Latest news with #JosephEdlow
News18
3 days ago
- Politics
- News18
Challenges Mount For International Students As Trump's USCIS Nominee Eyes OPT Ban
Last Updated: President Trump's USCIS nominee, Joseph Edlow, plans to eliminate the OPT programme, worrying international students. Amid ongoing uncertainties surrounding their academic future, international students in the United States face a fresh challenge, with President Donald Trump's nominee for the top role at US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Joseph Edlow, indicating that he intends to eliminate the Optional Practical Training (OPT) programme if selected for the job. Edlow made the statement during a recent confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, reigniting concerns among international students already navigating a complex immigration landscape, as reported by Financial Express. In recent weeks, reportedly, many students currently on OPT have received alarming letters from the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), threatening termination of their SEVIS (Student and Exchange Visitor Information System) records and possible deportation. One such letter, accessed by The Times of India, warned students about the absence of employer details in their SEVIS records, noting that this could count as unemployment — a violation of OPT rules. The letter gave recipients 15 days to update their records or face immigration proceedings. What Is OPT And Why Does It Matter? The Optional Practical Training (OPT) programme is a key pathway for international students in the U.S. to gain hands-on work experience after completing their degrees. Under this programme, eligible students are allowed to work for up to 12 months in their field of study. Those with degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) can apply for a 24-month extension, known as STEM OPT. Students must report employment information in the SEVIS system to remain compliant. As per current regulations, OPT participants are allowed a maximum of 90 days of unemployment within the standard 12-month period. For those on STEM OPT, an additional 60 days is permitted. A move to end OPT will deeply impact the Indian students in the US, who form one of the largest international student populations in the country. According to the Open Doors 2024 report, there were 331,602 Indian students in the US during the 2023–2024 academic year. Of these, 97,556 were participating in the OPT programme — a staggering 41% increase from the previous year. If the OPT programme is indeed dismantled, it could severely limit post-study work opportunities for Indian students and disrupt the educational and career plans of thousands. The proposed changes could also make the US a less attractive destination for higher education. First Published: May 28, 2025, 10:52 IST
India.com
5 days ago
- Politics
- India.com
Bad news for Indian students in US, Trump administration to stop students from..., no jobs for...
(Representational image/AI generated) New Delhi: Students in America who are thinking of working after graduation may face a big blow. Preparations are underway to end Optional Practical Training (OPT) in the USA. Even though President Donald Trump has stated that foreign students should receive green cards after graduating from American universities, his nominee for the post of the director at US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) says they want to prevent students from working in the country after graduation. This decision has raised concerns among students. President Trump has chosen Joseph Edlow as the nominee for 'U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services' (USCIS). During the nomination hearing, Edlow stated that he wants to end OPT. Edlow is set to take charge of USCIS as the director soon. Economists, business leaders, and educators say that ending OPT and STEM OPT would be a wrong decision. They argue that this will prevent America from attracting top talent to the country and from retaining them. According to a Forbes report, during a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Joseph Edlow was asked what changes he would make to the OPT programme if he were made the head of USCIS. In response, he said, 'I think the way the OPT has been handled, aided by some decisions from the DC Circuit court over the past four years, has been a real problem in terms of the misuse of the law.' He further stated, 'I would like to see OPT as a regulatory and sub-regulatory programme that would allow us to eliminate the ability of F-1 students to obtain jobs after their time at college.' In simpler terms, Joseph is saying that he does not want students to stay in the country and work after graduating from college. If he becomes the director of USCIS, that could become possible. What is the OPT programme? Optional Practical Training (OPT) allows F-1 students to work in the United States after graduation. They can work for 12 months. If someone has a degree in 'Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics' (STEM) fields, they also receive a 24-month extension, meaning they can work for 3 years. The number of Indian students benefiting from OPT and STEM OPT is the highest. In 2022-23, about 70,000 Indian students took advantage of this programme.
