Slowdown in growth of foreign graduates obtaining temporary work permits in US; no. of Indians goes up: Pew

There has been a slowdown in the growth of foreign graduates obtaining temporary work permits in the US over the last two years, but the period saw a rise in the actual number of Indian students seeking short-term employment, a Pew research said today.

The growth in the once-booming Optional Practical Training (OPT) programme for foreign graduates in the US has "slowed dramatically", according to a Pew Research Centre analysis of the government data.

This is a result of the tightening of the regulations that govern the OPT programme -- temporary employment that is directly related to an immigrant student's major area of study, the Pew said.

As per the new regulations, graduates working under OPT programme must work at their employer's place of business, while earlier they were allowed to work at a third-party site.

"OPT enrollment growth slowed substantially in 2017 among foreign students from India and China, the programme's two largest countries of origin. In fact, only France, Nepal and Nigeria saw their annual growth rates increase in 2017 (among nations with 10,000 or more foreign students enrolled in OPT from 2004 to 2017)," it said.

According to Pew, the growth rate of Indian graduates getting OPT declined by a substantial 55 per cent in 2016-2017 as compared to the 2015-2016.

Indians, however, continue to top the overall number, it said.

In 2017, more than 122,000 Indian graduates received OPTs, as against 104,600 in 2016 and just 61,000 in 2015.

Pew said the growth in the number of foreign graduates under OPT slowed in 2017 across all degree levels, but the trend was most pronounced among master's degree holders.

About 188,600 foreign students held master's degrees in 2017, a nine per cent increase over the previous year - much lower than the 45 per cent annual increase seen in 2016.

This slowdown follows a period of rapid growth: From 2014 to 2015, the number of foreign students with master's degrees jumped by 57 per cent, the highest annual increase of any degree level since 2004, it said.