The existence of the Optional Training Practice (OPT) program is emerging as a key argument against international students occupying jobs that could be filled by young Americans.
Under the OPT program, international students are allowed to work up to 12 months after studies, while STEM grads can work for another 12 months. In practice, some of them get hired by US firms under H-1B or other visas and continue to work in the country.
What many Americans believe is that international students are taking up jobs that otherwise could have gone to young native workers. Many US lawmakers have introduced bills to end the OPT program to ensure American workers are not ignored by US firms.
Senator Schmitt wrote a letter to the Department of Homeland Security in November 2025, outlining severe flaws with the Optional Training Practice (OPT) program.
Schmitt requested in the letter that the Department of Homeland Security do a thorough review of the OPT program and begin the process of reforming or ending it.
Schmitt, in his letter, highlights how the OPT participation has exploded in the US. The number of foreign students enrolled in the program has more than doubled since 2007.
In 2023-2024, the number of OPT participants reached an all-time high. Today, by some estimates, the number of foreign students working in America via these paid “training” programs is in excess of half a million.
Proponents of this policy argue that these pipelines are necessary to fill “worker shortages,” claiming that they simply cannot find Americans to work these jobs.
The data tells a different story. Most foreign students who enroll in “practical training” programs pursue degrees in STEM fields and are hired by employers in the tech and STEM industries.
U.S. STEM and tech students have some of the highest post-graduation unemployment rates of any major in the job market. In early 2025, physics majors had the second-highest unemployment rate of any discipline among recent U.S. college graduates. It was more than double the unemployment rate for majors such as philosophy, art history, and ethnic studies. Computer engineering had the third-highest unemployment rate, closely followed by computer science and “information systems” in the top 10.
OPT Wave in the US
At the same time, OPT and its companion programs have flooded the US higher education system with foreign students, depriving qualified American candidates of positions at top universities.
In 2023-2024, the total number of foreign students in the U.S. university system hit an all-time record high of over 1.1 million, coinciding with the record-breaking number of foreign nationals enrolled in OPT.
Universities have a major financial incentive to do this, as foreign students tend to pay far higher tuition fees than their native-born counterparts.
As a result, many would argue that young Americans are being boxed out of both the workforce and the university system in their own country.
Foreign students now make up 20–30% of total enrollment for many elite or public universities, and sometimes far higher in graduate programs.
As it currently stands, there is no federal ceiling on how many foreign nationals a college or university can enroll, and even unaccredited “institutes” and for-profit colleges can enroll foreign students and sponsor them for CPT and later OPT.