For much of President Trump’s term, the Department of Homeland Security has been working to eliminate or restrict the Optional Practical Training program.
Photo: saul loeb/Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesWASHINGTON—The Trump administration is expected to set limits on a popular program that allows international students to work in the U.S. after graduation while remaining on their student visas, according to administration officials familiar with the matter.
The coming temporary restrictions, the officials say, are designed to help American graduates looking for entry-level work during the pandemic-fueled economic downturn. They are expected to come in a package of new immigration restrictions President Trump has said he would issue in an executive order, likely in the next few weeks, though they are still subject to White House review.
The program, known as Optional Practical Training, allows foreign graduates of U.S. colleges to be sponsored by a local company and work for a year—or three years for those with science or engineering degrees—and is widely viewed as a steppingstone to a coveted H-1B visa for high-skilled workers.
Mr. Trump’s immigration advisers haven’t settled on precisely how to curtail the program, with proposals ranging from a yearlong suspension with limited exceptions, such as for graduates looking to work in the medical field, or a narrower ban targeting certain industries.
The Trump administration has made numerous changes, large and small, to most work visa programs, making it harder and costlier for foreigners or the employers sponsoring them to qualify for work visas. In April, the president signed a proclamation temporarily barring new immigrants for 60 days, including family members of U.S. citizens. Mr. Trump also said he would limit temporary work visas in a subsequent order.
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Participation in the OPT program has grown swiftly in recent years. More than 223,000 new graduates remained in the U.S. under OPT in the 2018-19 academic year, up from 106,000 five years earlier. They now make up 20% of all people in the U.S. on international student visas.
Amazon.com Inc., Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Deloitte have been among the top destinations for OPT students, according to Department of Homeland Security records. Silicon Valley employers have previously urged the Trump administration to preserve their ability to hire high-skilled talent overseas.
Colleges and universities say the prospect of at least short-term postgraduate work in the U.S. is a primary selling point for foreign students looking to enroll at U.S. schools.
“A suspension would send a chilling message about our commitment to international students and attracting the best talent to the U.S.,” said Brad Farnsworth, vice president of global engagement at the American Council on Education, a lobbying group representing colleges and universities.
Ravi Shankar, assistant vice provost and director of the international services office at the University of Rochester, expects foreign enrollment would decline if OPT opportunities are curtailed. “This is rather shortsighted,” he said. “Students will stop seeing the United States as a destination for education.”
His university has just under 4,000 international students enrolled now, about one-third of the school’s total, and another 1,000 who have remained in the U.S. for optional practical training.
For much of Mr. Trump’s term, the Department of Homeland Security has been working to eliminate or restrict the OPT program, though a formal rule change has never been issued.
The program is a primary target of immigration hard-liners who say there aren’t enough protections built in to prevent employers from hiring foreign graduates over Americans. The companies don’t have to pay payroll taxes for these employees, and they don’t need to meet a standard, such as in the H-1B visa program, showing they attempted to hire an American worker for the same position.
“It’s not because they’re the best and the brightest, necessarily,” said Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for reduced immigration. “It’s because they’re a cheaper option.”
Supporters of the program say pausing it would hurt, not help, the economic recovery. The Arizona Chamber of Commerce, Arizona Manufacturers Council, Greater Phoenix Chamber and other groups wrote to their state’s congressional delegation this month expressing concern about the expected curbs, saying OPT participants help companies grow and pursue innovative research.
“The ability to attract the globe’s most talented individuals to the U.S. has always been a competitive advantage for our country, something that will prove essential as we begin down the path to a postpandemic economic recovery,” the letter read.
The unemployment rate for Americans ages 20 to 24 was roughly 26% in April, compared with about 15% for the overall population. Trump administration officials cite that as a reason for restricting OPT for the coming year. That number includes young Americans who haven’t attended or completed college, though administration officials said they believe it is poised to rise as companies consider rescinding outstanding offers to graduating seniors this year.
Administration officials have discussed curbs on student visas and OPT as a form of retaliation against China, whose citizens make up about one-third of international students in the U.S., by far the largest share. They have expressed concerns that students performing research in the U.S. would pass on scientific discoveries to Chinese companies or the Chinese military.
Arizona State University President Michael Crow, who defends the program, said he has been in talks with State Department officials and voiced his worries about curtailing OPT in a meeting last week with Vice President Mike Pence. His school has more than 10,000 international students, and nearly 3,000 recent graduates participating in OPT.
Dr. Crow cautioned against conflating immigration issues and said there is a shortage of qualified college graduates in the U.S. who could fill the high-skills engineering and tech jobs.
“We have to be concerned that this will reduce our competitiveness,” he said. “It’s about making the United States successful. And this program and international students help make the United States successful.”
Write to Michelle Hackman at Michelle.Hackman@wsj.com and Melissa Korn at melissa.korn@wsj.com
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