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A PhD at a good institution is also a great way to open doors which would otherwise remain closed. I found that opening emails with "I'm a DPhil student at the Oxford University Computing Lab and" resulted in a dramatic increase in how helpful people would be.

That's probably the Oxford part doing the trick, not the DPhil part ;-) I am only half-joking.

I did say "at a good institution". ;-)

To further this point, it is much faster to get a green card if you possess a Ph.D. rather than a Master's degree. Not only can you apply for the outstanding researcher category, but I believe you also get priority for the regular process. For Master's holders, the process in 5+ years now.

Companies need very few PhDs in math, science and engineering -- bachelors and masters do fine.

My company hires tons of PhDs.

Thanks for chiming in.

Please try to avoid writing useless comments.