Postdocs are a good example. These are paid positions. There is no admission committee with ulterior motives. A principal investigator places an ad for a postdoctoral position in a scientific journal. The PI has one major motivation: research success. The ability to obtain tenure and receive continued grant funding is based almost exclusively on research output.
The PI also benefits from cheap grad student labor.
•The NCSES — Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering (GSS) found that temporary visa holders account for 53% of all engineering postdocs and 56% of physical science and math postdocs working in U.S. higher education. In many R1 research institutions, international scholars constitute the vast majority of lab personnel driving day-to-day experimental work.
•Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) — The STEM Shortage:
An analysis of how the domestic doctoral shortage impacts defense R&D, artificial intelligence development, and semiconductor manufacturing.
CSIS details that the U.S. defense industrial base and advanced technology sectors face severe talent constraints because federal labs and defense contractors require U.S. citizenship for security clearances. Because the vast majority of advanced doctoral and postdoctoral researchers in specialized computing and material sciences are foreign nationals, there is a structural disconnect: plenty of cutting-edge research is happening in U.S. universities, but a critically small fraction of that doctoral talent can transition into sensitive domestic security roles.
csis.org/analysis/retaining-…
•Georgetown University Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET)
CSET reports that international STEM Ph.D. graduates have exceptionally high "stay rates" in the U.S. (around 80% to 90% for Chinese and Indian doctorates remain in the country for at least five years post-graduation). Their research demonstrates that the U.S. innovation economy is completely dependent on retaining these foreign doctorates and postdocs, as the volume of domestic citizen Ph.D. grads is fundamentally insufficient to sustain current commercial and academic AI research labs.
cset.georgetown.edu/publicat…
•National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) — The Postdoctoral Experience Revisited
The Core Issue: This consensus study evaluates why domestic citizens avoid the doctoral and postdoctoral path.
US students are unwilling to sacrifice years of low pay (student stipends and later postdoc pay). With undergraduate degrees they can obtain good salaries without sacrificing ~6-7 years.
In contrast, pursuit of an advanced degree and postdoc for a foreign student often is a path to citizenship. They are more willing to make the sacrifice for the prize.
nap.nationalacademies.org/ca…