Time of India
5 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Optional practical training under fire: Donald Trump nominee seeks to end post-graduation work
Joseph Edlow, who is President Trump's nominee for the post of the director at US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in a recent nomination hearing has said he wants to end post-graduation optional practical training (OPT) that is available to international students. A one year OPT is available to international students, which is extended by another two years from students from the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) field. International students undertaking an academic course hold an F-1 visa. During a recent hearing before a Senate Judiciary Committee, when asked about the changes he would make to the OPT program if he headed USCIS, Edlow said, 'I think the way in which OPT has been handled over the past four years, with the help of certain decisions coming out of the DC Circuit Court, have been a real problem in terms of misapplication of the law.' TOI had tracked and reported the legal challenges that this program had faced. The Washington Alliance of Technology Workers (WashTech) had first challenged the OPT program in 2014. After a long-drawn battle, the US Court of Appeals (DC Circuit) in October 2022 upheld the validity of the OPT program and the two-year extension for STEM-OPT. While WashTech sought a review from the US Supreme Court, this was declined. In other words, the program continued to be valid. During the hearing, Edlow added that he is in favour of removing the ability for employment authorisations for F-1 students beyond the time they are in school. According to immigration attorneys' based on his statement it would appear the intent is only to have a one-year OPT (pre completion OPT) concurrent with studies. This statement has sent alarm bells ringing among the international student community, including those who are aspiring to study in the US. International students are already under stress owing to abrupt revocations of their SEVIS status and/or F-I visas, even as district courts are ordering temporary restraining orders in their favour. A bill to eliminate OPT was also introduced in the House, but is expected to fall-flat as the numbers do not add up in the Senate for it to sail through. The Indian student community in the US is significant in terms of numbers. According to the Open Doors Report (academic year 2022-23), there were 2.70 lakh Indian students in the US, with 69,000 Indian students participating in OPT programs. Responding to this development, Miriam Feldblum, President and CEO of the Presidents' Alliance (a coalition of over 570 campus leaders), stated, 'Aiming to end post-graduation OPT will undermine the US overall ability to recruit and retain top talent from around the world. Experiential learning is and has long been a crucial component of education in this country. This includes post-graduation OPT opportunities. ' 'Today, over 2.40 lakh international students participate in OPT, many in STEM fields. OPT enhances the educational experiences of international students while bolstering the workforce in communities across the US, supporting employers, and contributing to our economic competitiveness. We encourage the Department of Homeland Security to prioritize policies that expand America's global and domestic talent pipeline to spur innovation, boost our economy, and secure our nation's future as a global education and research leader,' she added.
Forbes
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Forbes
Snubbing Trump, Immigration Nominee Will End Student Practical Training
Even though Donald Trump has said international students should receive green cards after graduating from U.S. universities, a nominee to head the nation's immigration service says he wants to stop foreign students from working after graduation. He would do this by ending Optional Practical Training. Economists, businesses and educators say that ending post-graduation OPT and STEM OPT would halt America's best programs for attracting and retaining international talent. On May 21, 2025, during a confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Joseph Edlow, the Trump administration's nominee for director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, made statements certain to alarm universities, technology companies and international students. Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) asked Edlow to describe changes he would make to Optional Practical Training if he were confirmed as USCIS director. 'I think the way in which OPT has been handled over the past four years, with the help of certain decisions coming out of the D.C. Circuit Court, have been a real problem in terms of misapplication of the law,' said Edlow. 'What I want to see would be essentially a regulatory and subregulatory program that would allow us to remove the ability for employment authorizations for F-1 students beyond the time that they are in school.' (Emphasis added. The exchange occurs at about 1 hr., 45 min.) According to the Institute of International Education, in the 2023/24 academic year, 163,452 international students engaged in post-completion OPT and 79,330 were in STEM OPT, a total of 242,782. Limiting OPT or STEM OPT to only when students carry their full course load would cause these numbers to plummet and significantly reduce the number of international students who gain H-1B status, including by eliminating STEM OPT, which follows the completion of OPT. Optional Practical Training allows international students to work for 12 months in their major course of study before or after completing their course requirements. STEM OPT allows students to gain practical experience through working an additional 24 months (beyond OPT) in a science, technology, engineering or math field. Educators consider OPT and STEM OPT essential because practical training benefits students' education and encourages them to enroll in U.S. universities. The additional 24 months in STEM OPT also allows employers a much better opportunity to secure an H-1B petition for students. Business trade associations participated in the D.C. Circuit case on STEM OPT as intervenors due to their interests in the litigation's outcome, as did approximately 150 colleges, universities and related organizations. 