Since the new nominee for USCIS (US Citizenship and Immigration Service), Joseph Edlow has announced his plan to kill the Optional Practical Training program, international students have been in a panic. But is it really practical to terminate OPT?
Legal experts weigh in, believing that ending OPT isn’t as easy as it sounds. It is not some backdoor arrangement but a fully legal, federally-regulated work program used by nearly 200,000 international students every year.
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Thus, pulling the plug on it involves layers of bureaucracy, red tape, and political battles that can drag on for years.
First, any move to end OPT must go through USCIS and then DHS, where it faces intense economic scrutiny. Removing OPT would instantly hit the US economy, especially in tech and higher education sectors.
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Then the proposal will go through the Office of Management and Budget, where Trump’s plans to end H-4 EAD were spoiled last time. Experts believe trying to end OPT has weak economic reasoning and poor legal grounding which basically makes it dead on arrival.
The STEM OPT version is even harder to kill as it was born out of lawsuits and strict rulemaking. Removing it now would invite fresh legal battles and major economic consequences.
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Despite experts giving a detailed breakdown, students are still skeptical seeing the track record of the Trump administration in his second term.
The US president has proven he pays no regard for the legal procedure and will implement what he wishes. However, in each case so far, sense has prevailed in the end and the court has stepped in. Therefore it is better to not lose sleep over these threats.
