Over 69,000 Indian students hit hard as ICE targets OPT program with strict warning letters
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has begun sending warning letters to thousands of students enrolled in the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program, causing a wave of fear among foreign students in the US.
The letters allege that they violated employment reporting regulations, which might result in the dismissal of their SEVIS records and possible deportation.
Indian students, who make up the second-largest group of overseas students in the US, are greatly impacted by this administrative action.
Nearly 69,000 of the 270,000 Indian students enrolled in the US during the 2022–2023 academic year participated in the Open Doors Program, according to the report.
Administrative errors in submitting employment information have put these students on the verge of losing their legal status.
The stringent application of current OPT unemployment regulations is at the core of the problem. Under OPT rules, foreign students may be jobless for up to ninety days throughout their twelve-month OPT tenure. STEM-OPT extension recipients receive an extra 60 days.
They must update it on the SEVIS site within ten days when a student's occupation changes, whether it be through a new job, employment termination, or an alteration in location.
'The recent ICE letters indicate that a student's SEVIS record will be terminated if there is no employer information listed. This means the student either failed to report the OPT job on time or exceeded the allowed unemployment period,' Snehal Batra, an immigration lawyer with NPZ Law Group, told the TNN.
Also Read: Dark tourism expert reveals chilling details amid Annabelle doll's vanishing rumours, 'We may be dealing with…'
In the past, SEVIS records were not usually instantly canceled for such transgressions, Batra continued, but the present administration's stringent policies make it easier for students to lose their status.
Earlier, SEVIS records were not generally instantly canceled for such violations; but the present administration's stringent policies make it easier for students to lose their status.
Historically, the Designated School Officials (DSOs) were in charge of overseeing the accuracy of SEVIS reporting. However, 'ICE has been going in and terminating people who have accumulated more than 90 days of unemployment,' as per immigration attorney Jath Shao, who was cited by the TNN.
While US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has restored student status after records were updated, he said that in certain cases, DSO delays resulted in the failure to update SEVIS.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
21 minutes ago
- Time of India
RJD MP defends Tej Pratap, says 2 marriages now new in country
1 2 3 4 5 6 Patna: Citing the example of former Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan who had two wives, senior RJD leader and Buxar MP Sudhakar Singh on Monday defended Lalu Prasad's elder son and former state minister Tej Pratap Yadav on the issue of having relationship with another woman, apart from his wife. Tej Pratap had on May 24 announced on social media that he had been "in a relationship for 12 years" with the woman, despite being married, and his divorce petition pending before a family court here. He, however, deleted the post a few hours later, claiming that his social media page was "hacked". Defending Tej Pratap, the RJD MP, while talking to reporters in East Champaran's Motihari, said, "Solemnising another marriage does not fall under the category of immorality. The tradition of having two marriages in India is not new. Indian society has had the tradition of multiple marriages for centuries..." Citing the example of late Paswan, Singh said, "We have seen and heard in the past many instances of multiple marriages by a man. Take the case of Union minister Chirag Paswan, who was born to Ram Vilas's second wife." Singh also urged RJD chief Lalu Prasad to reconsider his decision about Tej Pratap. "Lalu Prasad, as a father, should reconsider his decision of expelling Tej Pratap from the party," Singh said. A day after Tej Pratap declared his relationship with another woman, the RJD supremo on May 25 expelled him from the party and snapped all family ties with him. Lalu, who announced his drastic move on social media, made no mention of the previous day's happenings, but criticised his elder son's actions, public conduct and "irresponsible behaviour", saying "disregard for moral values in personal life weakens our collective struggle to achieve social justice". Lalu also admonished Tej Pratap for behaving in a manner "not in consonance with the values of my family", and declared: "He is expelled from the party for six years."
