Kamal Ghorui
Missouri senator Eric Schmitt said OPT students are working in restaurants, janitorial service companies.
Senator Eric Schmitt, who has been speaking against the Optional Practical Training program that foreign students get at the end of their course, revealed some astounding facts only from his state Missouri as he once again demanded that this practice to be ended as it is harming American students. This OPT has for ages served a legal pathway from colleges to cubicles and students on F1 visa can easily get their status changed to H-1B once they are on the right track. Missouri senator Eric Schmitt said ICE provided him the figure that there are 4430 OPT visas in Missouri alone and many of them are working in jobs that they should not be working in. The senator said a local Ethiopian restaurant filed for a STEM OPT employee, another OPT employee works for a janitorial services company. “OPT jobs *must* be directly related to the student’s major area of study. And if you’re a STEM major, you get *3-years of work authorization.* Not only that, OPT holders are exempt from FICA taxes—a >15% tax subsidy for employers. Given that, and considering foreigners utilizing OPT may be desperate for work, it should come as no surprise OPT is often abused. I found cases of foreign students working at restaurants, bars, and janitorial services that likely have no connection to a student’s area of study,” Schmitt said. “Apparently necessary, degree-related, high skill employers include: A local Ethiopian restaurant, which filed for a STEM OPT employee last year (three-years long). It’s a highly reviewed restaurant but why does it need a recent grad STEM major? And why not hire American?”“Another OPT employee works for a small janitorial services company. That doesn’t seem like a natural fit. OPT often undercuts White Collar work, but it’s also undercutting Blue Collar workers by flooding the market with recent grads looking for any form of employment.”“Not only that, but a cadre of shady consultants and woke NGOs are cashing in on OPT, teaching foreign students how to game the system. And some are even using foreign student labor in-house to coach the importation of more foreign students and workers,” the senator said citing the example of one Vitendo4Africa, which offers classes on green card applications. “Bottom line: OPT is not a student training program. It’s a backdoor jobs program for foreign nationals at the expense of Missouri families and American grads who are still struggling to find work. USCIS, it’s time to shut this down. Missourians first. Americans first,” the senator wrote.
