OPT STEM 24Month通过告急 请大家在此帖下分享自己的comment供其他人借鉴（纯干货）

这个帖子的目标是分享STEM POT 24M Proposal Comment的纯干货，供大家借鉴或是采纳。服务于已经知道STEM OPT 24M Proposal是什么，了解其紧急性，重要性，并且想要伸手写comment的stem或non-stem同学。

现在地里已经有很多不同的关于STEM OPT 24M Proposal的帖子了，科普、动员、教学都已经做的非常好了，这个帖子就不在此提供这些信息了。

关于本帖：

1）请多次提交comment的小伙伴每次重新评论时清理cookie，或是用Chrome browser，然后打开右上角menu，选择“open new incognito window”，然后每次在新打开的incognito窗口中提交comment，这样cookie会自动被清理，以免我们辛辛苦苦写的comment被过滤掉

2）本帖只分享和上传自己已经写好的，或者是看到别人写的值得借鉴的Comment，请不要进行别的话题的讨论或灌水，影响“纯干货”的质量。

3）最后的最后，如果你没有兴趣读或自己写comment，那么请选择看起来顺眼的帖子→略作改动→然后用自己的身份po这里现有的帖子吧，和不动手相比，还是贡献了自己的力量的。

4）美国水军势力强大， 数量多，很多运用personal story，但是也有很多用不同的名字po完全一样的内容。我们不提倡这样，但还是认为“po了极为相似的帖子> 完全不去写comment

5）最后，希望看到的小伙伴多多扩散这个帖子，或者是把link share到一些热门的相关主题的帖子里，让更多的朋友们来分享纯干货，或者利用现有的comment去自己post

谢谢每一个出力的小伙伴！

引用@davidbowie2000

从周末开始我写了大概10+篇comment，下面po出来给大家作为参考，但请借鉴的同学做些变动和改动，不要完全copy & paste，这对我们万众一心支持proposal是不会有帮助的。谢谢。另外有以下几点请大家post comment请一定要注意了
1）就像很多同学指出的，请提交多次的同学清理cookie，或者是使用Chrome的incognito window （chrome右上角点开选择new incognito window），每次打开新的incognito window，这样cookie会被自动清理掉，以免我们辛辛苦苦写的comment被过滤掉
2）质量是最重要的！我们要写的有理有据，而不是简简单单说一句I support this proposal。这是完全没有用的！
3）但无论如果，不要因为自己可能也写不好，就不去写。在这种情况下，确实写一句的同学也比不动手的同学更值得钦佩，至少以后我们不会后悔！问心无愧！
4) 以下是单独的12条comment (从第0条开始），请逐个改动借鉴，千万不可全部一起复制粘贴。

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I am grateful for this proposal and hope it can be approved for everyone’s long-term benefit.

One popular reason for opposing this proposal is that American students are out of jobs while international students can find jobs. This claim/accusation is actually subjective, UNTRUE, and BIASED. Most of the American students actually don’t know much about the OPT program or the OPT STEM program which are two different things

      (1) First, don’t confuse the concept of STEM students with the concept of general American students. STEM is only for math, engineering, technology and statistics majors while there’re hundreds of more different majors out there where international students actually CANNOT take advantage of this extension. In fact, STEM majors only comprise a tiny % of the overall student population and I don’t think unemployed American students majoring in Journalism, Communication, Film, Public Policy, Arts, Business, Management and a whole lot of areas should blame STEM for it. Them being unemployed has NOTHING TO DO WITH THE STEM program.

      (2)  Second, anyone with commonsense and basic knowledge of the STEM majors should know that students from these majors are popular on the job market and there’s HUGE DEMAND for QUALIFIED stem students out there. I know quite a few Silicon Valley companies that are urgently looking for qualified STEM students to fill multiple roles but there’s just NOT ENOUGH QUALIFIED stem students there. The demand is, generally speaking, bigger than the supply, but it all depends on whether you’re qualified. So please stop accusing international STEM students of “stealing jobs” from the American students, but instead please consider it as “help fill high requirement roles when there’s not enough qualified candidates out there on the market”.

