Latest news with #STEMOPT
Yahoo
26-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump Is Shutting Off America's Talent Pipeline
With attention focused on workplace raids and National Guard troops in Los Angeles, it is easy to overlook the Trump administration's policies on legal immigration. Those policies came into focus at a Senate hearing last month when Joseph Edlow, nominated to be the director of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), pledged to shut off America's talent pipeline. Edlow told the Senate Judiciary Committee on May 21, 2025, that he would end Optional Practical Training (OPT), which allows international students to work for 12 months in their course of study, typically after graduating. He said he would also eliminate STEM OPT, which enables students to gain practical experience by working an extra 24 months (beyond OPT) in a science, technology, engineering, or math field. The additional 24 months in STEM OPT gives employers a better chance to obtain an H-1B petition for students by entering the H-1B lottery in multiple years, a primary reason the Bush administration added STEM OPT in 2008. Edlow said he wanted to "remove the ability for employment authorizations for F-1 students beyond the time that they are in school." That phrasing may be sleight of hand. A program already exists for working while in school, called Curricular Practical Training, but it's not as widely used as OPT and STEM OPT. In the 2023–2024 academic year, 163,452 international students engaged in post-completion OPT, and 79,330 students were in STEM OPT, totaling 242,782, according to the Institute of International Education. Edlow may be promoting the policy already determined by Stephen Miller, the architect of the administration's immigration policy, who has a history of opposing international students staying in America. The Wall Street Journal reported that during President Donald Trump's first term, Miller tried to eliminate STEM OPT but was blocked by Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner. In 2015, Miller helped draft a bill as a staffer for Sen. Jeff Sessions (R–Ala.) that would have ended OPT, banned international students with master's or bachelor's degrees from working in the United States in H-1B status for at least 10 years after graduation, and prohibited doctorate holders from doing so for at least two years. The Financial Times reported that Miller sought to ban Chinese students from U.S. universities during Trump's first term. The first six months of Trump's second term have seen several policies directed against international students, including new limits on Chinese students, attempts to deport thousands of students for minor offenses, new social media screenings for international students, and ending Harvard University's ability to enroll foreign students. "Foreign graduates of U.S. universities cause major increases in innovation," according to research by George Mason University economics professor Michael Clemens. "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." Madeline Zavodny, an economics professor at the University of North Florida, found in a study by the National Foundation for American Policy that, contrary to some concerns, OPT is associated with lower unemployment rates for U.S. workers in STEM fields. Zavodny also found that enrolling immigrants and international students could allow many U.S. universities to survive as the U.S.-born college-aged population declines. Ending the ability of international students to work after graduation would contradict what then-presidential candidate Trump told venture capitalists during the All-In podcast in June 2024. "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." Michelle Zatlyn, president, COO, and cofounder of Cloudflare, a company with a market capitalization of $54 billion and 2,400 U.S.-based employees, told me, "The best thing the U.S. government has done on immigration is OPT to allow international students a chance to stay and work for a time after graduation. It allowed me to work with Matthew Prince on the business plan that helped create the company." International students represent 71 percent of the full-time graduate students in computer and information sciences and 73 percent in electrical and computer engineering at U.S. universities. It is already much easier to transition from a student visa to a work visa and then to permanent residence in Canada and other countries than in the United States. International student interest in coming to U.S. universities will plummet without the ability to work in their field after graduation. That will sever America's talent pipeline. The post Trump Is Shutting Off America's Talent Pipeline appeared first on
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Business Standard
16-06-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
Amazon, Google, Tesla among top 25 OPT hirers in US; Indians lead STEM list
