A cross-party pair is resisting President Donald Trump’s efforts to terminate a policy that permits hundreds of thousands of foreign scholars to be employed in the US for one year after completing their studies. Representatives Sam Liccardo (D-CA) and Jay Obernolte (R-CA) have presented legislation designed to formalize into law the Optional Practical Training (OPT) initiative, which enables international students to gain experience in their chosen discipline for 12 months, with prolongations of up to 24 months for those in STEM fields.
Established in 1992, OPT serves as a transitional link between academic permits, or F-1 visas, and H-1Bs, the immigration classification granted to non-citizens working for US companies. However, this program is now imperiled by the Trump administration, which has suggested the notion of abolishing it entirely as part of its wider suppression of authorized migration. Liccardo and Obernolte are seeking to bolster cross-party backing for the initiative, which until recently attracted minimal attention and encountered negligible resistance from either political faction.
Based on information provided by the Institute for Progress, from 2006 to 2022, 56 percent of international students who arrived in the nation on F-1 visas participated in OPT. Scholars holding advanced degrees tend to join OPT more often than those with undergraduate qualifications. Similarly, individuals in STEM disciplines are more inclined to utilize the program to secure employment in the US compared to those in other areas. Figures from the Department of Homeland Security indicate that 165,524 foreign students engaged in STEM OPT in 2024 solely. STEM PhDs exhibit the greatest involvement in OPT, with 76 percent of graduates enrolling in the initiative.
Liccardo, the bill’s co-proposer, informed *The Verge* that, “The OPT initiative allows hundreds of thousands of the most talented individuals from across the globe to be trained in the United States, providing an avenue for them to contribute to our financial system.” He added, “The other option to OPT is to educate these gifted people and then return them to their home nations, where they’ll establish enterprises to rival our businesses.”
For many years, Congress has not enacted significant migration policy changes, and OPT itself did not originate from statutory law. President George H.W. Bush instituted the program in 1992 through the purview of the Department of Justice, which supervised the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), the forerunner of ICE, until DHS commenced activities in 2003. Presently, the OPT program is managed by US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the division of DHS that handles lawful entry.
Consistently, when fresh rules have been promulgated concerning OPT, they have always broadened the program rather than diminished its reach: Both George W. Bush and Barack Obama extended the OPT duration for students with qualifications in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, who can now be employed in the US for as long as 36 months.
“It has never possessed a statutory existence,” Liccardo noted, “which is exactly the reason why, in this current climate where a novel concept about how this administration can isolate the United States from global connections emerges every two hours—be it by stifling skilled individuals, limiting foreign trade, or straining alliances with partner nations—we aim to formalize it into law. This ensures that this beneficial initiative persists in propelling the American economy.”
Even with extensive cross-party backing, the OPT program has encountered judicial disputes for more than ten years. In 2014, the Washington Alliance of Technology Workers initiated legal action against DHS after the Obama administration prolonged STEM OPT to 17 months, asserting that the alteration harmed American workers. The suit also contended that DHS overstepped its administrative powers when establishing OPT. In a friend-of-the-court submission presented in 2019, over 100 colleges stated that terminating OPT would render it more difficult for them to attract international students, especially at a time when worldwide rivalry is intense and overseas students are already doubting their acceptance in the United States owing to latest alterations in migration regulations and implementation.
During his confirmation proceeding in May 2025, Joseph B. Edlow, Trump’s chosen candidate to lead USCIS, vowed to abolish OPT. Edlow, who was approved by the Senate, stated that OPT has been “mismanaged,” adding that he preferred a “structured and auxiliary policy that would enable the revocation of” work permits for international students post-education. Several groups advocating for stricter migration controls, including the conservative Center for Immigration Studies, have long campaigned for the termination of OPT, claiming it depresses earnings for American workers.
In the preceding autumn, there were some accounts that the Trump administration might enact a directive with that intention early in 2026, but as of now, no alterations have occurred to OPT. Nevertheless, alongside executing widespread immigration enforcement operations across the country, the Trump administration is striving to limit numerous types of authorized entry. It increased the charge for H-1B visas to $100,000 and instituted complete or limited entry prohibitions on citizens from 20 countries. Although Trump earlier stated that he would like to grant permanent residency to all overseas graduates from a US university, it is considerably more probable that his administration will act to curtail OPT or abolish it entirely.
Liccardo, who co-introduced the bill that would formalize OPT, indicated that discontinuing the program will have subsequent impacts that adversely affect all Americans. “At a juncture when China specifically is surpassing the United States in numerous technological and industrial sectors, encompassing solar and energy storage to, presently more so, biotech,” he commented, “we must not surrender American-schooled, US-instructed technical experts, researchers, and pioneers to bolster the economic systems of our rivals.”
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