(3)  It’s way MORE difficult  for international STEM students to find jobs than for their American counterparts. If you could, ever, be a  STEM international student one day, just for one single day, you’d understand the disadvantages, unfairness, difficulties and challenges confronted by international students, STEM or not STEM. Just think, if a company hires an international student, they have to pay a lot for their sponsorship and take the risk of losing them later if they fail to maintain their status, why would they prefer an international student over an American student who can speak better English and have more connections in the U.S.??? Not because international students are cheap – STEM students earn top salaries, but this is a matter of qualification and fit of a role.

   (4)      Cheap labor is NOT the word we should use for international STEM students who work in the U.S. As long as they are hired for related roles, students from a STEM major normally earn more than the average salary level. In fact, my friends working in Silicon Valley as Software Engineers earn 6-digit salary right now (which they  deserve with all those extremely exhausting tasks and workload) and there’s no way you call 6-digit salary cheap, right (unless you’re Bill Gates I guess)?

   (5) International students are absolutely not responsible for so-called “lower salary level”, but outsourcing is. Again, international STEM students earn more than the average level, but corporate could turn to outsourcing as an option to get the IT jobs done without costing too much by hiring talents. Driving away international STEM students will lead to less qualified candidates on the job market, and any company “that wants to hire international students to lower costs”, if they do exist, of course will turn to China or India and similar countries for outsourcing and therefore reduce available job opportunities on the market

6)      International STEM students are paying HIGH TUITION to their universities and LIVING EXPENSES that are much high than that in their home countries before they get jobs here (if they can). Considering the population of international students in the U.S., this is a huge fund and financial INCOME for American universities, private or public. Cancellation of the STEM extension will drive students away and directly cause LOSS of INCOME to tons of universities, which will be detrimental to the funds universities give for their research projects or PhD programs.

All in all, the opposition to this proposal is simply short-sighted and blind without looking at the bigger picture or a proper understanding of the true story. I support this proposal with all my faith. Thank you.

@davidbowie2000

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I STRONGLY SUPPORT the approval of this proposal and any opposition would be short-sighted and will do harm to American citizens and U.S. economy eventually.

U.S. is the world’s greatest country only because it’s been absorbing the best, the most talented people from the rest of the world. Cutting off this source of intelligence and their contributions will the start of the fall of a great nation in history.
Think about what happened to Detroit when the local workers object the importation of Japanese automobile manufacturing lines and skills Japanese automobile workers? The Detroit workers were too afraid of competition, which is actually contribution and beneficial competition in nature, and the result of stopping of importing talented Japanese human resources and skills is that Detroit now officially becomes an abandoned city! Goodbye, the once famous auto city! Any objection of embracing talents, advanced skills, and beneficial competition will only lead to the downfall of development, growth, and economy of a country!

This proposal is essential to keep the vibe of U.S. tech and financial industry pumping and has my fullest support.

-baidu 1point3acres

@davidbowie2000

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I FULLY SUPPORT the OPT extension proposal and believe it will continue helping U.S. economy grow faster and better!

Objections made here are actually for individual benefits instead of for the sake of the overall economy and job market development.
a.      Talented immigrants have been one of the sources of U.S. fastest growth and countries who refuse to embrace talents, skills, and beneficial competition have been experiencing much slower growth.

b.      International students are NOT as described as “cheap labor” or “using U.S. funds”. This is the STEM area we’re talking about and as long as they’re hired the SALARY is way ABOVE average salary level in the U.S.

c.      The cause of lower salary is OUTSOUORCING and once there’re fewer qualified candidates in the STEM pool those corporate will only turn to OUTSOURCING, NOT hiring local American STEM students!! THIS, NOT the stem opt, will lead to lower salaries in STEM industries instead of increasing it.

d.      The extension is ONLY for STEM students, NOT ALL INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS. U.S. needs more talents only because the country NEEDS it.


The objection can be as loud as it wants, but it actually will only hurt the U.S. job market in a longer term and eventually drag down the fast-growing economy.

I give this proposal my FULL SUPPORT.

