According to a recent report by the Migration Policy Institute, India has surpassed all other countries to become the largest source of educated immigrants in the United States, accounting for 14% of the global pool. The institute further said that India has confirmed itself as a leading source of America’s highly educated workforce in technology and engineering.
In 2022, the number of college-educated migrants in the U.S. was over 14 million, with Indians comprising nearly 2 million among them. The report also mentioned that nearly half of the immigrants who entered the U.S. from 2018-2022 had held a college degree.
The H-1B program is a non-immigrant visa granted to U.S. employers for the hire of foreign nationals in specialty occupations. Among the top beneficiaries of the H-1B visa program are Indian professionals. There was a high acceptability among around 72% of approved H-1B visa petitions for Indian workers during the fiscal year 2022-23, a significant chunk of whom add to the digital and business infrastructures of America.
Indian migrants dominate the workforce, but they also dominate academia. The US hosted 1.1 million international students in the academic year of 2022-23, with India and China between them making more than half of that total – a combined 267,000.
The statistics reflect the fact that Indian professionals are increasingly molding the U.S., not only as an integral part of the skilled labor market but also as significant contributors in the country’s progress across higher education and economy.
