[burtness]

This reifies the view of the system. Particularly the time spent as a PhD would be spent doing meaningful work contributing to the country. This is if we accept that the time spent as a student living in America making connections with people as your life develops as a young adult deserve to be waived away. Yes the system doesn't count them but we shouldn't count the cruelty of a system just on its own terms.

[Ar-Curunir]

Indeed, PhD students (at least in the sciences) are funded primarily by US taxpayer money, so it’s only in the interest of US taxpayers to keep that educated talent around post-graduation, yet the law doesn’t necessarily work that way at all.