@davidbowie2000

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OPT STEM extension is not extension for all majors. So please at least get to know what it is before you say no it. I SUPPORT this proposal.
a.      International students are already having a difficult time finding STEM jobs in the U.S. Honestly, anyone who’s sane enough and has real knowledge of the job market knows that U.S. citizens with a STEM background are always preferred to international students who’re the same qualified. In fact, international STEM students have to be MORE hardworking and qualified to get a job U.S. citizens can easily get. It was never as easy as depicted by people who’re not aware of the difficulties at all.

b.      STEM students are only benefiting the I.T. and financial industries in the U.S., which are keeping the U.S. ship float. Depriving U.S. of such talents is only detrimental to U.S. economy itself. more info on 1point3acres.com

c.      Canada, Australia, U.K. and all those developed countries will only absorb these talents if U.S. don’t and then history will repeat itself: WHOEVER HAS A BIGGER HEART AND OPEN MIND WILL WIN OVER MORE TALENTS AND LEAD.

d.      Even if they get STEM extension, a lot of students could fail to find jobs, find better opportunities, or fail to get H1-B and they will simply leave U.S. It’s NOT like whoever got stem extension will stay.

It’s not a matter of stealing jobs. There’re always enough jobs out there, but it depends on whether you’re qualified.
I fully support this proposal.

@davidbowie2000

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I strongly support this proposal.
a.      Talented immigrants have been one of the most powerful sources that made U.S. the world’s greatest country and I cannot believe we’re trying to give away the talents to our rival countries.

b.      The development of the medical system, insurance policies, and more convenient life for normal American citizens is based on the fastest-growing IT industry around the world. We cannot deny that talented international STEM students have been making contributions to this.

c.      Americans with a STEM background, as long as they’re qualified for the positions they’re applying for, are always preferred over international students and are in easy reach of higher-salary, management-level roles compared against STEM students.

d.      All STEM students PAID EXPENSIVE TUITION to come to the states to study and then make contributions. It’s not like they simply come here and immediately get jobs easily. The REMOVAL of opt stem will cause FINANCIAL LOSS for U.S. Universities because they can actually go to other developed countries and serve them.

In sum, I strongly support this proposal and believe this is a beneficial policy for everyone.

. 1point3acres

@davidbowie2000

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I strong support this proposal since eventually it's bringing us more jobs, more talents, and helping the economy and industries grow better and faster.
Giving it my full support.

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I support this proposal.
a.      U.S. was founded on the belief that freedom and opportunities can be pursued on this land by people with talents and dreams from all around the world. This belief, by now, has made U.S. the greatest nation earth. Whoever is opposing this proposal is NOT an immigrant generations ago?. more info on 1point3acres.com

b.      Recruiting and the job market are really about the qualification. Hiring international students has to go through more complicated process and cost the company more with the sponsorship with the risk of students having to return to their home countries without the H1B later. It’s already difficult for international students, so why do these hi-tech companies still hire international students? Don’t they know hiring international STEM students costs more, is more complicated, and has more risks? The only answer is that they ARE QUALIFIED for the position and can finish tasks efficiently. Otherwise why would profit-driven companies hire international STEM students?

c.      International STEM students are not the cause of lower salary in IT, but OUTSOURCING is. Cancellation of STEM will only lead to more outsourcing instead of driving salary levels up. In fact, STEM students earn salary higher than average salary level in the country and it’s ridiculous to assume them of causing lower salary..鏈?枃鍘熷垱鑷�1point3acres璁哄潧

This proposal will only drive U.S. economy and benefit the job market in the long term. Therefore I fully support this proposal.

@davidbowie2000

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I believe the approval of this proposal will be beneficial for the U.S. economy and more importantly the job market in the long term. Therefore, I STRONG SUPPORT this proposal.

Just think what's gonna happen to the U.S. if all these U.S. educated talents excelling in tech have no STEM and have to go to other countries, e.g. Australia, Canada, India, China, U.K., simply because they have better work visa policies. Why should we lose them to those countries after they received american education and make contribution to our rivals? Eventually foreign countries will take lead and beat us and we will lose millions of more jobs in the future!!! Think, people, think!.
STEM will not hurt the local graduates' chances if they're the same competent and honestly local student always stand a better chance from a recruiting perspective..

