Today, the Pew Research Center released a study titled Number of Foreign College Students Staying and Working in U.S. After Graduation Surges . A PDF version of the study can be found at this link . The subtitle of the study is "Federal training program sees 400% increase in foreign students graduating and working in STEM fields from 2008 to 2016". The study expands on this in the second paragraph, stating: Many foreign STEM graduates enrolled with OPT after executive actions in 2008 and 2016 initially doubled (29 months), then later tripled (36 months), the maximum length of employment for foreign students with STEM degrees. The number of foreign STEM graduates participating in OPT grew by 400% since the first employment extension was introduced in 2008. This 400% increase can be seen in the first of the following charts which shows the number of STEM OPT approvals increasing from 34 in 2008 to 172 in 2016. The study continues: OPT is one mechanism by which the U.S. c...