Even though problems are endless, the world's economic development capacity is moving in a positive direction. For instance, based on the research of the International Comparison Program Database of the World Bank, the average GDP per capita in the world in 2000 was $10,325.86; in 2010, it had grown to $13,170.08; and by 2016, the average GDP had reached $15,023.11 (“GDP Per Capita…”). Family economic situations are also getting better. Thus, some students may want to go abroad to study, often choosing the United States as their destination, which is one of the main reasons for the international population’s increase in the U.S. In accordance with this situation, various countries' policies for foreign students, home countries' welfare policies, and American companies' attitude have mad a corresponding change, for example, the time of working visa restrictions and the provision of job opportunities. In the current world situation mentioned above, these changes affect each other, but also directly influence international students’ thoughts about their future development. Besides these objective factors, there also is an emotional factor can be considered while students making decisions, which is their families.  Therefore, until now, one of the most important issues to consider in international students’ mind has been the fate of international students after graduation. With the limitation of policies, the continuous improvement of economic capacity in many countries of the world, and the increasing international student population, going back to home countries after graduation looks like a better choice for the international student studying in the United States.

The first influencing element for international students is the increasingly high requirements of work visas. International students studying abroad need to apply for a student visa. Then, when they are going to graduate, they need to apply for the OPT (Optional Practical Training) to get temporary permission to get an internship. After the OPT period, if international students want to stay in the US for the future, they need to apply for the H-1B visa which is a 6-year work permit for non-immigrant worker (“OPT to H1B…”). For the OPT, generally, international students will be promised a one-year OPT opportunity with a student visa. However, for different professions, students’ OPT time are different. For example, STEM students who study in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, will have 36 months from the beginning of their OPT to the end. Based on the regular 1-year period, they can apply for a 24-month extension. But non-STEM students can only apply for a 1 year OPT, as a student visa status (“Optional Practical Training…”). Meanwhile, during their OPT time, it is better for the student to find the right job and start work within 90 days, or the remaining time of OPT may not be enough to reach the requirement of the working time. For the OPT issue, Su Cana Bereket’s experience is a good example. After graduation, her OPT application was denied, so she went back to her home country and tried to find another method to a get job in the U.S. Finally, she got an opportunity to work in a university, helping other international students (Bereket). It is hard to apply for the OPT, it is not easy to get it. After students successfully apply for the OPT opportunity, some students who want to continue to work in the US need to start applying for the H-1B visa which confers temporary worker status for people who hold student visas (“OPT to H1B…”). But the odds of whether students can get H-1B visa is random. For instance, "On April 11 [2017], USCIS used a computer-generated random selection process, or lottery, to select enough petitions to meet the 65,000 general-category cap and the 20,000 cap under the advanced degree exemption" (“USCIS Completes the…”). This information means that everything for these students' future is unknown and random. Also, this is why some students want to return to their home countries right after graduation. From their perspective, although they may get an H-1B visa, getting a suitable job is hard in a short time. Even if they find a good job, they still need to consider the visa issue again because H-1B visa will be expired after six years. Thus, everything goes back to the unknown after six years. Specifically, after six years after graduation, most people are almost 30 years old, and may be wanting to start a family if they have not already. Who does not want a stable job to support his or her family and life? Therefore, going back to home countries after graduation is a better choice under the work visa's limitation for most international students.  

Apart from the OPT policy, under the trend of global economic progress, the high welfare of home countries for international students is also a factor to affects their decisions. As the economic part, the promotion of economic capacity in various countries encourages international students to return to work and live in their home countries. Many years ago, the US economic leadership in the world is obvious to all; although many years later its status has not changed, but other countries’ efforts and progress cannot be ignored. According to The World Bank’s international comparison program database, from 1990 to 2016, India's GDP per capita grew up from $1,755 to $6,093, China’s from $1,526 to $14,401, and Japan’s from $30,443 to $38,240, etc. (“GDP Per Capita…”).  In the past twenty years, many countries beside China and India have obviously upgrade. But according to the long-term influenced impression, many students still choose to study in the United States because of the high economic status and rich commercial resources. Naturally, the United States becomes a gathering place for talent. For each graduation, competition will be very large for same positions; after all, job opportunities cannot be offered to all people in the world. Meanwhile, international students' home countries are more likely to accept them when they graduated from America because most companies and employers believe in the educational superiority of American universities. Thus, for attracting highly educated people knowledge-based both skill-sets and technical skill-sets, some countries have made corresponding measures, such as increasing salaries, improving employee treatment, and giving benefits.  According to a report from Global Time, China has raised salaries and welfares to attract skilled laborers to return home to live and work (Li). Although people will choose favorite career and pursue ideals depending on their own hobbies, most of them will accept higher-paying jobs when they want to improve their life qualities. This does not mean that a students’ salary of working in the United States cannot feed themselves. Instead, most people will not refuse the temptation of this substance because they can pursue their dream and enjoy higher quality of life once they are payed with higher money. 