'OPT enhances the educational experiences of international students while bolstering the workforce in communities across the United States, supporting employers, and contributing to our global competitiveness,' according to Miriam Feldblum, executive director of the Presidents' Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration. 'Any rollback of OPT will severely harm international students and our ability to attract talented students from around the world, our nation's global competitiveness, economic growth, national research capacity and future innovation.' To curtail or end OPT and STEM OPT, the Trump administration would need to publish a new regulation, a process that can take several months or more than a year. 'The administration might get away with going directly to a final rule if they claim national security and forego notice and comment, but I think that would be met with legal challenges,' said Jonathan Grode of Green & Spiegel. Subregulatory actions, which Edlow mentioned, could include policy memos, limiting resources or finding other ways to interfere with a student's ability to work on OPT or STEM OPT. 'Slowing down OPT applications could have a tremendous effect,' said immigration attorney Dan Berger. 'If initial OPT does not arrive in time, people will lose jobs or be hamstrung in their job searches after graduation.' The Bush administration added STEM OPT in 2008, in part to give international students more chances at the H-1B lottery. That improved the likelihood they could remain in the United States. After legal challenges, in 2016, the Obama administration finalized a rule on STEM OPT. On October 4, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit decided 2-1 in favor of the Department of Homeland Security, affirming a November 2020 order and a January 2021 opinion after a group, Washtech, challenged the executive branch's authority to allow international students to work on OPT and STEM OPT. 'As Congress itself has recognized, the Secretary's statutory authority to set the 'conditions' of nonimmigrants' [temporary visa holders] stay in the United States includes the power to authorize employment reasonably related to the nonimmigrant visa class,' according to the opinion. 'Authorizing foreign students to engage in limited periods of employment for practical training as their schools recommend according to the terms set out in the Rule is a valid exercise of that power.' Attorneys note that even though the D.C. Circuit ruled that DHS has the authority to issue work authorization to graduates of U.S. universities, that does not necessarily mean there is a statutory mandate to do so. Prohibiting students from working on OPT or STEM OPT after graduation would make retaining talent in the United States far more difficult. Even with OPT and STEM OPT, it is much easier in Canada and elsewhere to transition from international student to temporary work status and permanent residence than in the United States. Madeline Zavodny, an economics professor at the University of North Florida, examined nearly a decade of data on Optional Practical Training and concluded, 'The results indicate that the OPT program does not reduce job opportunities for American workers in STEM fields.' The National Foundation for American Policy study found, 'A larger number of foreign students approved for OPT, relative to the number of U.S. workers, is associated with a lower unemployment rate among those U.S. workers.' In addition, 'Analysis of the data shows unemployment rates are lower in areas with larger numbers of foreign students doing OPT as a share of workers in STEM occupations.' 'The clearest evidence is that foreign graduates of U.S. universities cause major increases in innovation,' according to research by George Mason University economics professor Michael Clemens. In an analysis for the Peterson Institute for International Economics, he cites studies showing that an increase in foreign graduates leads to more patents, more startups by U.S.-born founders and greater innovation in metropolitan areas. Clemens points to a study by economists Nicholas Bloom, John Van Reenen, and Heidi Williams. 'Overall, most of the available evidence suggests that increasing the supply of human capital through expanded university programs and/or relaxed immigration rules is likely to be an effective innovation policy,' the economists concluded. 'Encouraging skilled immigration has big effects even in the short run.' 'Some fields of economic research are difficult to summarize,' writes Clemens. 'This one is not. Immigration policy that broadly seeks ways to entice foreign graduates of U.S. universities to remain in the United States, the overwhelming mass of evidence suggests, would serve the national interest. Terminating OPT would do the opposite.' International students account for 71% of the full-time graduate students in computer and information sciences and 73% of the full-time graduate students in electrical and computer engineering at U.S. universities and are particularly important in artificial intelligence. In contrast to Joseph Edlow's statements at his confirmation hearing, Donald Trump has said he thinks international students are so beneficial to America that they should be granted green cards after graduating. Trump laid out these views during a trip to Silicon Valley last year. On June 19, 2024, then-presidential candidate Donald Trump taped a podcast interview with venture capitalists on All-In. 'What I want to do and what I will do is you graduate from a college, I think you should get automatically as part of your diploma a green card to be able to stay in this country,' said Trump. 'And that includes junior colleges too, anybody graduates from a college. You go there for two years or four years.' Trump promised to address the issue on 'day one.' Trump's pledge on foreign college graduates came after podcast host Jason Calacanis asked Trump if he could pledge to 'give us more ability to import the best and brightest around the world to America.' Trump promised that he would. Trump made similar comments on August 18, 2015, when he tweeted, 'When foreigners attend our great colleges & want to stay in the U.S., they should not be thrown out of our country.' U.S. companies and universities want to know whose views on international students will prevail in the Trump administration: Donald Trump or his nominee to head USCIS?
