US legislation aims at retaining foreign STEM grads

Science : Two bills have been introduced in the US Senate that would enable foreign graduate students in STEM fields to remain in the US after finishing their training. Currently, because of caps on the number of green cards and rules that require foreign students to return home upon completing their degree, “American universities are educating the world’s leading STEM graduate studentsâmdash;only to export this talent to our competitors overseas,” according to Senator John Cornyn (R-TX), one of the bills’ promoters. Although two similar bills introduced last year in the House of Representatives have yet to make it out of committee, reform advocates view the current legislation as evidence that Congress may finally be trying to address the issue.