TL;DR: The student was denied an H1B for a QA Tester role, which requires a BS in a computer-related field. The argument was that this qualifies as a specialty occupation. The judge rightfully told her to pound sand.
@privateSFacct has a good point - there are plenty of international students that get their masters degree here in America and they should definitely be getting better treatment. I really don't think that there are any actual jobs that require nothing more than a BS degree and can be honestly considered for an H1B unless we dilute the definition to mean anything that any occupation that requires a a 4 year degree (but at that rate, isn't everything a specialty occupation?).
But there is probably a more systematic problem here - it doesn't seem that Americans want to get masters/phd degrees as much as international students do. In 2015: over half of the engineering masters degrees from US universities were earned by international students [1]. Same issue with PhD degrees [2]. Funny thing is, the average American student scores higher than students from other highly regarded countries, so it isn't some sort of skill gap[3]. Anecdotally, I know many people who refuse to get a MS because they feel that they will end up doing the same job for possibly slightly more pay. A lot of posts on programming subreddits also echo this sentiment (though there definitely isn't a consensus) - the opportunity cost for delaying your entry to the workforce by a couple years to get a masters often does not outweigh the salary and experience you would have otherwise earned in those 2 years [4][5][6]. I'm sure one can find posts where sentiment is generally one way or the other, I just liked the first 3 I found.
Americans don't need to get masters/phds to get high-paying jobs in the US, because we don't need them for the immigration benefits.
In most STEM fields, an MS has very little functional benefits. Oftentimes, it's the same with a PhD. In fact if you account for the tuition cost (of an MS) + opportunity cost (lost income and lost advancement) they can be net negatives.
> really don't think that there are any actual jobs that require nothing more than a BS degree and can be honestly considered for an H1B
Uh, software engineering? I know many people with only BS's in CS, Math, or Physics who are better than most people with MS's or even PhDs. I think nursing might also be valid (though that is more credential-based, we still need BSNs).
I'm to believe that it was necessary to bring in an immigrant to fill in a QA position? The point of the program should be to fill positions that we can't possibly (or can't reasonably) fill with a US worker. Using an immigrant for a low-skill job like this just lowers the average wage and depresses our economy when she inevitably leaves back to her home country with her acquired skills and money.
I've talked to many international students in the US pursuing a Master's degree. Most of the time their only motivation is to increase their chances of getting approved for an H-1B, or having more time for a STEM OPT. People who really like graduate school tend to do a PhD.
@privateSFacct has a good point - there are plenty of international students that get their masters degree here in America and they should definitely be getting better treatment. I really don't think that there are any actual jobs that require nothing more than a BS degree and can be honestly considered for an H1B unless we dilute the definition to mean anything that any occupation that requires a a 4 year degree (but at that rate, isn't everything a specialty occupation?).
But there is probably a more systematic problem here - it doesn't seem that Americans want to get masters/phd degrees as much as international students do. In 2015: over half of the engineering masters degrees from US universities were earned by international students [1]. Same issue with PhD degrees [2]. Funny thing is, the average American student scores higher than students from other highly regarded countries, so it isn't some sort of skill gap[3]. Anecdotally, I know many people who refuse to get a MS because they feel that they will end up doing the same job for possibly slightly more pay. A lot of posts on programming subreddits also echo this sentiment (though there definitely isn't a consensus) - the opportunity cost for delaying your entry to the workforce by a couple years to get a masters often does not outweigh the salary and experience you would have otherwise earned in those 2 years [4][5][6]. I'm sure one can find posts where sentiment is generally one way or the other, I just liked the first 3 I found.
[1] https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2017/10/11/foreign...
[2] https://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2015/8/189841-understanding-t...
[3] https://www.pnas.org/content/116/14/6732
[4] https://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/comments/8vse...
[5] https://www.reddit.com/r/cscareerquestions/comments/7ade5r/h...
[6] https://www.reddit.com/r/cscareerquestions/comments/7yrvwe/w...