3 things OPT employers should check as ICE announces crackdown on 10,000 foreign students
Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced a major crackdown on foreign students working in the Optional Practical Training Program alongside their studies, and said they have uncovered a major fraud going on with fake companies, non-existent companies offering OPT jobs to students. Immigration attorney Emily Newman said what ICE described is absolutely true. Vacant buildings are listed as workplaces for hundreds of students, with no actual employees ever working.Newman said most companies do not engage in these misconducts, but now with ICE announcing this action, they should be vigilant that they are doing everything necessary, as there will be more site visits.Newman listed three things that HR and in-house counsel at companies hiring OPT students should check immediately.
- Is your Form I-983 current? If the workplace, supervisor, or training description on file does not match what the student is actually doing today, that difference is the first thing an investigator will notice.
- Are supervisors of your STEM OPT students aware that they are responsible for the training described on that form? At the site visit, the supervisor’s answers are compared with the form that was signed.
- Are you giving notice of termination within five business days? This is a regulatory deadline, not a guideline.
Overall OPT Checklist
- The student applies for the OPT by filing Form I-765 and employers do not need to submit a petition for the standard, non-STEM OPT.
- The work should be directly related to the student’s field of study and the relationship should be such that it can be explained in writing on demand.
- The student must provide employment information to the Designated School Officer (DSO) of the school that issued the Form I-20.
- Employers should expect to provide a written offer letter, a job description, and, if asked, a letter explaining the connection between the role and the degree.
- When OPT is over, the student has to inform the same to the DSO.
What irregularities did ICE find?
- Empty buildings, locked doors and residential addresses are serving as listed work sites for hundreds of students.
- Coordinated employer groups in shared office premises, where different employers allegedly operated almost identical websites and management personnel denied any business relationship with each other.
- A sole proprietor allegedly sets up multiple OPT employer entities to structure income, avoid taxes, and obscure the true employment relationship.
- International financial patterns spanning multiple countries and bank accounts, missing employment records and offshore (mostly India) human-resources or payroll arrangements.
- OPT employees never come to work.