More Indian Graduates of U.S. Colleges Staying in the Country to Work Under the OPT Program – India West

The Pew Research Center May 18 released information from a study that said more foreign graduates of U.S. colleges particularly from India and China are staying in the country to work.

The center said that a growing number of high-skilled foreign workers find jobs in the U.S. under the Optional Practical Training program, which allows foreign graduates from U.S. universities to work in the country on a temporary basis.

The federal government approved nearly 700,000 OPT applications in fiscal years 2008 through 2014, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement data received through a Freedom of Information Act request.

Data suggests that the total number of foreign graduates using OPT may continue to increase in subsequent years: more than 1 million foreign students studied at U.S. higher educational institutions in the 2015-16 school year, a record high, the center said.

Foreign student U.S. college graduates with F-1 visas may apply for an OPT, and those approved may work in the U.S. for up to 12 months in their field of study. Foreign students majoring in a STEM field may work in the U.S. up to 36 months.

Unlike other U.S. visa programs, OPT has no cap on the number of foreign graduates who can participate. OPT is not subject to congressional oversight, though the program, which was created in 1947, can be changed by a U.S. president, according to the center news release.

Recently, a lawsuit filed by the Washington Alliance of Technology Workers challenging the 24-month OPT extension granted by the Obama administration was dismissed in federal court.

In the lawsuit, WATW argued that the extension of the OPT program denied labor protections to American technology workers, allows increased and unfair competition in the U.S., among other concerns.

It said it violates procedural rights of American workers by failing to include the question of whether OPT should be expanded in the first place in the regulatory process by the Department of Homeland Security.

The DHS argued in favor of retention of the extended 24-month OPT, and asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit, which the court did in April.

The Pew Research Center news release said that the annual number of OPT approvals rose from 28,497 in fiscal 2008 to 136,617 in fiscal 2014, a nearly fivefold increase. During this time, the Bush administration extended the amount of time STEM graduates may work in the U.S. to a maximum of 29 months. In 2016, the Obama administration again expanded the work period for STEM graduates to its current 36-month maximum.

Nearly as many people are approved for the OPT program as receive H-1B visas, another main source of high-skilled foreign workers who work in the U.S. on a temporary basis, according to Pews findings.

STEM graduates made up nearly half 49 percent of all those who were approved for OPT and were seeking employment in calendar years 2012 through 2015, it added. STEM degrees accounted for six-in-ten of the most numerous majors among OPT approvals, with the remaining four in business-related fields.

Those with STEM majors had a higher employment rate, of 73 percent, than non-STEM majors, 57 percent, in the OPT program from 2012 to 2015, the research found

Additionally, foreign students from India (72,151) and China (68,847) accounted for 57 percent of all those who were approved for OPT and found jobs from 2012 to 2015, accounting for 72,151 students from India and 68,847 from China.

The research also found that graduates in STEM fields accounted for at least 70 percent of OPT approvals from India, Iran, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka from 2012 to 2015.

Of the 72,151 from India employed under OPT, 84 percent had STEM degrees, the highest percentage of any origin country.

Just 4 percent of those employed under the OPT program from 2012 to 2015 worked at the 10 largest tech companies in the Fortune 500, it said.

The 10 universities with the most OPT approvals accounted for 13 percent of all program participants seeking employment from 2012 to 2015, with the University of Southern California, 7,485 participants; Columbia University, 7,116; and New York University, 5,260, accounting for the most graduates in the program.

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More Indian Graduates of U.S. Colleges Staying in the Country to Work Under the OPT Program - India West