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NDTV
3 days ago
- NDTV
US Cracks Down On Students In Optional Practical Training. Here's Why
A large number of international students in the US, particularly those on Optional Practical Training (OPT), are receiving stern notices from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) warning of possible SEVIS record termination and deportation. The warnings stem from missing or outdated employer information in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), which tracks students' employment status. OPT rules allow a maximum of 90 days of unemployment over the standard 12-month period, with an additional 60 days for students in the STEM-OPT extension. The ICE letter gives students just 15 days to update their SEVIS records. If employment details remain missing, students could face removal proceedings. A letter reviewed by TOI reads: "Because there is no employer information in your SEVIS record, you are accumulating unemployment days... failure to take corrective action may result in immigration proceedings." The Indian student community is particularly affected. Of the 2.7 lakh Indian students in the US in 2022-23, nearly 69,000 were in OPT programmes. Immigration lawyers are urging students to report job changes, losses, and new employment within 10 days.
Time of India
4 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
OPT visa rules tightened for international students: Inaccurate employment can now result in deportation
Many international students on OPT in the U.S., including thousands from India, are receiving ICE letters warning of SEVIS record termination and possible deportation due to missing employer information. Students must update SEVIS within 10 days of employment changes. With stricter enforcement now in place, even unreported jobs or DSO errors can trigger immigration consequences. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Thousands of international students in the US on post-graduation Optional Practical Training (OPT) are receiving warning letters from the country's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), threatening termination of their SEVIS records and potential deportation over employment reporting issues, according to a report by TOI's Lubna core of the issue lies in the reporting of employment status within the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS). OPT regulations grant students a maximum of 90 days of unemployment during their twelve-month program. Another 60 days are available to those undertaking the STEM-OPT program for an additional two years.'The recent ICE letters indicate that an international student's SEVIS record will be terminated if there is no employer information listed on the SEVIS portal. This signifies that the student did not report the OPT job on time or went over the allowed unemployment period, either of which can result in a termination of OPT status and initiation of removal proceedings,' Snehal Batra, managing attorney at NPZ Law Group told TOI.'This is a pretty big change for F-1 students. In the past, SEVIS did not usually terminate SEVIS records automatically for exceeding 90 days of unemployment. But now, with tighter rules, students could accidentally fall out of status for failure to report,' she per immigration attorneys, OPT reporting rules require SEVIS to be updated within ten days of any change, be it a new job, new work site location, or loss of employment.A copy of such a letter, seen by TOI states, 'Because there is no employer information in your SEVIS record, you are accumulating unemployment days and may have exceeded the permissible period of unemployment. If you have been employed during your OPT time, you must correct your SEVIS record. Please contact your Designated School Official (DSO) or utilize the SEVIS Portal to update your information. Failure to take corrective action may result in the initiation of immigration proceedings to remove you from the United States."This letter imposes a strict 15-day deadline on international students to update their SEVIS records from the date of issuance. Failure to comply will lead to the termination of their SEVIS status, potentially resulting in consequences like students represent a large portion of the international student population in the US. According to the Open Doors Report for the 2022–23 academic year, there were 2,70,000 Indian students in the country, including 69,000 enrolled in OPT programs. As a result, many Indian students have been affected by these to 'NAFSA: Association of International Educators', the wordings of the letter are identical to those issued in 2020 under the Trump-Pence administration. However, according to education and immigration experts, this time there appears to be an uptick in the number of letters that are being issued.'Traditionally, it's been the school's DSO that tracks SEVIS compliance, but since ICE administers the SEVP, they have been going in and terminating people who have accumulated more than 90 days of unemployment during their OPT,' Jath Shao, founder of an immigration law firm told TOI.'It is crucial to have employment, paid or unpaid, that is related to the major you graduated from. You must also promptly report your employment or unemployment to your school's DSO. We have seen some cases where DSOs failed to timely update graduates' employment status in SEVIS, but USCIS has reinstated the students' status upon correction of the record,' pointed out gravity of the situation has prompted NAFSA: Association of International Educators, to issue a special advisory. It recommends that DSOs should diligently monitor the 'Accrued unemployment days' alerts. This alert highlights students who have accrued unemployment days and shows their employment status as of the date the list was generated. Designated School Officials (DSOs) are encouraged to proactively reach out to students with a high number of unemployment days and remind them to update their employment details via the SEVIS Portal or directly through their DSO.(With TOI inputs)
