Your argument is flawed in several obvious, basic ways. STEM is not a nebulous concept whereby an electrical engineer is the same as a software engineer. All STEM graduates are not automatically qualified for all open positions.

Also there isn't a global consciousness through which STEM grads get immediately notified of all open positions. Not every position is advertised on every single jobs board. And even then, STEM graduates are not automatically going to move to any random place in the US just because there is an open position there.

Lastly, if an employer has an open position, they are not going to wait indefinitely for a candidate to show up. Furthermore, because of the additional legal costs involved in hiring H1-B candidates, they can be more expensive than a local citizen.

>let us try a dialogue of rational reasoning.

Yes, let "us" do that.

> All STEM graduates are not automatically qualified for all open positions.

What does this tautology offer to the topic? Common sense obvious true, not every STEM graduate is universally qualified for every open position. So ... ???

> And even then, STEM graduates are not automatically going to move to any random place in the US just because there is an open position there.

Again, common sense true. So ... ???

> Lastly, if an employer has an open position, they are not going to wait indefinitely for a candidate to show up.

OK, true. So ... ??? Is your assumption then that they would have to wait indefinitely and that no candidate would ever show up? cited evidence of this is appreciated. Links to studies, large amounts of unfulfillable postings are welcomed.

> Furthermore, because of the additional legal costs involved in hiring H1-B candidates, they can be more expensive than a local citizen.

So ...?

Nothing stated above bears any light to the argument (flawed or otherwise), it's just a sequence of common sense things that one can say about a labour market.

This topic's referenced article is specific in its position in claiming there is no shortage of STEM qualified applicants and presents cited statistics and studies. If you have counter data and studies, please present their facts and cite links.

You are confused as to the nature of this conversation. YOU are the one making the claim "every H1-B is taking a job from a US citizen". Nothing in either of the linked articles supports this claim. They all talk about shortages, but not about _qualified candidates_. They are not the same. Even so, I just explained to you how in obvious ways, even if there is no shortage, your assertion can be proven false.

If your argument was US citizens should always be given priority regardless of their skill, I might actually agree with your position.

Your direct quote of what I said is wrong, that is but a clause in a complete sentence. The actual sentence does allow that a small percentage of H1-Bs are being used as intended by the program, but bulk of H1-Bs are not and the H1-B program suffers from rampant abuse and is being used to replace US Workers.

I have asked several times in the overall discussion for anyone to provide any link to any data of any kind which even indicates to any degree that there is a massive shortage of qualified candidates. I have yet to see one.

Given that there is no shortage of STEM qualified people then ipso facto there is no shortage of qualified candidates.

Do you have any evidence at all that you can provide indicative that their is a massive shortage in qualified candidates? Links Google, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, showing 100's if not 1,000s of positions going begging with no qualified candidates, or HR studies, any published studies, Dept of Labour or Commerce published statistics ... any shred of evidence at all that you can provide a link to?