There is an agreement among scholars, government officials and industrial leaders that women and minorities are under-represented in the US science and engineering (S&E) workforce. For the US to maintain its global competitiveness and leadership in S&E, it is critical to maintain a highly skilled, innovative and diverse workforce. Despite numerous broadening participation initiatives to increase women and minorities representation in S&E, foreign-born scientists and engineers have facilitated the growth in the S&E workforce. The rising number of foreign-born men and women in the S&E workforce indicates the US increasing reliance on them for its rapidly growing S&E needs. Though it was rare for foreign-born scientists and engineers in the US to cut their links with their home countries completely, very few from developing countries returned in the past. Currently, increasing number of foreign-born scientists and engineers are returning to their home country after acquiring education and/or training in the US, which have become highly desired assets in many developing countries. It has led some to use the term “reverse brain drain in the US” to explain this process. Since the scientific enterprise of the US is heavily dependent on the foreign workforce, losing scientific talent in the form of reverse migration can impede the scientific health of the country. We studied reverse migration among industrial scientists and engineers from the United States to India. We interviewed 50 scientists and engineers who returned to India after work and study in the United States; for a comparative group, we interviewed 40 Indian scientists and engineers, who work in technology companies in the United States.

Findings show significant differences in the areas of return migration, the practice of scientific and technical work among immigrants, international collaborations, and immigrants’ career prospects in two countries. In the area of international migration, our study shows the limitations of various push-pull theories to explain why scientists and engineers from developing countries migrate to developed countries. Migration is not a one-way movement of people from developing to developed countries. Findings show that the reasons for return migration are not the inability to earn wages as expected or lack of assimilation in the host country. Our study indicates that the decision to return was due to better opportunities for building their careers namely becoming entrepreneurs, which was not possible for them in the US. Others moved back to avoid hassle with US immigration. This study, therefore, does not support return migration as a failed experience. At first glance, international migration of stayers appears to be one-way migration and return migration of leavers as two-ways migration. This suggests the physical movement of people from one country to another. However, stayers and leavers remain connected to India and the US, respectively. This shows a new reality in the globalization of science where the borders containing scientists and engineers are beyond the control of any country. Most importantly, findings show variations among Indian scientists and engineers based on their educational background (bachelor’s master’s or doctorate), occupation ranks based on their degrees; professionalization (i.e., if they came directly from India to work or first they went through U.S. educational institutions); immigration status (H-1B visa, Green Card, US citizenship), and division along gender lines. What implications can this have for the US S&E workforce? Certainly, losing scientists and engineers in the form of reverse migration can add to the human capital challenges in the US. The returnees are among the best and brightest, they graduated with PhDs from research universities in the US. In a technologically wired world, return migrants can serve as a bridge between the US and India as they build upon their national resources and expertise toward furthering global systems for joint research.

So far, the results of this study have been published in 8 peer-review journals, edited book and refereed conference proceedings. In addition, findings have been presented at 13 national and international conferences. Varma has given 2 invited talks, including one in India. Varma has incorporated findings from this project in her classes.

Last Modified: 04/06/2022
Modified by: Roli Varma