Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:DS graduated early from Virginia Tech with a computer engineering degree in December 2024, and has been looking a FT position since August 2024. He did internships in his sophomore and junior year. He applied over 1100 positions, received 14 interviews, and two offers. Those two offers were rescinded due to budget cut, and feels so depressed at the moment. Many of his friends who will graduate this week are still jobless who also have multiple internships. I really feel bad for them.
Hello -- my name is Matt Sedensky. I'm a reporter for The Associated Press. The situation you're describing is becoming more common, as reflected in employment statistics. I'm reaching out to recent college graduates who are having trouble finding work. Would love to speak to this individual if they'd be willing. My email is
msedensky@ap.org.
Make sure you research the OPT fraud. Optical Practical Training.
The troubling fact is that the OPT program was created entirely through regulation with no authorization from Congress whatsoever. It has been going on for so long, that many people assume that Congress authorized OPT when in fact, Congress has explicitly changed the law to prohibit it.
Here is a history of how OPT came about. In reading this history, keep in mind that the regulations described here employ the euphemism "practical training" to refer to work.
In 2007, Microsoft concocted a scheme to use OPT as a means to circumvent the H-1B quotas. Microsoft's plan was to extend the duration of OPT from a year to 29-months, so that the duration would be sufficient to serve as a guestworker program, rather than just an internship-type program. Microsoft proposed this scheme to the Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff at a dinner party at the home of the owner of the Washington Nationals baseball team. (See pp. 229-230 in the book Sold Out.) From there, DHS worked in absolute secrecy with industry lobbyists to craft regulations implementing Microsoft's plan.
In a classic example of Washington cronyism, the first notice that DHS was even considering such regulations came when they were promulgated as a fait accompli, without notice and comment, on April 8, 2008 (73 Fed. Reg. 18,944). These regulations made three major expansions to OPT. First, they allowed aliens to remain in student visa status while they were unemployed so they could look for work. Second, they allowed aliens working under OPT to remain in student visa status from the time an H-1B petition was filed on their behalf until a final decision was made on the petition or the start date. This adds a maximum of 6 months to the OPT duration. Finally, they authorized a 17-month work period for aliens with degrees in fields DHS designates at Science/Technology/Engineering/Mathematics (STEM). This gave a maximum OPT duration of 35 months.
The OPT program has been the subject of continuous litigation since then where, after nearly a decade, the federal courts have been unable to come to a decision on whether it is lawful. However in 2015, the D.C. District Court held that the 2008 OPT regulations had been promulgated unlawfully without notice and comment. In response to this opinion, DHS promulgated new regulations that did the same as the old regulations except that they expanded the STEM work period from 17 months to 24 months, giving a maximum OPT work period of 42 months (24+12+6).
OPT is an example of the administrative state run amok. Instead of law coming from Congress, we have law coming from bureaucrats working hand-in-hand with lobbyists. OPT also illustrates the slippery-slope problem of regulation. Work on student visas started innocently as an integral part of a course of study to give foreign students an experience not available in their home country, but eventually was transformed into a full-blown guestworker program whose stated purpose is to provide labor to American business.
https://cis.org/Report/History-Optional-Practical-Training-Guestworker-Program
The Optional Practical Training (OPT) for foreign students who have graduated from American universities allows all foreign graduates to receive a 12-month work permit, but STEM graduates are eligible for an additional 24-month work permit. Businesses are using this program to circumvent H-1B visa caps and American and legal immigrant graduates are losing out:
OPT has grown more than 400% in recent years and is bigger than the H-1B program.
275,000 foreign workers were employed in 2017 under the OPT program.
From 2007 to 2017, employers hired 2.5 million OPT and CPT workers.
Employers don't have to pay payroll taxes on OPT employees, making them 15.3% cheaper to hire. The FICA fund loses out on $2.5 billion each year due to this.
OPT visas are not merit-based and have no restrictions or limitations.
Fewer than 50% of U.S. STEM graduates are finding jobs in STEM fields, which is a direct result of the OPT program.
The OPT program is harming American STEM grads by giving companies a financial incentive to hire temporary foreign workers, even though the government is actively encouraging American students to study for STEM degrees.
To make matters worse, a federal court has decided that the government does have the power to exempt OPT workers from Social Security and Medicare taxes, making it even cheaper for employers to hire them.