Do international students becoming citizens contribute to an area's diversity?

[Capsicum]

I know international students technically do not count as "immigrants" but historically a lot of them did later on in life become citizens, settle down and raise a next generation of kids who are Americans.

Does this tend to increase the diversity of the places they came to study in -- whether they be big cities, college towns, or regular small towns?

Or do the rates of the international students leaving the area, be it back to their home countries, or else moving to a different part of the US, even if they do settle long term, mean that local areas that receive international students don't really increase diversity this way long-term but that the diversity comes from a steady flow of transients?

[mhays]

Of course they do, both while they're students (pre-citizenship) and after.

Obviously some great outcomes can happen later too even if they don't stay in the country. When they're off leading companies in other countries, guess where they often locate their US offices for example, assuming the university's city merits such a thing.

[10023]

Of course.

I would argue that they contribute more real diversity than multi-generation Americans of different races.

[Capsicum]

But are they a relatively large contribution in most areas (relative to either non-students or local diversity) as a proportion of the population?

[ChargerCarl]

Duh

[Capsicum]

I meant to ask if they are a large contribution to most areas' local diversity. I know their presence in the first place obviously counts for diversity at all.

To answer my own question, I'd imagine yes, in the long run, since even if high numbers return, the number that stay probably make a large contribution, plus their kids.

Anyone know how to find stats on what proportion of international students leave the US versus staying, and of the ones that stay, how many stay in the local area?

For example, do international students in say Ann Arbor, or Urbana-Champaign, or Ithaca, contribute very much long-term to the diversity of the Midwest or upstate New York? Or do they not stick around locally and tend to move away?