President Barack Obama pressed lawmakers in his State of the Union address to reform the nation’s student visa program, a sliver of broad immigration reform he would like to sign.

If passed, the legislation could affect more than 700,000 international students nationwide, according to export.gov and more than 1,200 students at the UA, according to the Office of Institutional Research.

“As soon as [foreign students] get their degree we send them home to invent new products and create new jobs somewhere else,” he said. “That doesn’t make sense.”

International students enrolling in a U.S. institution for the first time increased 5.7 percent between 2010 to 2011, according to export.gov.

Realizing the complexity of the American system and election year politics, the president linked immigration to an issue that raised everyone’s antennas: the economy.

“Let’s at least agree to stop expelling responsible young people who want to staff our labs, start new businesses and defend our country,” he said.

The system the president spoke about from Washington D.C. is handled locally at the Office of International Students and Scholars in Holcombe Hall.

“We spend an immense amount of time with the regulations and they are very complicated and tend to change,” said associate director Audra Johnson. “Students in the U.S. who come from other countries are actually one of the most regulated and most tracked populations of any foreign population that comes to the U.S.”

Handling of international students grew more complicated post-Sept. 11, Johnson said.

“After 9/11 things really started to change rapidly,” she said. “Sometimes it can be a real drawback because there are some things and some requirements that students and scholars have to comply with that don’t make that much sense.”

International students who want to stay in the U.S. often find their immigration status entangled in a mess of rules, fees and waiting once they graduate.

“Once I graduate, I have to ask for permission to work in the U.S. for a year,” said Ana Paz-Soldan, a student from Bolivia.

The permission is called Optional Practical training and costs $365, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. It does not guarantee employment.

“You have to pay a certain amount of money to get it,” she said. “The hard part is you have to get a job, get interviews.”

While some graduates shoot for obtaining a green card, Paz-Soldan aims to be a voting U.S. citizen one day.

“[Bolivians] think great things about here,” she said. “The technology is better, people are better. People have more money, more opportunities.”

That attitude does not always reciprocate from Americans to foreigners, Johnson said.

“There’s quite a misconception with many people out there that they assume someone coming from outside the U.S., who stays here is stealing American jobs, but that’s not the case,” she said. “We are not as a country producing enough people in the [science, technology, engineering, and mathematics] fields to keep us technologically competitive.”

In a time of 8.5 percent unemployment, the U.S. is not graduating enough permanent residents to fill openings in the STEM fields, according to TIME magazine.

That’s why keeping knowledge here is imperative, Johnson said.

“We’re letting people come in from all over the world and benefiting from our education system, which is great,” she said, “but then we’re going to make it so hard for you to stay here that we’re going to send you home and export back all that we taught you, which leaves us at a terrible disadvantage.”

Though 22 percent of international students came to the United States to study business last year, students studying in the STEM fields made up around one-fourth of international students, according to Open Doors.

An institute of international education,  Open Doors, found the number of international students has increased 32 percent since 2000.

Part of the office of International Students and Scholars’ work is engaging in advocacy on behalf of those students.

“We let [Congress] know you’ve got a great diverse population here that benefits the community on multiple levels,” Johnson said. “Not just economically, but they benefit the diversity of the community.”

Economically, the National Association of International Educators found that UA international students and scholars have a $26 million impact on the region through rent, dependents and tuition in the 2011 academic year.

While Paz-Soldan doesn’t keep track of the monetary value of her and her peers, she is aware that she may not be able to stay as she pleases. However, the unique opportunities she said America has is what drives her.

“I learned a lot of things here about values,” she said. “How people are responsible for different things. Back in Bolivia it’s different. At my age, back there nobody works, nobody lives by themselves. Everybody lives with their parents.”

“Sometimes people envy the States because of how great it is,” Paz-Soldan said.

Wanting to provide these same experiences to as many students as possible has the international office working on expanding and attracting more students.

The UA has unique arrangements with Bolivia in that citizens in good academic standing can pay in-state tuition. At the UA, Bolivians are the fourth most represented country with 69 students, behind China, India and Korea.

Other efforts, most notably interacting with UA alumni like the President of Panama Ricardo Martinelli, are opening doors for more students, Johnson said.

For students affected by things like communism and oppression, the American experience follows students for the rest of their lives, Johnson said.

“Whatever problems the U.S. may have, and everybody has problems, it’s still a better alternative,” Johnson said. “It’s the best alternative.”