Indian Express
24-05-2025
- Business
- Indian Express
Why Trump's escalating war on Harvard, other US universities could progressively dent American academic leadership, impact economy
A legal reprieve notwithstanding, US President Donald Trump's escalating attacks on educational institutions such as Harvard University and the targeting of foreign student could be 'a prescription for failure'. The revocation of Harvard's certification to host international students on Thursday left thousands of students in the lurch. And while students and the Ivy League university, both, face concerns ranging from transferring to another institution to financial pain due to blocked government grants, the US economy will face a blowback too, especially if the Trump administration's crackdown spreads to other elite academic institutions. The number of international students at Harvard steadily increased to 6,793 in the 2024-25 academic year from 3,941 in 2006-07, accounting for over 27 per cent of total enrollments currently, as per data from the university. Of course, the numbers are even larger if one looks beyond Harvard. In 2023-24, the number of international students in the US in higher education rose to 11.3 lakh, making up 5.9 per cent of total US enrollment of 1.89 crore, according to the Open Doors 2004 report, published in November 2024 by the US Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and the Institute of International Education. Harvard, as it turns out, did not even rank in the top-25 institutions in terms of international students, with New York University topping the list with 27,247 overseas students. India, with 3.32 lakh international students in the US, was the top-sending country for the first time since 2009. On Friday, Harvard sued the Trump administration for blocking the enrollment of international students – who it said 'contribute significantly to the University and its mission' – and won a temporary restraining order against the government's decision to revoke its certification. As the University petitioned in its lawsuit, 'with the stroke of a pen, the government has sought to erase a quarter of Harvard's student body.' The million-plus overseas students in American higher education institutions are also adding meaningfully to the economy. In the 2023-24 academic year, they contributed $43.8 billion to the US economy and supported 3.78 lakh jobs, according to NAFSA: Association of International Educators, formerly known as National Association of Foreign Student Advisers. 'The economic activity total is the highest amount ever calculated by NAFSA, eclipsing the high-water mark of $41 billion in 2018-2019 academic year,' the association said in November 2024, adding that for every three international students, one American job is either created or supported. As it turns out, international students had begun to grow cold towards the US even before the Trump administration's recent criticism of Harvard and policies that have cut back research and science funding. According to an analysis of Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) data by Chris R. Glass, a Professor of the Practice at Boston College's Department of Educational Leadership and Higher Education, international student enrollments were down 11% year-on-year in March 2025. According to Glass, the fall in international student enrollments could represent 'a more fundamental restructuring', with the 11% decline potentially causing a $4 billion hole in the pockets of US institutions. Glass' analysis showed the 11% downturn was led by a 28% fall in Indian students. The Indian Express had reported in December 2024 that the number of student visas issued to Indians in January-September 2024 were down 38% year-on-year. Others, too, have begun to voice concerns about the prospect of the US attracting fewer overseas students. Speaking at a tech summit in San Francisco earlier this week, renowned artificial intelligence researcher and Stanford University's Sequoia Professor in the Computer Science Department, Fei-Fei Li, warned it was important the US remains a 'magnet' for overseas talent and that the American higher education system continues to be nourished as it was critical to economic growth and innovation. 'Closing yourself off from any group, and especially the 97% of the world's population that lives outside the United States is a prescription for failure. Damaged universities mean less prosperity and fewer new ideas, ranging from the golf tee to Sesame Street to transplantation to stem cell cures for diabetes to so many more things that came from Harvard research. No small part of that contribution came from foreign scholars. All of that is at risk with these actions,' former Harvard University President Larry Summers, who has been a regular critic of his old university but has enthusiastically defended the educational institution after Trump's recurrent attacks, said in a conversation with Politico on Thursday.
