Опциональная практика для иностранных студентов в США: возможности и изменения

Authorized Foreign Student Training Period in United States
In the United States, Optional Practical Training (OPT) is a period during which undergraduate and graduate students with F 1 status who have completed or have been pursuing their degrees for one academic year are permitted by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to work for one year on a student visa towards getting practical training to complement their education. Foreign students currently enrolled at a U. S. university can receive full time or part time work authorization through Curricular Practical Training. In 2022, there were 171,635 OPT employment authorizations. In 2021, there were 115,651 new non STEM OPT authorizations, a 105% increase from a decade ago. According to Pew Research, there were 441,400 OPT approvals from India and 313,500 from China between 2004 2016. The University of Southern California was the largest OPT participant between 2003 and 2017, with 30,720 approvals. On April 2, 2008, the U. S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Michael Chertoff announced a 17 month extension to the OPT for students in qualifying STEM fields. To be eligible for the 12 month permit, any degree in any field of studies is valid. For the 17 month OPT extension, a student must have received a science, technology, engineering, or mathematics degree as defined by USCIS. On March 11, 2016, the Department of Homeland Security published a final rule allowing certain F 1 students who receive STEM degrees and who meet other specified requirements to apply for a 24 month extension of their post completion OPT, giving STEM graduates a total of 36 months of OPT. The 24 month extension replaces the 17 month STEM OPT extension previously available to STEM students (see 73 FR 18944). Eligible students could apply for a 24 month STEM OPT extension starting on May 10, 2016. In 2019, there were 72,116 new STEM OPT authorizations. Compared to a decade prior, it is an 1108% increase. Unless otherwise specified, Optional Practical Training is understood to refer to Optional Practical Training for F 1 students.

Between 2004 and 2016, there were 441,400 OPT approvals from India and 313,500 from China. California has the highest percentage of OPT workers, with 20.8%.

The STEM extension was announced in a memo by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff on April 2, 2008, published in the Federal Register issue of Tuesday, April 8, 2008. This policy changes shaped foreign students' decision to decide and obtain a STEM degree. In addition, foreign students were 18% more likely to have a STEM field degree following the 2008 policy change. In addition, the likelihood that a foreign student completes a STEM master's degree rose 33%.

The OPT STEM extension announced in April 2008 was challenged in a lawsuit by the Immigration Reform Law Institute filed on May 31, 2008. The organization filed a lawsuit in federal court on behalf of various organizations and individuals challenging the validity of the 17 month OPT extension. On August 5, 2008, the lawsuit was rejected by a New Jersey district court judge.

A November 20, 2014 memo by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Charles Johnson outlining proposed executive action on immigration endorsed by President Barack Obama included some suggested changes to the OPT program. The proposals were discussed and critiqued in National Law Review.

In August 2015, a US federal court gave the green light to a lawsuit challenging the 17 month OPT STEM extension, filed by the Washington Alliance of Technology Workers and three IT workers who claimed that the OPT STEM extension had created unfair low wage competition that had materially hurt them. On August 12, 2015, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia vacated the 2008 OPT Regulations but stayed the order until February 12, 2016, to allow DHS to provide a transition. The court therefore gave the federal government a deadline and an extension to formulate new rules.

The proposed rules suggested in the November 20, 2014 memo by DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson were finalized by the USCIS on March 11, 2016, to be effective May 10, 2016, just in time to address the November 2014 court challenge to the original STEM extension. USCIS expanded the STEM extension to two years. The agency did add a requirement that the employer attest to the non displacement of U. S. workers, to address concerns raised in the STEM extension lawsuit challenge.

In April and May 2020, in response to the COVID 19 pandemic and the increase in unemployment due to the pandemic and associated government lockdowns, the administration of President Donald Trump was reported to be exploring new restrictions on OPT. However, the Trump administration ultimately left out OPT from his executive actions due to White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Coordination Chris Liddell rallying universities against any restrictions on the program.

Labor experts have noted that employers like to hire foreign workers on OPT because employers get a discount. Students working with OPT authorization do not pay Social Security and Medicare taxes. For employers, hiring an OPT worker amounts to a 15.3% discount per student compared to an American citizen or permanent resident. Employers receive another discount because these companies do not have to provide health insurance as OPT workers are required to maintain private health insurance. Georgetown University researchers found OPT workers are paid 41.7 percent less than equivalent U. S. workers They found that in general, the student to temporary work visa pathway reduced earnings until these foreign students became legal permanent residents.

Critics of the Optional Practical Training program allege that the program allows for U. S companies to prefer international students who studied in United States over American college graduates. In 2019, The Department of Labor sued Oracle Corporation favored foreign Asian graduates of U. S. colleges over American graduates. Howard University Professor of Public Policy Ron Hira commented on the government lawsuit "Oracle is not alone in favoring foreign workers who can be paid less because they’re tied to a company by their visa or work permit. Industry’s key argument for cheaper H 1B and OPT guest workers is that there’s a shortage of U. S. talent. That argument completely falls apart in the face of these findings. In fact, the industry is using the visa programs for cheaper guest workers, undercutting U. S. workers, damaging the U. S. talent pipeline, and exacerbating its woeful record on workforce diversity.”

Policy scholars and detractors of OPT have noted that Congress never provided F 1 visa foreign students the ability to work besides a three year pilot program included in the Immigration Act of 1990 that ended.

Journalists have pointed out that foreign STEM OPT recipients drive American STEM graduates and future STEM students away from industry through wage deflation and competition for entry level jobs.

Lawmakers have expressed concerns that vulnerabilities in the work authorization program expose the United States to foreign theft of intellectual property, especially from China.

There are concerns about fraud with the program. An investigation by NBC News found that fake companies were exploiting the foreign student guestworker program. These companies created fraudulent employment documents so foreign graduates could stay in the United States illegally. Companies such as Tellon Trading and Findream, employing 1,200 OPT graduates total in 2017, were the only companies on paper.

Labor experts have noted how the optional practical training is primarily a guestworker program for employers, not an educational one. These researchers say that OPT should be understood and categorized along with other guest worker programs such as the H 1B visa program. Employers like having contingent workers with temporary status.