Proponents of the OPT program (Optional Practical Training) argue that it will keep the best and brightest foreign students in this country after graduation.
This is the program that provides a tax break of 8.25 percent to employers of recent alien graduates of U.S. universities. It should carry a sign that says "Americans Need Not Apply" because that tax break is not available if employers hires citizens or green card holders.
But out there in the real world, in the small Ohio River town of Aurora, Ind., a few miles down-river from Cincinnati, a contractor operating out of a house valued at about $93,000 has placed this ad.
Click on the image to enlarge it, enabling you to see listed at the end the kinds of workers the contractor seeks; apparently he expects he can get drywall installers and laborers through the OPT program.
The ad does not reveal that Uncle Sam will provide the 8.25 percent tax break to the employer, but what it does do is to demonstrate how little "training" actually happens in the OPT program. Many a pizza place is staffed with OPT workers.
The ad is from the website F1studentconnect, which deals primarily with college students from India.