India Today
01-05-2025
- Politics
- India Today
Fresh deportation fear among international students in US after ICE memo
Fresh fear has gripped some international students in the US, including those from India, after a new internal memo from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). It is ICE that is behind the recent spate of deportations. Despite the recent reinstatement of their SEVIS student records after a mass termination, the new memo states students might face issues if they have a gap in their Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) is maintained by the US Department of Homeland Security and tracks the immigration status of international students and exchange memo to all SEVIS personnel, which fall under ICE, showed an expanded list of criteria for ICE to terminate foreign-born students' legal status in the US, including a "US Department of State Visa Revocation (Effective Immediately)." It was filed in court by the Justice Department on Monday night and dated Saturday, NBC News legal experts note that students were generally entitled to due process before any action is taken against their status. Under the new memo, though, simply having a visa revoked is now enough to justify terminating a student's legal status."A terminated record in SEVIS could indicate that the non-immigrant no longer maintains F or M status," the memo read, The Times of India the past, international students could fall out of legal status for various reasons — such as dropping out of school, losing work authorisation, or being involved in specific criminal SEVIS termination, ICE may conduct further investigation or initiate removal proceedings, according to the report in records can now be terminated for a number of reasons, ranging from "exceeded unemployment time" to "violation of change of status requirements," the memo stated."When SEVP has objective evidence that a nonimmigrant visa holder is no longer complying with the terms of their nonimmigrant status for any reason, then the SEVIS record may be terminated on that basis," the memo ICE MEMO CREATES UNCERTAINTY FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDENTSCharles Kuck, founding partner of immigration law firm Kuck Baxter, discussed this on X."It turns out that ICE did not 'unrevoke' the SEVIS registration on the date of their screw-up. They did their 'unrevocation' as of 4/24 (April).""That means all of these students now have a gap in their SEVIS records, which, according to ICE's new policy, rendered them out of status during that time. This will almost certainly have an effect when adjudicating change of status and other applications," he US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is a government agency that oversees lawful immigration to the United States.A lapse in SEVIS status can pose severe immigration consequences, such as accruing unlawful may result in a 3-10-year ban from re-entering the US, complications with future visa approvals, or, in some cases, removal from the country.F visas are issued to students pursuing academic programs, while M visas are designated for those enroled in vocational or technical it also states that termination does not necessarily result in adverse consequences—a position that has been legally contested and has resulted in temporary restraining orders being passed in favour of the international students by several district GIVES ICE POWER EARLIER DENIED BY COURTS: IMMIGRATION ATTORNEYJath Shao, a Cleveland-based immigration attorney representing international students affected by the visa revocations, felt that the new policy posed a new set of challenges for students."ICE has now done their homework and issued this memo to give themselves the power that judges just told them they didn't have," NBC News quoted Shao as saying."Students should be concerned that even minor problems can have serious consequences and should consult a lawyer if there is anything in their past to worry about," Shao added. advertisement
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
NC State international students' visas restored after Trump reversal, university says
The visas of two international students at NC State University have been restored after the Trump administration initially revoked them earlier this month. NC State spokesperson Mick Kulikowski confirmed to The News & Observer by email Tuesday that the students' records in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, or SEVIS, have been 'restored to active.' The Trump administration throughout early April enacted sweeping terminations of immigration records for international students across the country. The actions impacted thousands of students, according to a count by Inside Higher Ed, including more than a dozen in North Carolina. In addition to the two students at NC State, six students at UNC-Chapel Hill and six at UNC Charlotte also had their visas revoked. All of those students' records have been restored, according to reporting by The N&O and The Charlotte Observer. Two Duke University students and an alumnus were also impacted by the administration's terminations, according to the Duke Chronicle, but the outlet reported Friday that it is unclear whether their records have been restored. The visa restorations in North Carolina and around the country come after the U.S. Department of Justice announced in federal court Friday morning that it planned to restore the statuses of the students who were impacted by those actions, as reported by Politico and other outlets. International students are required to obtain visas to enroll and study at colleges around the United States. In addition to visas, international students are assigned records in the federal SEVIS database maintained by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. If a student's visa is revoked, it does not automatically mean they must leave the country. But if a student's SEVIS record is terminated — as the NC State students' records initially were, according to the university — they could be subject to deportation or other removal proceedings. The two NC State students who were impacted by the visa revocations left the country after consulting with their lawyers and the embassy in Saudi Arabia, the students' home country. NC State Chancellor Randy Woodson told The N&O that both students were in 'good standing' with the university.' NC State's Office of International Services previously said the university did not initiate the terminations. It remains possible that the Trump administration could target visas again. Inside Higher Ed reported that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement would work to develop a framework for future terminations following the administration's reversal in court Friday. 'As this remains an evolving situation, we will continue to monitor and work with students on an individual basis as needed,' Kulikowski wrote. 'Over the past several weeks, the university has provided students with ongoing support, with the priority of helping them complete their studies.' NC State enrolls the most international students of any school in the public UNC System and hosts the second-most international students of any university in the state, according to federal data. According to a 2024 report by the U.S. Department of State, the university enrolled more than 3,700 international students from more than 100 countries during the 2023-24 academic year, most of whom were graduate students.