More international students in the US were hired through the Optional Practical Training (OPT) programme in 2024 than ever before — and Amazon, Google and Microsoft emerged as the top recruiters, according to the latest Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) data released by the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Under OPT, foreign students on an F-1 visa are allowed to work in the US in a role related to their field of study, either during their course or after graduation. Those with degrees in science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM) can also apply for a two-year STEM OPT extension. More foreign students worked in 2024 According to DHS, 194,554 foreign students received OPT work authorisation in 2024, up from 160,627 in 2023 — a 21.1% increase and the fourth consecutive year of growth. An additional 95,384 students were approved for STEM OPT extensions, reflecting a 54% rise from the previous year. Meanwhile, 130,586 students worked under Curricular Practical Training (CPT), representing a slight decline of 0.4%. The total number of unique foreign students who received practical training approval (after removing duplicates for those who received more than one authorisation) was 381,140. Most students who took part in STEM OPT in 2024 were from India and China. Of the 165,524 students approved: 48.0% were from India 20.4% were from China California continued to host the largest share of international students, with 14.6% of all active SEVIS records — 237,763 in total. Top 25 employers for foreign students under OPT in 2024 (pre- and post-completion) Amazon – 5,379 University of California – 2,112 Arizona State University – 1,895 University of Texas – 1,305 Bright Mind Enrichment and Schooling – 1,234 Tesla – 1,170 Goldman Sachs – 1,148 Apple – 1,135 Google – 1,110 Meta – 1,081 Microsoft – 1,066 ByteDance – 1,045 Deloitte – 1,033 Walmart – 951 Intel – 946 State University of New York – 906 Ernst & Young – 889 Johns Hopkins – 827 Harvard – 799 Community Dreams Foundation – 795 University of Michigan – 767 University of Southern California – 717 University of Illinois – 714 McKinsey & Company – 680 JP Morgan Chase – 675 Top 25 employers for foreign students under STEM OPT in 2024 Amazon – 6,679 Google – 1,778 Microsoft – 1,496 Meta – 1,302 University of California – 1,302 Walmart – 1,140 Intel – 1,023 Apple – 973 Goldman Sachs – 962 Tesla – 901 JP Morgan Chase – 887 Ernst & Young – 854 Deloitte – 833 McKinsey & Company – 810 ByteDance – 642 Tata Consultancy Services – 639 Stanford University – 541 University of Texas – 536 Citigroup – 517 Bloomberg – 456 Qualcomm – 455 Oracle – 445 Boston Consulting Group – 412 NVIDIA – 410 Cummins – 410 Top 25 employers for foreign students under CPT in 2024 Amazon – 3,205 Tesla – 1,118 Lindsey Wilson College – 1,028 Google – 880 Microsoft – 819 NVIDIA – 743 Meta – 657 Deloitte – 614 Apple – 600 Intel – 512 JP Morgan Chase – 400 Goldman Sachs – 386 Walmart – 344 ByteDance – 337 Adobe Inc – 332 Advanced Micro Devices – 319 Cummins – 308 Ernst & Young – 299 World Bank – 292 CVS – 276 Qualcomm – 270 University of Texas – 267 Morgan Stanley – 267 Tata Consultancy Services – 266 Boston Consulting Group – 181 OPT used to access long-term US jobs According to Varun Singh, managing director at XIPHIAS Immigration, the continued surge in OPT and STEM OPT reflects how international students are using the route to access longer-term job opportunities in the US. 'The growing demand for skilled talent in sectors like technology, engineering and healthcare has created an environment where Indian students are increasingly seen as a strong workforce,' he told Business Standard. Singh added that the STEM OPT extension gives Indian graduates more time to build networks and secure employment. 'Despite the competitive H-1B process and shifting visa rules, the OPT route remains a critical bridge for many students aiming to build careers in the US,' Singh said.
India Today
09-06-2025
- Business
- India Today
Indian students surge 11.8% in US, now 27% of all foreign enrolments: ICE report
Indian students accounted for 27% of all foreign students in the US in 2024, marking an 11.8% increase from the previous year, according to the latest annual report by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP).The report, released last week, showed that 4,22,335 Indian students were actively enroled in US institutions in 2024, contributing to a total of 1.58 million international students — a 5.3% rise from also revealed that 1,65,524 foreign students participated in the post-completion STEM OPT extension program, with India (48%) and China (20.4%) representing the largest shares. While India saw an over 11% surge in student numbers, China (3,29,541 students) recorded a slight decline of 0.25% compared to 2023. India's 27% share of the total foreign student population exceeds China's 20%.ASIA DOMINATES FOREIGN STUDENT POPULATION IN USAsia accounted for the largest number of active foreign student records in America, with 11,34,953 overseas students, making up 71.7% of the foreign student population in the US, the ICE report 91% of all foreign students were enrolled in an SEVP-certified associate, bachelor's, master's, or doctoral foreign students in the US pursued 14,34,748 degrees in higher education, which is an increase of nearly 82,000 from calendar year 2023. Bachelor's or master's degrees were the most popular, accounting for 79% of higher education degrees to an Open Doors 2024 report, released in November last year, for the first time in 15 years, Indian students surpassed Chinese students in the US for the 2023-24 academic students now make up a weighty portion of the international student cohort in most Western countries and are key contributors to the US's global student population.A comparable trend was observed recently in Germany, according to data from the Academic Exchange Service, released in September 2024. For the 2023-24 winter semester, 49,483 Indian students were enroled in Germany, marking a 15.1% increase from the previous year, positioning India as the largest international student group in Germany, surpassing Watch
