&gt; You seem to have ignored his second point. Yes, it applies to undergraduate degrees, but undergraduate degrees are attractive to residents as well. An undergraduate degree is helpful for getting a good job, whereas a Ph.D doesn&#x27;t doesn&#x27;t do much in that regard.<p>That&#x27;s a fair point but I&#x27;m not sure the conclusion is necessarily the right one.  The US has some of the best universities in the world.  It makes sense, if they&#x27;re unattractive for residents in terms of job prospects, for most of the clientele to be foreign nationals.  My point was that it&#x27;s essentially no easier to get a job (not on OPT) in the US because you were a student in the us.  H-1B applicants go through the same process either way, the only difference being that applicants on OPT are already in the country which, I reiterate, doesn&#x27;t really make the H-1B application any easier.