Being in America on a study/work visa does not make them an American! See the statements from Microsoft and TATA on their alleged abuse of hiring foreign workers instead of US citizens. They are not hiring local talent! They call these F1 students local because they are already in the USA. They hire foreign F1 students with OPT+STEM work authorization and try to convert them to H1B after 3 years, or let them keep working full-time on Day1CPT programs for 3-4 more years with an online 2nd/3rd Master's degree. Foreign student graduates on OPT+STEM/CPT get an unfair hiring advantage over US citizen graduates because of the 7.5% FICA tax savings available to US companies during the qualifying OPT+STEM/CPT period. When that savings is multiplied across even 10 new hires, it amounts to substantial money that goes directly to the company's bottom line. Equally, a foreign student will take that same job for 7-10% less than a citizen graduate because foreign students also do not pay FICA taxes either! For this reason, US graduates are passed over in favor of foreign graduates on OPT/CPT, not necessarily because they are better qualified, but because they are cheaper for the employer to hire. At the same time, US companies effectively get workers who can be pressured into working extra hours for the same salary/wages. These workers may be less able to say no to excessive work demands because their immigration status and future employment prospects are tied to their jobs. This creates another serious disadvantage for US graduates. Those first three critical years of professional experience are lost when they cannot secure entry-level employment, while foreign graduates on OPT/CPT accumulate experience, skills, promotions, and higher-level responsibilities. The resulting experience gap puts US graduates at a significant disadvantage later in their careers. Furthermore, US companies can sponsor these OPT/CPT workers for H-1B visas, continuing the same employment relationship. The incentive remains because employers can expect these workers to accept additional work hours and demanding conditions that US workers may be more willing to reject. In effect, the system creates a labor-market advantage for employers by giving them access to foreign workers who are more dependent on maintaining their employment. The result is a system in which US graduates lose opportunities to foreign graduates not because of differences in talent or qualifications, but because immigration-linked employment creates a lower-cost and more employer-dependent workforce. @VP @StephenM