The WH is finally getting to its main goal, reducing immigration overall. They were shy about it and started with illegal immigration but really they want to stop all immigration. Wonder if the family green card processing is already stopped.
My prediction is this is the first step towards kicking out Chinese students, which are increasingly viewed as spies/national security risks. Students from Brazil, France, Kenya, etc will be invited back soon enough.
I'm not sure why you're being downvoted, this is a reasonable interpretation that matches what the universities themselves claimed:
> The universities said in their court challenge to the latest policy that “by all appearances,” the government’s attempt to force international students to study on campus had also been a political move, calculated to advance the Trump administration’s agenda to force universities to reopen their gates with in-person classes.
Of course the fact that this hurts immigrants is icing on the cake to the administration, but it seems like the primary goal of this was to use international student revenue as leverage to force universities to open.
Yeah, which is contrary to elementary lockdown advises to fight the covid... Purely virtual education, for the time being, is the best solution.
(virtual, but nonetheless the student living in the same country as where the live lectures are being held, for the reasons I detailed in my other comments)
F1 is how many H1B students (such as myself) started on our road to becoming an immigrant.
A large part of the appeal of an expensive USA graduate course is that it allows you a way to get a job in the USA after.
It works like this in tech. 1) Do a masters or > 1 year course in a relevant field. 2) after the course you have 1-3 years of occupational practical training in that field. This means you can apply and accept any relevant job without waiting for a h1b or anything like that.
Then from there you get your company to apply for a h1b and then convert to a greencard. Then from greencard you go to citizenship. This was my path.
Pressure on universities like this discourages foreign students from enrolling and hence stops or slows this processes.
H1B are limited and this doesn't let you skip any lines so doubt it will have much of an effect on net immigration. Other than the very few (well maybe it's common, no idea) people who might get married or qualify for an O-1 and some other more esoteric categories as a student
Now I do agree that it might discourage some high quality people from going that route, but that's another story.
It’s not about skipping lines. A tech master’s degree allows you to get a job prior to them applying for a h1b via the OPT program. Without that most companies that don’t have overseas offices won’t hire you if you are from countries like India or China.
I think these days a masters in CS or a related field allows you up to 3 years of OPT. I.e multiple chances to apply for a H1B visa while working legally in the USA.
For more context: Currently theirs about 1 million f1 students in the USA and about ~500k h1b holders. Roughly 223k applied and got OPT in 2019. More figures can be found here:
Right, but correct me if I'm wrong, your H1B will still be subject to the same H1B limit. And given there are many more people applying than the limit allows for how could it result in less net immigration via H1B?
Correct. However many companies will hire someone on a OPT and then apply for a H1B. If you don’t have OPT they probably won’t go through the hassle of sponsoring you for a visa if they want you in a US office.
3 years of OPT gives a companies lawyers plenty of chances to apply, get rejected and then reapply. This is the case with my company right now. I.e the first step in our hiring processes is asking if you are authorized to work in the USA? A no answer equals likely rejection.
OPT increases the probability that you will be able to get a h1b.
If you reduce the number of students you narrow the funnel.
As an individual your chances are no doubt increased. But at a 65,000 + 20,000 H1B quota that is oversubscribed about 1 to 3 it's hard to imagine a situation where it somehow doesn't get exhausted.
Over 2/3 of H1B applicants would have to be OPT extension recipients AND you'd have to assume there is no hidden demand that would resurface given a drop in applicants.
Well via different categories by happenstance perhaps, which is why I mentioned marriage. But then again people on tourist visas do that too, probably in bigger numbers. And tourists from most places can't visit right now either.
Most pathways to immigrate to America are either capped, backlogged or hard enough that there isn't a ton of people using them.
If this was a strategic move by the WH rather than just ICE interpreting rules, I'd be much more willing to believe this is an action targeted at China given how many foreign students are Chinese. Or as someone else noted, a way to pressure schools to open up.
A visa that grants entry for some purpose on a temporary basis. As opposed to immigrant visas that can be converted to a green card.
After your study is over you're supposed to go home [0]. Generally when applying for a non-immigrant visa you want to show that you have a good reason to go back home. Otherwise you'll probably be denied.
Say I had an F1 and now it's long expired. Have a standard B1/B2 now. If I wish to immigrate to the US this doesn't help me in any way. Other than just being in good standing with them I guess.
[0] or you could get some other visa, but if you're coming in with this intent from the get go this is potentially problematic
Let me elaborate. No matter what type of visa you have, if you overstay, you will be out of status.
The difference between these visa types is that one can be used to apply for a change of status to permanent resident (green card) and the other does not.
If you want to get a green card and you have a non-immigrant visa, you have to apply to an immigrant visa first. There are exceptions but for temporary workers this is the case.
you can really hate Trump because of its views and manners but one thing is for certain: he was always honest about what he would do when in office and he is pursuing that relentlessly.
wohld be nice to have a more centric candidate who would have this persistance and 'idgaf, attitude.
but you probably need to be a psychopat to pull that off
Honest about what he would do?
- Build the wall: almost no new wall has actually been built
- Drain the swamp: puts friends and family members in positions of power or influence, gives get-out-of-jail cards to convicted loyal friends, literally spends millions of government dollars to vacation and golf at his own resorts
- Other random things he said early on: peace in the Middle East will be easy (lol), get rid of Obamacare but offer a better alternative (gets rid of provisions during the pandemic)
- the list goes on and on
I agree. He was honest. Where he wasn't honest was in admiring that many U.S. interventions he continues create the very same immigrants he wants to stop coming in.
As an European looking at the U.S., it isn't really a desirable place to be anymore, if it ever was. No universal healthcare during a pandemic? not wearing masks being considered cool & edgy?, sky high cost of living and even being treated with suspicion and the feeling that I am somehow not thankful enough to be in a COVID hotspot, while trying to not ever meet any law enforcement as the chances of surviving even a speeding ticket encounter are nowhere near as high as they are elsewhere in the world?
Doesn't sound too appealing, unless in a really desperate situation. The U.S. relied on soft power, (Hollywood), for decades to sell a manufactured image of how great it is, but with increased information sharing, I suspect this image is being eroded.
>wohld be nice to have a more centric candidate who would have this persistance and 'idgaf, attitude.
Not really. This sort of Caesarism and strongman attitude is a disease. Fucntioning governments and societies rest on pluralism and compromise between institutions, not on someone at the top "not giving a fuck".
This desire for "not giving a fuck" is at its core a childish attitude that's rooted in people not being able to live with the tension that occurs when diverse interests need to be taken into account.
It's usually combined with Machismo and it's pretty much what many Latin American countries perpetually suffer from.
There isn't really such a thing as 'idgaf' centrism though, centrism is about balance and carefully treading a path that meets some of the desires of all sides, while at the same time not going 'far enough' by making compromises.
An 'idgaf' attitude is extremist by its very nature.
