International students looking to study in the United States and work after graduation may be disappointed if the new law about work permits goes into effect.
US lawmakers have introduced a bill in Congress titled ‘Fairness for High-Skilled Americans Act of 2025’ to end the Optional Practical Training Program. The Optional Practical Training Program is a popular work option available to students on an F-1 visa that provides student visa holders with temporary employment authorization before or after completion of the student’s studies, or both.
The ‘Fairness for High-Skilled Americans Act of 2025’ bill aims to eliminate the Optional Practical Training Program or any successor program, unless Congress expressly authorizes such a program.
If passed by Congress, this legislation would terminate the Optional Practical Training Program administered by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service.
“If the bill to end OPT goes through, it could seriously change the game for international students heading to the U.S. Right now, OPT gives students the chance to work in the U.S. after finishing their degrees, which helps them gain experience and pay off student loans. Without it, studying in the U.S. might not seem worth the high cost for many students, especially when countries like Canada or Australia offer better post-study work options. It could even lead to a drop in international student numbers in the U.S,” says Rozy Efzal, Founder & Director, Invest4Edu
The Fairness for High-Skilled Americans Act does not prohibit F-1 students from working in the United States while in school. It simply terminates an unauthorized and unfair program that allows F-1 students to remain in the United States for another three years following the completion of their education.
According to the lawmakers, the OPT program severely undercuts American workers, particularly higher-skilled workers and recent college graduates, by providing firms with a financial incentive to hire low-cost foreign labor under the pretext of student training.
“Ending OPT would significantly lower the prospect of a U.S. education for foreign students, especially those from India, which has one of the biggest student populations in the nation,” says Ritesh Jain, Co-Founder, LaunchED Global
However, this new rule may impact the American job market too. “The U.S. tech industry heavily depends on qualified foreign graduates, many of whom enter through OPT, in the current era of quickly growing AI and emerging technologies. In the global tech challenge, reducing this talent pool, especially from India, could decrease innovation and lower competitiveness,” adds Jain.
OPT, which was never authorized by Congress, circumvents the H-1B visa cap by allowing over 100,000 foreigners admitted to America on student visas to work in the United States for an additional three years after completing their academic studies.
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The Optional Practical Training program, a guest worker program by the US Citizenship and Immigration Service, was expanded by the Obama Administration three years ago. OPT bypasses the H-1B cap by enabling over 100,000 foreign students to work in the US for up to three years post-graduation. According to the Pew Research Center, the OPT program grew by 400% between 2008 and 2016 with 1.5 million foreign graduates of U.S. schools who used the program.
OPT incentivizes greedy businesses to fire Americans and replace them with inexpensive foreign labor by avoiding having to pay FICA and Medicare payroll taxes and other employee benefits. The OPT program completely abandons young Americans who have spent years and tens of thousands of dollars pursuing careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics only to be pushed out of those fields by cheap foreigners, is what the lawmakers are saying.
America is a popular destination for international students, offering Optional Practical Training (OPT) for temporary employment after completing their studies. In August 2024, USCIS revised its Policy Manual to clarify eligibility for optional practical training in STEM fields, online study, school transfers, grace period, and study abroad. F-1 students were allowed to engage in OPT at the pre-completion and post-completion stages. F-1 students may be further eligible for a 24-month STEM OPT extension if they meet certain qualifications.
If Fairness for High-Skilled Americans Act gets implemented, international students will not have the right to work in America after completing their studies. “People from all over the world admire the U.S. administration’s commitment to combat illegal immigration. Targeting genuine routes like OPT, which are utilized by thousands of real, high-potential students, can, however, convey the incorrect message,” says Jain.
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