US targets foreign graduates as OPT faces shutdown risk in job market; Are international students the new H-1B battleground?

As far as H-1B visa program is concerned, the Trump administration has taken two big measures to potentially curb inflow of foreign workers – One, a $100,000 H-1B petition fee has been imposed to be paid by US firm in hiring of each foreign worker and secondly, wage-based selection process has been introduced to deter low-paid and low-skilled workers to enter US workforce.

Now, the focus is shifting to overseas students who are hired by US firms under the Optional Training Practice (OPT) program, after completing their studies at US universities.

In November 2025, Senator Schmitt sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security outlining severe problems within the Optional Training Practice (OPT) program. Schmitt, in the letter, requested that the Department of Homeland Security conduct a thorough review of the OPT program and to begin the process of either reforming or ending OPT.

Critics of the OPT program

The critics of the OPT program argue that US companies hire F-1 students at lower wages, which limits job opportunities for American workers. Also, because the OPT workers are not subject to numerical caps, labor-market tests, or any prevailing-wage standards, the US employers face no obligation to recruit or even consider American applicants first. Further, they argue that the OPT program was created outside of Congress without any approval.

“OPT was created and then expanded by unelected bureaucrats in the executive branch, without the input or approval of Congress, circumventing the caps and limits that govern employment-based visas. This unfortunate exercise of executive action, however, means OPT can likely be overhauled or ended by executive action,” Senator Schmitt wrote in his letter to Secretary Noem and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Joseph Edlow.

Senator Schmitt outlined in his letter that the program has transformed to effectively act as a pipeline for foreign cheap labor that serves the financial interests of large corporations and academic institutions at the expense of American workers, especially recent graduates.

Secretary Krist Noem has written back, committing to re-evaluate the program. “Consistent with President Trump’s direction and the administration’s America First immigration policy, DHS is reevaluating whether the current regulatory framework – including the scope and duration of practical training – appropriately serves U.S. labor market, tax, and national security interests and remains aligned with congressional intent,” Secretary Noem wrote in response.

The OPT program is a ‘work benefit’ tied to the F-1 visa, the standard nonimmigrant student visa that allows foreign nationals to attend U.S. colleges and universities. OPT allows student visa-holders to work in the U.S. for up to 12 months after finishing their degree, while STEM graduates are allowed an additional 24-month extension.

Schmitt’s primary concern, as is evident from his letter, is that the program functions as a cheap-labor pipeline for big business—and a backdoor into the U.S. job market for foreign workers. OPT serves the financial interests of large corporations and academic institutions at the direct expense of young American workers and
students, notes Schmitt.

Cost Savings

Foreign nationals working under OPT are exempt from federal payroll taxes. As Senator Chuck Grassley noted in 2018, that means that U.S. employers who hire them “reap a windfall…a cost savings of around 8 percent per student-employee.”

In other words, American businesses are effectively receiving a tax break every time they hire a foreign worker over a U.S. citizen. A September 2024 study from the Center for Immigration Studies found that the OPT program now amounts to about $4 billion annually in lost tax revenue.

In September 2025, Chuck Grassley sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem calling on the department to stop issuing work authorizations to student visa holders in direct violation of the law.

Grassley also emphasized how foreign student work authorizations put America at risk of technological and corporate espionage, citing more than 33,000 current Chinese student visa holders with STEM work authorizations.

Representative Paul A. Gosar has also introduced the ‘Fairness for High-Skilled Americans Act,’ legislation that aims to terminate the Optional Practical Training (OPT) Program administered by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service.

In his legislation, Gosar writes, “Never authorized by Congress, OPT circumvents the H-1B visa cap set by Congress by allowing over 100,000 aliens admitted into our country on student visas to continue working in the United States for another three years after completing their academic studies.”

The Dignity Act, sponsored by US politicians, proposes levying Social Security and Medicare taxes on the earnings of international students participating in the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program in America. The Dignity Act proposes taxing OPT students’ earnings by making them pay FICA (Social Security and Medicare) taxes.

In November 2025, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) proposed a new OPT rule, aiming to better align practical training with the program’s goals and objectives. The proposed rule seeks to amend regulations to combat fraud and national security issues, safeguard U.S. workers from displacement by foreign students, and improve oversight of the Student and Exchange Visitor Program.

OPT for Foreign Students

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. In 2024, the US had 1.58 million F-1 and M-1 students and recent graduates, with 26.6%, or 418,000, authorized to work under OPT.

More than two-thirds of the OPT authorized population are citizens of Asian countries. From 2020-2024, the top 10 places of origin for OPT participants were India, China, South Korea, Taiwan, Nepal, Canada, Nigeria, Vietnam, Brazil, and Mexico. India and China accounted for 35% and 24%, respectively, while South Korea, the next highest country, accounted for 3%.

Nonimmigrants with OPT authorization are concentrated in STEM fields. More than a quarter (31%) of those authorized for OPT in 2024 majored in computer science, with another 18% in engineering.

Companies employing the largest numbers of OPT workers are large technology firms such as Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Meta, and large university systems such as the University of California and Arizona State University.