All my friends who emigrated to the US did so from an F1 visa (followed by a work visa sometime during their first year of employment). Of course it is a source of immigration.
+1. I believe a lot of (if not most) people come to the US not only for the education system, but to have a good chance of getting the green card and eventually citizenship.
I don't think that's bad for any party - the US gets access to very smart and enterprising young people (and can grow the edu market), and those people get access to the US.
Making studying and converting F1=H1b->green card process harder is going to have significant drawbacks, such as
* shrinking edu market will itself negatively affect the economy.
* Now that FAANG etc have seen that work-from-home can really work out, I expect ever more hiring outside of the US in the future. That doesn't mean that jobs will be opening up in the US.
* Harder to find qualified people in the US. [Remaining US workers in STEM can anticipate ever higher wages?]
These drawbacks will take some time to materialize, so it's possible to use this argument (less immigration == more work) during campaigning and deal with the fallout later (or pawn it off to the democrats. Or silently walk back the rules after the election).
Maybe one good thing to come out of this change would be the need to press for domestic STEM education more and earlier.
I think the shrinking edu market is going to exit universities that probably didn’t add much value in the first place. So it might not be a bad thing in the end.
And I agree that we need more STEM education though I have my doubts in the capacity of the population to “upgrade” intellectually. Lots of people aren’t STEM material whatever means you mobilise.
Which is why, long term, the immigration of smart and skilled STEM students is a good thing.
But I really see the next 2-3 years as really tough, probably worse than 2008. And I can see why the administration would try to remove any additional pressure on the job market in such exceptional times.
I don't think that's bad for any party - the US gets access to very smart and enterprising young people (and can grow the edu market), and those people get access to the US.
Making studying and converting F1=H1b->green card process harder is going to have significant drawbacks, such as
* shrinking edu market will itself negatively affect the economy. * Now that FAANG etc have seen that work-from-home can really work out, I expect ever more hiring outside of the US in the future. That doesn't mean that jobs will be opening up in the US. * Harder to find qualified people in the US. [Remaining US workers in STEM can anticipate ever higher wages?]
These drawbacks will take some time to materialize, so it's possible to use this argument (less immigration == more work) during campaigning and deal with the fallout later (or pawn it off to the democrats. Or silently walk back the rules after the election).
Maybe one good thing to come out of this change would be the need to press for domestic STEM education more and earlier.