I think these days a masters in CS or a related field allows you up to 3 years of OPT. I.e multiple chances to apply for a H1B visa while working legally in the USA.
For more context: Currently theirs about 1 million f1 students in the USA and about ~500k h1b holders. Roughly 223k applied and got OPT in 2019. More figures can be found here:
https://www.cato.org/blog/facts-about-optional-practical-tra...
3 years of OPT gives a companies lawyers plenty of chances to apply, get rejected and then reapply. This is the case with my company right now. I.e the first step in our hiring processes is asking if you are authorized to work in the USA? A no answer equals likely rejection.
OPT increases the probability that you will be able to get a h1b.
If you reduce the number of students you narrow the funnel.
Over 2/3 of H1B applicants would have to be OPT extension recipients AND you'd have to assume there is no hidden demand that would resurface given a drop in applicants.
“ The WH is finally getting to its main goal, reducing immigration overall.”
Do you agree or disagree that discouraging foreign students will have an impact (even a small one) on immigration? It seems like it will.
Most pathways to immigrate to America are either capped, backlogged or hard enough that there isn't a ton of people using them.
If this was a strategic move by the WH rather than just ICE interpreting rules, I'd be much more willing to believe this is an action targeted at China given how many foreign students are Chinese. Or as someone else noted, a way to pressure schools to open up.
Now I do agree that it might discourage some high quality people from going that route, but that's another story.