Delayed Legal Status Incorporation among Student Visa Holders
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21246073 |
|---|---|
| Authors | A N Kreisberg (0000-0002-3051-9415, Pennsylvania State University, corresponding author), Jennifer Van Hook (0000-0002-6982-3422, Pennsylvania State University), Hannah Persaud (0009-0007-0281-9692, Pennsylvania State University) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 11 |
| Publication date | 2025-12-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Socius Sociological Research for a Dynamic World (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2378-0231 • E-ISSN: 2378-0231 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/23780231251401640 |
| OpenAlex | W7116381088 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 34 |
Student visa holders reflect a large and growing share of the higher educated immigrant population. Although historically considered legally protected, student visa holders’ current precarity raises important theoretical questions about their incorporation. Yet we know very little about student visa holders’ legal status trajectories over time, which is important if we are to understand their opportunities for social and economic incorporation. Using longitudinal data from the National Survey of College Graduates, and multidecrement life table methods, the authors find that half of foreign-born students remain in the United States after 10 years. Yet students have limited transitions to lawful permanent residence. Indian student visa holders are among the least likely to transition to permanent residence. The authors attribute this pattern of “delayed legal status incorporation” to immigration policies, which increase permanent residence wait times for individuals from high-sending countries such as India. More broadly, the authors argue that these results reflect a mismatch between the policy intentions of the “temporary” student visa program and students’ real intentions to stay in the United States long term. The authors discuss the implications of this mismatch for this growing share of young people who are in high demand in the high-skilled labor market, but who face limited pathways to permanent residence
Immigration · Immigration law · Legal status · Precarity · Residence · Socioeconomic status · Migration and Labor Dynamics · Migration, Ethnicity, and Economy · Migration, Refugees, and Integration
Education in China and the World
Event History and Survival Analysis
Immigrants And Health Care
Welcome to America? International student perceptions of discrimination
Redefining the Brain Drain
Documented, Undocumented, and Liminally Legal
Migration integration policies as social determinants of health for highly educated immigrants in the United States
Pathways to Permanence
Visitors or immigrants? International students in the United States
Income maximization and the selection and sorting of international migrants
The Academic Performance of Undocumented Students in Higher Education in the United States
Who Migrates and Who Returns in a Context of Free Mobility? An Analysis of the Reason for Migration, Income and Family Trajectories
Who Stays? Who Goes? Selective Emigration Among the Foreign-Born
The academic trajectories of immigrant youths
Nativity Penalty and Legal Status Paradox
Starting Points
The Wages of Skilled Temporary Migrants
China’s Ideological Spectrum
The Documentation Status Continuum and the Impact of Categories on Healthcare Stratification
International students' reported English fluency, social support satisfaction, and social connectedness as predictors of acculturative stress
From undocumented to lawfully present
Learning to Be Illegal
On the Radar
Linking Integration and Residential Segregation
Racialized legal status as a social determinant of health
Diverging pathways
Legal Violence
Liminal Legality
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |