Best and Brightest? The Impact of Student Visa Restrictiveness on Who Attends College in the US

70 Pages Posted: 4 Jun 2021

See all articles by Mingyu Chen

Mingyu Chen

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Jessica Howell

College Board

Jonathan Smith

Advocacy and Policy Center - College Board

Date Written: May 2021

Abstract

Recent immigration policies have created massive uncertainty for international students to obtain F-1 visas. Yet, before the COVID-19 pandemic, student visa applicants already faced an approximately 27 percent refusal rate that varies by time and region. Using data on the universe of SAT takers between 2004 and 2015 matched with college enrollment records, we examine how the anticipated F-1 visa restrictiveness influences US undergraduate enrollment outcomes of international students. Using an instrumental variables approach, we find that a higher anticipated F-1 student visa refusal rate decreases the number of international SAT takers, decreases the probability of sending SAT scores to US colleges, and decreases international student enrollment in the US. The decreases are larger among international students with higher measured academic achievement. We also document academic achievement of international students and show that over 40 percent of high-scoring international SAT takers do not pursue US college education.

Keywords: Human capital investment, migration, international student, F-1 visa, student visa, immigration policy, China

JEL Classification: I21, I23, F22, J15

Suggested Citation

Chen, Mingyu and Howell, Jessica and Smith, Jonathan, Best and Brightest? The Impact of Student Visa Restrictiveness on Who Attends College in the US (May 2021). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3859802 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3859802

Mingyu Chen (Contact Author)

IZA Institute of Labor Economics ( email )

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Jessica Howell

College Board ( email )

1919 M Street NW
Suite 300
Washington, DC 20036
United States

Jonathan Smith

Advocacy and Policy Center - College Board ( email )

GA
United States

HOME PAGE: http://https://sites.google.com/site/jonathansmithphd/

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