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I fully support this proposal although I'm NOT a STEM major. I know a lot of both american and international peers from the STEM background and honestly international peers have to work much harder to have the opportunity to work in the States, even just for 1-2 years. . more info on 1point3acres.com
Considering their intelligent work and great contributions to the industry and the country, I believe approving the STEM is the fairest to both the nation and the people.
Also, please notice this extension is ONLY affecting the STEM areas but NOT the other majors, so please don't exaggerate how this will affect the job market, because it DOES NOT HURT the job market overall and WILL ACTUALLY give U.S. more job opportunities and increasing support to related booming industries.
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This proposal has my full support since overall it's what's best for the country and honestly I believe if an American STEM student has the same competence of completing the same level of tasks, they will only be given preference over international students, not being placed in a less advantaged situation.

. 1point 3 acresAnyone from a STEM background knows that if you can do the job, you will get hired. International students are already less advantaged even if they work harder because providing them with sponsorship costs employers money and that's why employers like hiring Americans much better than international STEM students.

So at least give them a chance to be able to find a job in the very first place and I believe regardless of the nationalities if you're enough competent you can end up with the job you want.

I strongly support this approval.

@davidbowie2000

10) -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------google 1point3acres
I fully support the approval of this proposal. This is the wisest solution for the U.S. economy and industry growth and the best for the majority over the minority. Let's see how this world's greatest nation is stepping up for the immigrants who seek freedom and opportunities on this dreamland again by approving this proposal and giving talented immigrants a chance to make greater contributions to keep U.S. a leader among all countries.-google 1point3acres

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I strongly support this proposal and believe it is a plan that will eventually benefit the majority and the development and economy of the U.S. a country which was founded upon the belief that promotes freedom and opportunities.

             (1) Consider the contributions made BY these hard-working, talented international students TO the U.S. development and fast growth in I.T., math, and other areas: Take Mike Krieger, the co-founder of Instagram, as an example. He WAS an international student but thanks to his intelligence and hardworking he CO-FOUNDED Instagram, which almost every American citizen is using on a daily basis now to take advantage of what technology can bring to us. Not to even mention the job opportunities Instagram is creating for its own employees, a lot of U.S. businesses using Instagram as a platform to develop their business, and professionals in various industries. .

But besides Instagram, there're many STEM international students working hard in silicon valley and all other places just to make better and cheaper technologies happen for every American citizen.

                    (2) Approval of STEM IS NOT placing international students over american citizens. As far as I know, hiring is based on applicants' competency and skill set for a position. This means if an american citizen and an international student have the same skill set and the same competence, they will be both considered for the position (despite the fact that american citizens are always preferred to international students). There's no way that international students are given advantages because apparently in most of the situations american citizens are always preferred by recruiters.

    (3) STEM is about hiring the intelligent and competent but NOT cheap labor. Ask those silicon valley international students working hard for their employees, do they earn less than their american peers? For every race and nationality, I.T. is an industry that pays well. This is not based on their nationalities but on their competence.

    (4) No STEM will lose U.S. educated intelligent professional to their home countries, mostly fast-growing developing countries, who can be much stronger rivals against U.S. and cause huge loss of jobs in the U.S. eventually. Imagine all those Google, Facebook, Apple international student engineers who work hard on driver-less automobiles, google fiber, and other technologies go back to their home countries, i.e. India, China, etc. They received top-notch U.S. education in tech, math, statistics, etc., and then they serve huge corporate in these fast-growing countries, Tata, Huawei, Lenovo, Samsung, Alibaba, etc. Just think WHAT WILL HAPPEN?? When these already strong rivals absorb all this intelligence from the U.S., they can rise up faster and stronger and finally beat the U.S. market and economy, which will lead to much less job opportunities in the U.S. eventually.

    (5) Even with STEM, international students are already having a difficult time finding jobs. I graduated from a top tech university in the U.S. and noticed that all our American peers with the tech background had found big name jobs one semester before they graduated. On the contrary, our international students peers were challenged by culture barriers, language incompetency, and lots of I.T. employers being RELUCTANT to offer them sponsorship to work in the States. I don't believe it was ever a fair game for international students to find STEM jobs in the States, but that's fine because they're not citizens. However, depriving them of even the opportunity to look for a job in the States after they paid expensive tuition and became competent to make contribution to the U.S. is against what this great nation was founded upon.. more info on 1point3acres.com

I believe this proposal will benefit the U.S. development and growth in the long term, and know that a lot of my American peers from the STEM background actually support this proposal since it will NOT affect their chance of finding a good job at all.

