Immigrants make up nearly half of U.S. recipients of the world’s most prestigious STEM awards, yet little is known about how this talent first arrives in the country. This data brief analyzes 550 recipients of the Nobel Prize, the Lasker Award, the ACM A.M. Turing Award, and MIT Technology Review’s Innovators Under 35 between 2014 and 2024. Most foreign-born U.S. awardees first arrived as students, postdoctoral researchers, or visiting scholars—pathways now exposed to visa suspensions, entry restrictions, and proposed changes to optional practical training. Safeguarding these pathways is critical to maintaining U.S. leadership in STEM and emerging technologies.