Hindustan Times
24 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
PM to meet delegations after world tour next week
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to meet the seven multi-party delegations, which are currently touring key international capitals to underscore India's zero-tolerance for terrorism and New Delhi's 'new normal' against the menace, sometime next week, people aware of developments said on Monday. According to the people cited above, the date for Modi's meeting is yet to be finalised but it might happen on June 9 or 10. Before the PM meets all seven delegations, they will debrief external affairs minister S Jaishankar in a process starting from Tuesday with the team led by Bharatiya Janata Party leader Baijayant 'Jay' Panda, the people added. Panda's delegation, which left Delhi on May 24, is set to be the first to return home after visiting Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and Algeria. The meeting with Jaishankar is scheduled at 2.30pm on Tuesday. The delegation comprises BJP leaders Nishikant Dubey, Phangnon Konyak, Rekha Sharma, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief Asaduddin Owaisi, nominated Rajya Sabha member Satnam Singh Sandhu, former minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, and former foreign secretary Harsh Shringla. The PM's decision to meet all the delegations is a significant step as top-ranking functionaries suggested that the main idea to send the teams across the globe after Operation Sindoor came from the PM. It will be the first interaction between the PM and the delegations, which began leaving Delhi on May 21. The multi-party delegations—comprising 59 lawmakers, in addition to former diplomats — have already covered a bulk of their itinerary of 33 countries, including the European Union. The leaders, briefed by foreign secretary Vikram Misri before leaving Delhi, have focused on exposing Pakistan's duplicity on combating terror by showing pictures of the country's army general attending funeral of terrorists killed during Operation Sindoor and the discovery of 9/11 accused Osama Bin Laden in Abbottabad, and underlined how repeated peace initiatives by New Delhi met with disappointment and more attacks, people familiar with the matter said. All seven delegations – headed by senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor; Bharatiya Janata Party leaders Ravi Shankar Prasad and Panda; Janata Dal (United) leader Sanjay Jha, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) leader Supriya Sule, and Shiv Sena leader Shrikant Shinde – have met parliamentarians, ministers, government officials and policy makers to exchange views on furthering cooperation on counterterrorism and combating radicalism, especially after the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that left 26 civilians dead. The Indian delegations spoke about major terror attacks sponsored by Pakistan, how Islamabad refused to act even after New Delhi provided clinching evidence of photos, DNA samples and call records in the aftermath of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, and pointed out that all major international terror attacks including the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks and the 2005 London bombing had direct or indirect links to Pakistan, said the people cited above. Two of the delegations – one to Russia and another to Japan – concluded their visits on Saturday with 'constructive meetings', said the people cited above. Operation Sindoor was India's direct military response to the April 22 terror strike at Pahalgam in Kashmir that killed 26 civilians in what was the worst attack on civilians since the 26/11 Mumbai strikes. India launched the operation in the early hours of May 7, bombing nine terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). The pre-dawn strikes --- which killed at least 100 terrorists --- sparked a series of attacks and counter attacks across the western border, involving fighter jets, missiles, armed drones, and fierce artillery and rocket duels. In one such counterattack on the night of May 9-10, the air force struck targets at 13 Pakistani air bases and military installations. After four days of fighting, military hostilities were stopped on May 10 as the two nations reached an understanding. The move to send political delegations abroad started on May 17, roughly a week after India and Pakistan agreed to an understanding to cease hostilities. In Algiers, Panda said that India's appeal to place Pakistan back on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list was gaining significant resonance globally, emphasising the role of illicit financing in fuelling terrorism. 'Pakistan is not interested in improving itself or helping its people... They have diverted the money for terrorism and its army and looted it... Terrorism is fuelled by two things. One is ideology and the other is illicit finance... Ideology-wise, these Islamic countries have taken a strong stand... They do not permit any kind of fundamentalism from their soil... Financing part is the other aspect,' Panda said. In Paris, former Union minister M J Akbar asserted India's clear and thought-through 'no first use' doctrine on nuclear weapons and said, 'Pakistan is a military state, it is no longer a civilian state. And a military state has a vested interest in conflict because conflict justifies its presence… Now, it sometimes thinks it can provide a nuclear shelter to terrorists. The Prime Minister (Modi) has made it very clear that there can be no nuclear blackmail.' In Tokyo, Trinamool Congress lawmaker Abhishek Banerjee said, 'If terrorism is a rabid dog, Pakistan is a vile handler…We are here to share the message and the truth that India refuses to bow down. We will not kneel to fear. I belong to a political party that is in the Opposition. It is in the public domain that I have said that Pakistan needs to be taught a lesson in the language they understand,' he said.
Hindustan Times
29 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
UK trade minister to meet USTR Greer to discuss implementing tariff deal
LONDON, - Britain's trade minister Jonathan Reynolds will meet U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on Tuesday to discuss the implementation of a trade deal that has been complicated by the announcement of fresh U.S. tariffs on steel. Reynolds will review recently agreed deals with counterparts from the U.S. and EU, Britain's two biggest trading partners, during a three-day trip to Paris and Brussels this week. The deals struck last month are both political pacts rather than formal trade agreements, and the details of their implementation have not been set out. Starmer and U.S. President Donald Trump agreed to reduce tariffs on British imports of cars and steel to the United States, but its delayed implementation means tariffs may go up before they come down. Last week, Trump said that tariffs on imported steel would rise to 50% from 25% from Wednesday. Industry body UK Steel said it understood that British producers would likely be impacted by the change, which would be a "body blow" to the sector. A British government spokesperson said the UK was engaging with the United States on the implications of the announcement ahead of Reynolds' meeting with Greer to discuss implementation timelines of the bilateral agreement in Paris. "We recognise our relationship with G7 allies and EU counterparts must continue to evolve and deliver a better trading environment for our businesses and exporters," Reynolds said in a statement ahead of the trip. Reynolds will also meet Indian Minister of Commerce Piyush Goyal to discuss a recently negotiated Free Trade Agreement, which is still having its legal text finalised and is subject to ratification in both countries, which could take months. After meetings with G7 and OECD counterparts in Paris, Reynolds will hold talks with EU trade commissioner Maros Sefcovic. As part of efforts to reset ties without fundamentally reopening the Brexit deal, Britain and the EU have agreed to conclude talks to remove red tape on its food trade, but details of the plan have yet to be finalised. In advance of that agreement coming into force, Britain on Monday said it would scrap border checks on fruit and vegetables imported from the European Union, that had been due to be effective beginning in July.