看看怎么反驳这篇文章吧。

Comment:
I would like to submit my comments in response to this proposed rule, regarding to Docket ID: ICEB-2015-0002. Extension of OPT for F-1 nonimmigrant students with STEM doesn't benefit the U.S. government and U.S. local residents. I strongly disagree to approving this rule on Oct 19, 2015.

First, the new proposed extension of OPT benefits neither local businesses nor U.S. economy. Most of students who just graduate from school and want this extension are not well-trained or rich-experience technical employees. From a local business perspective, companies are looking for rich-experience and well-communicated technical employees. Apparently, the population of new international students with OPT is not a good option. International students can't stay as long as U.S. residents unless they can gain H1B visas. No matter how long this extension is, the issue won't be solved and companies won't be able to gain lots of benefits from training the new international grads with new extension STEM OPT as long as the number of H1B approved visas still remains small. In contrast, the international students will use the experience they learned from U.S. companies against U.S. companies and hurts U.S. economy for a long run after they go home with 2 or 3 years work experience in U.S.

Second, most of international student employees with OPT don't pay Social Security taxes and Medicare taxes because the tax exemption from IRS. If they want to stay and work in U.S. longer, I suggest that they should apply for H1B instead of using new proposed extension of OPT. It's unfair for local people who live and work hard here but pay more taxes. It's about fairness and equal justice. What's more, the more position filled by international students with OPT; the fewer social security taxes will be collected. It will be a new burden of U.S. government to continue paying retirement pension with less social security taxes. Hence, no new extension is necessary and new proposed rule is not a good solution.

Third, the new OPT extension has side effect of stabilizing U.S. population. I suspect whether U.S. government is ready for a new wave of immigrations caused by the new OPT extension. According to the U.S. immigration and population growth, U.S. Immigration currently contributes over 2.25 million people to the U.S. population annually. And this new proposed rule will boost the population to another heap. It will be too late if we don't take any action to stabilize U.S. population. Population has been a concern of environmentalists since the first Earth Day in 1970. What's more, all of F-1 non-immigration visa holders should not have the immigration intent otherwise it will invalidate the initial purpose to enter U.S. It may cause the difficulty for future international students studying here as the suspicion of immigration intent.

Fourth, providing more OPT opportunities to STEM graduates will NOT assist U.S. companies in the application of the latest strategies and techniques in the field. In contrast, they will limit opportunities to American students. For a better quality of work, people enjoy the localized service. With no doubt, American students can do it better than anyone else in the world. Also, international students who hold the second or third year OPT extension will also limit opportunities to other international students who just enter the job markets. This will discourage the students studying in U.S. This proposed rule only benefits the new international grads at most recent 2 years. After that, it will be a nightmare since no new grads will enjoy the saturation of job market.

Fifth, our government is built and formed by our people. We are paying taxes years over years. U.S. government should pay every penny on the U.S. residents instead of irrelevant foreign citizen. In a word, they are not our people and we don't want to spend any penny on them.

The Duration of the STEM Extension should be cancelled. With this comment, I urge you support the U.S. economy by NOT implementing this new rule. Thank you for your consideration and time.
Uploaded File(s):

Foreign-Born--50-Years-Growth.pdf

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I support this OPT STEM approval and believe that any opposition to the STEM extension program is short-sighted and will be detrimental to the U.S. economy and related industries in the short & long term.

