A new study from the University of British Columbia shows that ideas of home are a major factor in where international university students decide to live after graduation. “A lot of research focuses on where international students go to study, but few focus on where they go after graduation,” says study author Cary Wu, a PhD candidate in UBC’s department of sociology and an international student from China. “Our study shows that migration plans for international students are far more complex than this binary of stay or return.” Wu analyzed data from interviews with more than 200 international students from more than 50 countries who attended UBC from 2006 to 2013, and found that 16% of those surveyed said that they planned to stay in Canada, citing emotional attachments, interpersonal relationships, family, or political unrest.