Congress created the F-1 visa category in 1924, allowing foreign nationals to come to the United States and study. Initially, legislators were driven by the idea that U.S. students will benefit from the cultural exchange of ideas and experiences that naturally occurs when people of diverse backgrounds come together.

However, F-1 students quickly demonstrated they bring far more than just a cultural exchange to a school setting. Data consistently shows F-1 students are actively contributing to the U.S. economy, paying roughly $37 billion into the system in 2017 alone, and creating more than 450,000 U.S. jobs. Multi-billion-dollar companies like Moderna, SpaceX, WeWork, Sprinklr, Rubrik and Stripe were started by former international students like Elon Musk (Wharton Business School), and Adam Neumann (Baruch College). An integral part of many industries, F-1 students make invaluable contributions to both the U.S. economy and U.S. employers, helping drive innovation and job creation.