Foreign-Born PhDs Deterred from Working in Startups Because of Visa Concerns

past few decades, the American economy has become more dependent on science and technology innovation for growth, and at the same time, our science and technology Ph.D. programs have become more dependent on foreign talent,” said co-author Skrentny, a professor of sociology at UC San Diego and director of the university’s Yankelovich Center for Social Science Research.  

“We often see great innovations coming from Google and Apple, but a lot of their innovation is actually from buying startups,” Skrentny said. “These startups have trouble accessing the foreign talent our best universities are graduating.”

Ph.D.s with U.S. citizenship whose first jobs are in industrial research and development are nearly twice as likely to work at startups as foreign-born Ph.D.s, even though both groups applied for and were offered startup jobs at the same rate. Nearly 16 percent of Ph.D.s who are U.S. citizens worked at startups after graduation, compared with nearly 7 percent of foreign Ph.D.s who required a work visa.

The researchers used the results of the survey, which began in 2010 and focused on Ph.D. students in STEM fields at 39 leading U.S. research universities, to rule out several possible explanations for this disparity. They asked questions gauging participants’ interest in working at startups; more foreign-born students said they were interested than students who are citizens.

They considered whether international graduates were more risk-averse than U.S. citizens, indicating that, despite their interest, they’d ultimately be more inclined to work for larger, more stable companies, but the survey also showed foreign-born Ph.D.s had a greater tolerance for risk.

Studies have shown that startups pay lower salaries to their employees than established companies in exchange for equity, but the researchers also found in the survey that foreign-born Ph.D.s rated high pay as less important to their ideal job than their U.S. citizen counterparts.

Though the study did not provide a direct link between visa policies and the hiring of foreign-born workers, the body of evidence indicates visa requirements play a role, the researchers said. Revisiting visa policy as it relates to startups might help them thrive and stimulate the economy, Roach said.

 “The findings of this study suggest the need to consider immigration policies that make it easier for technology startups to hire highly skilled foreign workers with Ph.D.s from U.S. research universities,” he said. “We may want to consider ways to make it easier for high-growth startups to hire the workers they need.”