B. Lindsay Lowell, director of policy studies at the Institute for the Study of International Migration, explains why the United States might be seeing an increase in the number of foreign students who receive undergraduate or graduate degrees in America but later return to their home countries:

I think [return migration] reflects the state of the U.S. economy at the moment. The labor market is pretty soft, and corporations are tightening their belts. At the same time, India is apparently doing pretty well. So why not return?