Trump may tighten US work schemes for Indian, other foreign students

OPT and CPT programmes have spawned an industry of diploma mills and fake schools that give cover for bogus training programs and illegal employment, said an immigration expert

The United States has long been a popular study destination for international students, partly because of work programmes like Optional Practical Training (OPT) and Curricular Practical Training (CPT). These allow students on an F-1 visa to gain work experience during or after their studies.

 

In the 2022-2023 academic year, about 69,000 Indian students in the US were participating in OPT. However, under Donald Trump's administration, the future of these programmes may change.

 

What are OPT and CPT?

 

OPT and CPT gives international students temporary work authorisation in the US. While both provide practical experience, they differ in their timing and requirements.

 

 

OPT (Optional Practical Training)

Available before or after graduation.

Provides up to 12 months of work authorisation.

Two types:

Pre-completion OPT: Part-time work during studies, full-time during breaks.

Post-completion OPT: Full-time work after graduation.

STEM OPT Extension: Students in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) fields can extend OPT by 24 months, making it a total of 36 months.

 

CPT (Curricular Practical Training)

 

Allows students to work before graduation as part of their coursework.

Must be required by the curriculum or provide academic credit.

Can be part-time (20 hours or less per week) or full-time (more than 20 hours per week).

Requires a job offer before applying.

If a student completes more than 12 months of full-time CPT, they become ineligible for OPT.

 

Both require approval from the university’s Designated School Official (DSO), and for OPT, additional authorisation from US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

 

Why could the US restrict these programmes?

 

At a US House Judiciary Committee hearing on January 22, 2025, immigration expert Jessica M Vaughan said, "OPT and CPT programs were never authorised by Congress. They have spawned an industry of diploma mills and fake schools that give cover for bogus training programs and illegal employment. They should be eliminated or much more closely regulated."

 

She the Director of Policy Studies for the Center for Immigration Studies in the US, added, "Currently, OPT and CPT are the largest guest worker programmes in the US, with an estimated 540,000 former students employed here without accountability, oversight, or labour condition safeguards."

 

In 2022, the Washington Alliance of Technology Workers (WashTech) filed a lawsuit, saying that OPT allows employers to bypass the H-1B visa cap, harming US workers.

 

Fraud and security concerns

 

There have been cases where fake universities were set up to issue work authorisations under CPT. For example, the University of Northern New Jersey was a sham university created by US authorities in 2016 to catch fraudulent CPT users.

 

Jon Feere, director of investigations at the Center for Immigration Studies and former chief of staff at US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), outlined key concerns:

 

Economic impact: Employers hiring foreign students under OPT do not pay Social Security and Medicare taxes, leading to an estimated $4 billion in lost revenue annually.

Oversight challenges: Over 7,400 schools certified to enrol foreign students rely on university officials to monitor compliance, but enforcement is often weak.

Fraudulent practices: Some institutions offer "Day 1 CPT," allowing students to work immediately upon arrival in the US, undermining the programme’s educational intent.

National security risks: The rapid expansion of OPT has raised concerns about foreign nationals working in sensitive fields.

 

How many students use these programmes?

 

In FY 2023, there were 539,382 foreign students working under OPT, STEM OPT, and CPT:

276,452 students in OPT.

122,101 in STEM OPT.

140,829 in CPT.

 

Unlike the H-1B visa, which has an annual cap, these programmes do not have a limit on the number of participants.

 

Proposed changes

 

Vaughan suggested that Congress impose stricter standards for schools issuing visa paperwork. "Schools with high rates of overstays should lose their eligibility to issue I-20s," she said.

 

Feere proposed limiting OPT to fields where training is required for all students, both US and international. "This would ensure the programme serves an educational purpose rather than functioning as a cheap labour scheme for foreign students extending their stay," he said.

 

He also suggested that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) could either restrict OPT or scrap it entirely, leaving any expansion of foreign worker programmes to Congress.

 

Who supports OPT?

 

Many universities argue that OPT helps attract international students, who contribute billions to the US economy through tuition and living expenses. The University of California, Berkeley, for example, provides extensive guidance on OPT, describing it as an essential tool for students to gain real-world experience.

 

Leading tech firms, including Google, Microsoft, and Amazon, actively hire international students through OPT. They offer positions in software engineering, data science, and product management, seeing value in the diverse skill sets these students bring.