You posted articles about why employers favor OPT employees over US employees, but then highlight the lack of reciprocal agreements. So again, that's where the disconnect is.SmokeyBar wrote: I posted articles about foreign students working in the US, and then I mentioned reciprocal arrangements possibly being a basis for the offering of such opportunities. A reciprocal basis could entail such offerings being available only where the foreign country has similar government immigration policies that allow foreign schools/companies to provide similar offerings. What could these policies entail? Similar to the US. Study at certain schools, and you can enjoy certain OPT benefits. The restrictions on the job-type, employer, amount of pay, and work hours would depend on the agreement made.
Umm, no it wasn't. My first post:SmokeyBar wrote:I'm not sure how you can attack what I wrote. Your first post was basically that the US is the best and no one wants to go anywhere else. Thus, foreign students should be able to work in the US and nothing else matters. That's pretty short-sighted.
WestOfTheRest wrote:This is kind of intellectually dishonest. OPT is just 12 months for the vast majority of people. In the legal industry, it ends up being less because you have to apply for OPT before you start working, which means it expires sooner (think 10 months). There is a 17 month extension available to STEM students, but again, this exists because the US labor market is under-skilled in theses areas.
You are also ignoring the fact that foreign students typically don't get to claim tuition credits in the US (depends on residency). So a foreign student may have paid sticker at an outrageously priced institution and get none of the tax benefits that a US student gets. Instead, that student and the employer don't pay FICA taxes for 10 months.
Xenophobia is interesting. Especially when you are talking about highly skilled and highly educated foreigners. Foreign countries would probably love for the US to stop these types of programs, since its resulting in a "brain drain" from those countries.
While you are right, you're largely missing the point of the program. OPT is in place to encourage educated individuals to contribute to the US economy. This is a country built on bringing motivated people into the country. The US economy has been so successful over the past 150 years because the US population has been largely self-selecting. I understand the discomfort with providing what you perceive as a benefit to citizens of countries that don't do the same for you, but it is this sort of thing that has kept America ahead of the rest of the world for as long as it has been.SmokeyBar wrote:Even in developing countries, there are relatively strong schools (especially in Asia) and strong domestic companies. Although a US student may not plan to stay in the foreign country long-term, it would be nice if they could pick up a foreign degree (masters) and get some work experience to boot (OPT). However, a lot of foreign countries are not as lenient with their domestic labor markets (more restrictions on OPT).
