While Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have been stirred controversy for supporting H-1B visas for foreign workers, the largest guest worker program that is killing jobs for new American college grads is the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program. OPT has no caps, gives employers payroll tax deductions up to $12,000 per worker, and has no wage requirements. OPT creates an unfair advantage for foreign grads, costs Social Security and Medicare well over a billion dollars each year, and also serves as a backdoor pipeline to H-1B visas. OPT literally pays companies to avoid hiring Americans. OPT began as a “short-term” program has morphed into a full-blown weapon against American jobs. In 2008, Bill Gates tried and failed to get the H-1B visa program expanded for cheaper labor. He then lobbied Michael Chertoff, the head of the Department of Homeland Security, to extend the duration of OPT beyond 1 year, effectively creating a workaround for H-1B visa caps.

https://needtoknow.news/2025/01/you-thought-h-1b-was-bad-thanks-to-bill-gates-opt-is-whats-really-killing-american-jobs/