Employment alternatives for international students

The US draws the attention of thousands of foreign students annually thanks to the quality of local study programs and the fact that the country has dozens of internationally recognized and renowned colleges and universities.

Adding to that, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) offers employment alternatives for foreign students with F-1 visas. For instance, the Optional Practical Training (OPT) allows international students to gain work experience in their areas after completing their studies.

After working through OPT, foreign students who meet the mandatory requirements can apply to the H-1B visa program. This option allows local companies to hire highly qualified foreign workers in sectors such as science, technology, engineering and research.

Do you need help with an immigration process? Contact Motion Law and schedule your free consultation, whether you need to extend your residence permit, adjust your immigration status or if you are about to travel to the US for the first time.

The Trump administration’s opinion regarding OPT

Reducing immigration has always been one of the main purposes of the Trump administration, which substantially transformed the immigration system over the past four years, increasing restrictions and requirements for foreigners to come to the US, including vulnerable communities such as refugees or asylum seekers.

Regarding international students, the Trump administration tried to implement several restrictions on grounds of health emergency in June 2020, amid the Coronavirus outbreak in the North American territory.

Speaking specifically about the OPT program, the Trump administration argues that international students often take advantage of the immigration system and use this employment opportunity unlawfully, “making up companies that do not exist” and exceeding the time allowed by their visas.

Therefore, the current administration has tried to remove OPT from work programs available to foreigners and penalize international students who use this benefit to reside illegally in the US.

In fact, in January 2020, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which is a branch of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), launched a project to arrest foreign students under OPT who do not meet the requirements or misuse this program.

New ICE unit to supervise the OPT program

DHS recently announced that it will create a new ICE investigative unit called the “OPT Employment Compliance Unit,” which will focus solely on monitoring the OPT program and ensuring that both local businesses and foreign students make proper use of employment alternatives. In the opinion of DHS, local businesses also overuse this program to pay lower wages to foreign workers, leaving local workers behind.

In fact, DHS states that the OPT unit will conduct investigations to “ensure that the OPT programmes operate in a lawful manner at US worksites (…) For example, if the unit were to detect evidence that an employer is using OPT in a discriminatory manner, or in a manner that negatively impacts wages, this unit may notify the US Department of Labour and the US Department of Justice.”

Contact Motion Law for your immigration case

If you have any questions about an immigration issue or relating to a case you may have currently in progress, then please don’t hesitate to contact us for a FREE Phone Consultation with one of our expert immigration attorneys.

Simply call Motion Law today at: (202) 918-1799.