At the same time, working in their own hometown, a familiar place, is a better choice for most students, because they can usually accompany with their parents. In an ancient Chinese book, the Analects, Confucius said, “while one’s parents are alive, one should not travel to distant places. If it is necessary to travel, there should be a definite direction”. As parents grow older, their bodies become less robust than before, and their inner thoughts about children are stronger and stronger. Sometimes, even weekly video chat cannot make up for the loneliness of parents. They want their children to be with them, even in neighboring cities. However, which parents did not want their children to pursue their ideals carefree? Under such circumstances, accepting a job in home countries with higher salary is a better choice for both students and their families. 

Besides the attitude of home countries about welfare’s policies and family factors, the uncertain population mobility also affects both students 'and American enterprises' attitude about getting and giving job opportunities. In 2005, the total number of international students at US Universities was 564,770 people; by 2015, the number of international students reached 974,930 people (Mckenna). As the data show, international students from all over the world gather in university campuses in the United States, which making the United States more global in its students. Although Globalization has increased talent for the United States, the mobility of talent has made it impossible for US companies to accept international students easily. From their perspective, work visa, higher payment and family changes are also the limitation for them to hire international students. Once the work visa expires, employees accept new jobs from home countries or family situations have changed, such as, marriage, parents' physical condition, they are not likely to stay in the United States continually. Thus, American companies will not hire more international students, which relatively decreases job opportunities for these students. In addition to worrying about the mobility of talent, some American companies’ attitudes towards and mistrust of international workers also make international students want to return to their home for the future. Depending on a report of Global Time website, in 1999, the United States had accused Li Wenhe, a Chinese nuclear physicist working at LANL, to steal US nuclear weapons secrets for China. But because of lack of evidences, the allegations were withdrawn in 2006, triggering the uneasiness of many Chinese scientists. In the past few years, the delusion of Chinese scientist’s spy events continues to occur. One of the more well-known case is in 2015 on the well-known superconducting experts Xi Xiaoxing was alleged that he provided sensitive technology to China. Finally, after several months of investigation, the US side admitted that "the core of the evidence is wrong"(Li). For most people, they can understand American companies’ decision that choosing to hire local workers instead of international workers because of the fear of frequent mobility of international employees, since one of the core of companies’ development is to generate revenue. Also, the frequent flow of personnel will reduce the overall efficiency of companies and increase the cost for their employees, such as wages. However, if a company chooses to reject them because that they do not trust international employees, these employees will reexamine U.S businesses and start looking for other jobs. For instance, returning to home countries will become a better choice than choosing a U.S company. 

According to the above mentioned OPT policy, as well as the world's major universities on the STEM professional students of all ages, some people may think that staying in the U.S. will be a better choice for international students’ future. This thinking might be true because of some report of researches, for example, “For the US policy makers, the promotion of advanced education, especially in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) fields, has become a key strategy for ensuring the U.S.'s position as a thermal economic leader"(Han, et al.). Basing on the expression of Han and other authors’ research, STEM students in the future development of the United States is still relatively secure. After all, the United States does not want to lose their investment in high-tech education. In addition, according to another research information of Han, "The proportion of international PhD-level students on temporary visas to study STEM objects in the United States has doubled over the past thirty years" (Han, Appelbaum). This is a useful information and helpful news for international students who have not yet graduated because they can apply for graduate students and continue to study in their field when they graduate from colleges. For this area and industry, the higher the degree level students have, the more popular students are. 

Nevertheless, does the policy preferences and subjective tendencies for STEM students really represent the future of overall international students? STEM students can not represent all international students, and they just one kind of group of the whole group. Thinking about the OPT policy part, even though they might be the STEM students, some American companies still do not want to hire them to work. In a Wall Street Journal / Harris Interactive survey of US corporate recruiters who recruit MBAs, completed in March 2005, “38% said they would employ qualified foreign nationals who needed tags sponsorship, a third say they would not hire such students, and 29 percent said they were not sure that they would hire students who needed sponsorship” (“Why Some U.S…”). How could the uncertainty percentage 62% promise the future of international students in America? Not to mention only a small part of whole international students, STEM students. 

Combining the effects of OPT policy hindrance, more and more severe competitiveness in U.S., American companies’ rejection, rich economic benefits of home countries, and family situations, returning to international students’ home countries to live and work becomes the first guaranteed choice for them. For a part of international students, they may already decide whether to return or stay after graduation for their future development before going abroad. However, for most of the students, their ideas will change with the length of time living in the United States, and their age increases. All evidences and examples in this paper are not to say that returning to development is the best choice for all international students. They just show students that in addition to stay in the United States, returning to their home countries is not a shameful thing. The United States in development, home countries are also developing; the United States have job opportunities, home countries also created a lot of opportunities for them. In fact, the world is a whole, a big family, no matter where people develop, benefit for themselves, but also for the whole family.
