security numbers of foreign nationals who obtained doctorates in 1983, 1985, and 1986, to determine who is earning wages in later years (1985-90). A similar study was conducted in 1985 on one year of doctoral data, in 1982, measuring stay rates one and two years after completion of the doctorate. The results of the first study were very accurate. The current study would update information on the stay rate of recent doctoral recipients and expand information on the length of stay of up to seven years. This information of employed foreign S&E doctorates is an important component of the S&E labor force statistics and of vital interest to Congress and science policy decision-makers.