a.        OPT STEM students are international students BUT NOT IMMIGRANTS. Immigrants are those who come from a foreign country and stay and live permanently in a country, which is DIFFERENT from the concept of international students. As much as I want to argue that immigrants have been making amazing contributions to this country over the past generations, STEM international students ARE NOT EVEN IMMIGRANTS. So please stop accusing international STEM students of “being immigrants stealing American jobs” because tons of STEM students actually ended up returning to home countries instead of becoming an immigrant. They are a small population compared to the overall job hunters in the States.
b.        STEM majors need the extension since the training for such industries is more intense, difficult, and time-consuming. STEM majors are not like other such majors as Management, Business, Art, etc. Anyone with commonsense knows that STEM majors are related to difficult academic studies and heavy workload and challenging tasks. Especially when it comes to various challenging tools, software, and tasks related to the real world jobs, STEM students, more often than not, need more time to get trained to familiarize themselves with the complicated Databases, software at work, different systems, etc. That’s why the extension is necessary so that all the training will not be wasted and in fact be meaningful when they can accomplish tasks more efficiently.
c.        STEM international students are disadvantaged and NOT favored on the job market in the U.S. And YES, this is TRUE. When an American STEM student and a STEM international student are the SAME qualified for the same position, guess who will ALWAYS get preferred to the other? THE AMERICAN student. It’s because international students don’t speak as good English, have less connections in this country, will enjoy the same salary package and NEED SPONSORSHIP which costs the company money!! This makes sense and is fair because they are not citizens. The ONLY situation where employers will still hire them is that international STEM students are MORE QUALIFIED.
d.        There’re a plethora of new STEM-related jobs posted every single day and it really depends on whether you’re qualified to get hired. No company, especially those STEM big names, will ever hire an employee simply because they can provide low salaries because the salary level is actually pretty transparent nowadays, thanks to Glassdoor.com and all other professional forums. Tons of 6-digit silicon valley jobs are waiting to be filled but ONLY by qualified candidates that can get jobs done.

It’ll be a huge loss to the universities (think about the tuition international students are paying), the hiring companies, and the U.S. economy if the STEM program is cancelled.

I pray that this proposal can be effective and I give it my fullest support.

I STRONGLY SUPPORT this OPT-extension rule.

I have seen lots of opposite comments. however, they are nothing but mostly weak sentences or empty slogans. No actual data are presented at all to support their viewpoints.  No matter how many these comments are posted, their empty contents and weak foundations won’t be that useful. “Afterall, the comment process is not a vote - one well supported comment is often more influential than a thousand form letters”[1].

As one of the international students in STEM major, I am accustomed to think in a systematic way, instead of a sloganeering way.  I would like to present my arguments by using statistics collected by both US government and third-party agencies to illustrate how important it is to extend current OPT.

First of all, international students contribute significantly to the U.S. economy. According to NAFSA[2], “The 886,052 international students and their families at universities and colleges across the country supported 340,000 jobs and contributed $26.8 billion to the U.S. economy during the 2013-2014 academic year, according to 2014 NAFSA findings. This is a 8.5% increase in job support and creation, and a nearly 12% increase in dollars contributed to the economy from the previous academic year.”

Comments by Victor Andrews (tracking number: 1jz-8m3c-i9ln) argues that Americans should be filling these positions paying taxes instead of allowing foreign students to learn and work at the American taxpayer's expense. This comment is not fair because in fact, about 74 percent of all international students receive the majority of their funds from sources outside of the United States, including personal and family sources as well as assistance from their home country governments or universities[3].International students are not studying at the American taxpayer’s expense. What’s more, international students themselves are also taxpayers: they pay tax as long as they live in America, such as dining, shopping etc.

Secondly, international students in STEM will not fill the job openings so that Americans cannot find jobs. Lots of opposite comments are focused on this point. I think these commenters are ignoring the fact that this OPT extension is for STEM international students. Americans are free to do any jobs they want, but STEM international students are restricted in STEM-related jobs. what’s more, not all international students are studying STEM majors, thus the argument that the Americans are at the risk of not being able to find a job is very weak.

