The immigration policy is deliberate, from a 1989 NSF memo:<p>&quot;A growing influx of foreign PhD&#x27;s into U.S. labor markets will hold down the level of PhD salaries to the extent that foreign students are attracted to U.S. doctoral programs as a way of immigrating to the U.S.. A related point is that for this group the PhD salary premium is much higher [than it is for Americans], because it is based on BS-level pay in students&#x27; home nations versus PhD-level pay in the U.S. . &quot;<p>Basically the government wanted to allow more foreign students in to PhD programs to suppress PhD wages. They estimated without any policy changes, computer science Phd wages would be over 100k by the year 2000...<p>Bottom line, the Chinese nationals in your classroom and in your office are the result of a concerted effort by the US government and the tech industry to suppress wages.