STEM skillsNew rule permits STEM graduates to stay in U.S. for 36 months
A new rule published by DHS this week allows foreign students in science and technology to extend their stay in the United States under the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program. The new rule will go into effect in May, and it will allow STEM graduates to stay and work in the United States for up to thirty-six months.
F-1 visas by metropolitan area and intensity // Source: brookings.edu
A new rule published by DHS this week allows foreign students in science and technology to extend their stay in the United States under the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program. The Chronicle reports that the regulation applies to about 34,000 students who could have been forced to leave the country this spring because of a legal challenge to OPT, a program which allows them to work in the United States after graduation.
International students are allowed to stay and work in the United States for twelve months after graduation, but OPT extends the period of post-graduation work for graduates STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields. OPT was put in place by the George W. Bush administration, but legal challenge to it argued that it had never gone through the official rule-making process. Last summer a federal judge agreed that this was the case, and ordered the Obama administration to initiate a formal process for the rule. She then gave DHS additional time to draft the rule after the department informed her that it has received more than 50,000 public comments.
The new rule will go into effect in May, and it will allow STEM graduates to stay and work in the United States for up to thirty-six months. The new rule will apply only to students at accredited colleges.
Lawyers for groups opposing the expansion of legal immigration, especially groups representing high-skill American workers, challenge the legality of the program and have filed an appeal.