Let’s again allow some data to speak: according to U.S. news[4], vacancies for STEM jobs are going unfilled in large numbers. There are some 40,000 computer science bachelor’s degree earners each year but roughly 4 million job vacancies for computer workers, and wages have grown relatively fast in most STEM-related occupations, which is a clear indication of a shortage. According to Adecco[5], the competition to fill STEM jobs is so fierces today that big companies offer perks such as feeding employees three meals a day and unlimited sick days. STEM jobs are in a high demand, the unemployment through the recession in overall is 3.6 unemployed individuals for every 1 job listing, while for STEM jobs, there is 1 unemployed individuals for every 1.9 job listings. The data indicates that ideally, even if all STEM grads are working, there are still lots of vacancies in job lists. Ed Gordon, the author of “Future jobs: Solving the employment and Skills Crisis” once said that you can have all the latest technologies you want, but if you don’t have the talent behind if, your business is not sustainable.  The future is not bright because, it’s estimated that by 2018, the expected job growth will reach 17% in STEM and 9.8% in non-STEM, causing 2.4 million unfilled job vacancies in the most influential occupations. Currently there are 271,000 graduates per year who earn a degree within STEM, yet there are 277,000 job vacancies at all education levels in the STEM category. This leaves 6,000 STEM vacancies unaccounted for. U.S. colleges are only graduating enough computer science engineers to fill 30 percent of STEM jobs by 2020.

It’s easy to see how badly the STEM-related jobs need workforce: not enough people in STEM can fill up all the jobs. So it’s unfair to say that STEM international students carve American job opportunities up. What’s more, international students are helping to create and support jobs. According to NASFA[6], three U.S. jobs are created or supported for every seven international students enrolled. These jobs are in higher education, accommodation, dining, retail, transportation, telecommunications, and health insurance.

The coomment by Gail Corondoni (tracking number: 1jz-8m3e-4uz8) argues that this proposal will risk the working opportunities for many Americans. This comment is so weak when compared to all the evidence that I listed above. This commenter also argues that priority should be given to American workers over foreign workers. I don’t think this is right, because all men are born equal. There should be no difference between a U.S citizen and a foreigner.

Thridly, OPT-extension helps U.S to remain or even increase its attraction to international students. Data[6] from both the IIE and NAFSA reports confirm that the United States, which hosts more of the world’s 4.5 million globally mobile college and university students than any other country, remains a destination of choice for higher education—for now. Due to increased competition from other countries, the U.S. lost nearly 10 percent of its market share of international students in 10 years, declining from 28 percent in 2001 to 19 percent in 2011. Without immigration reform to help remove barriers that prevent some students from studying in the U.S. or remaining here after they finish their degrees, the U.S. is missing out on enormous benefits. “We must find a way to make the United States a more welcoming nation, a value upon which this country was founded,” Johnson said. “If Congress doesn’t take action and pass commonsense, comprehensive immigration reform, we will lose talented international students. The billions of dollars they contribute to this nation, along with the invaluable academic and cultural contributions they bring, will be at risk.”

Students from around the world who study in the United States also contribute to America's scientific and technical research and bring international perspectives into U.S. classrooms, helping prepare America's undergraduates for global careers, and often lead to longer-term business relationships and economic benefits. International students not only contribute economic value, they build bridges between the United States and other countries; bring global perspectives into U.S. classrooms and research labs; support U.S. innovation through science and engineering coursework, making it possible for U.S. colleges and universities to offer these courses to U.S. students; and support programming and services on campus for all students by paying out-of-state tuition, funded largely by non-U.S. sources[2].

In sum, I think it’s very beneficial to extend the current OPT rule, this will continue to allow U,S. economy, research, industry, citizens and international students to be in a win-win situation.

References:
[1] Tips for submitting effective comments, http://www.regulations.gov/docs/Tips_For_Submitting_Effective_Comments.pdf
[2] NAFSA International student economic value tool, http://www.nafsa.org/Explore_International_Education/Impact/Data_And_Statistics/NAFSA_International_Student_Economic_Value_Tool/
[3] Open doors data, Special reports: economic impact of international students, http://www.iie.org/Research-and-Publications/Open-Doors/Data/Economic-Impact-of-International-Students
[4] U.S.News, Short on STEM talent, http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2014/09/15/the-stem-worker-shortage-is-real
[5] Adecco, STEM skills drive innovation, http://www.adeccousa.com/employers/resources/Pages/infographic-stem-skills-are-driving-innovation.aspx
[6] NASFA, How international students add billions to the U.S. Economy, http://immigrationimpact.com/2014/11/19/international-students-add-billions-u-s-economy/