Judge’s Order Will Save OPT For International Students
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In a victory for employers, universities, and international students, a claim pointed toward preventing foreign students from working with Optional Practical Training (OPT) is over. A federal district court judge announced he intends to give an order against the group. That brought the claim and grant motions for summary judgment to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Exchange affiliations that intervened for the situation for international students. The order is ideal: An ongoing review found in Fall 2020, “new enrollment of international students physically in the United States declined by 72%.”
Some context will assist better with understanding the order by U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton. The offended parties, the Washington Alliance of Technology Workers (WashTech), requested that the court pronounce Optional Practical Training to be unlawful. The defendant was the Department of Homeland Security. Optional Practical Training permits international students to work for a year. Also, for 24 extra months in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields, based on regulation. The capacity to work on OPT after graduation viewed as essential to numerous international students.
OPT For International Students
In 2019, three trade associations – the National Association of Manufacturers, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and the Information Technology Industry Council – intervened in the situation. To ensure the rights of international students. As indicated by an interview with Paul Hughes of McDermott Will and Emery, who represented the associations.
“These intervenors clarify how OPT benefits the American educational system, just as the U.S. economy as a whole,” said Hughes. By giving term employment to highly skilled recent graduates. OPT guarantees that this talent pool develops the American economy, giving advantages to all workers in the United States. If these employment openings dispossessed, this talent would rather move overseas, damaging American financial competitiveness.
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Numerous organizations and associations signed on to amicus briefs in support of OPT. (See here for the amici curiae brief documented by FWD.us, 52 organizations, and 11 affiliations, and here for the amici curiae brief from the higher education community.) A National Foundation for American Policy study by economist Madeline Zavodny closed, “There is no proof that foreign students participating in the OPT program decrease job opportunities for U.S. workers.”
