Daijiworld Media Network – Washington

Washington, May 13: The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Tuesday said it has identified around 10,000 foreign students, including several Indians, allegedly misusing the Optional Practical Training (OPT) provision of student visas by claiming employment with “highly suspect” companies.

OPT allows international students studying in the United States on student visas to work for 12 months after graduation, with certain STEM graduates eligible for an additional 24-month extension. The programme also serves as a pathway for many students to transition to H-1B work visas sponsored by employers.

Addressing a press conference, acting ICE Director Todd Lyons alleged that the OPT programme had increasingly become “a magnet for fraud” and had been linked to multiple investigations by the Department of Homeland Security.

“We’ve encountered cases involving espionage, biological threats, intellectual property theft, visa and employment fraud, and even scams targeting elderly Americans, all perpetrated by individuals abusing their status as students,” Lyons said.

He further asserted that federal authorities had conducted site visits and uncovered instances where OPT beneficiaries were allegedly being supervised by personnel based in India, which he claimed violated programme rules requiring direct training and oversight within the United States.

Lyons said the OPT programme, introduced during the George W Bush administration, was originally expected to benefit only a limited number of foreign students before they returned to their home countries.

“Instead, OPT ballooned into an uncontrolled guest worker pipeline with hundreds of thousands of foreign students working in the United States. As the programme’s size has exploded, so has the fraud,” he said.

Calling the alleged misuse of OPT a “blatant attack on the goodwill of the American people,” Lyons said US authorities would not tolerate security threats linked to the foreign student programme.

The remarks have raised concerns among international student communities, particularly Indians, who form one of the largest groups of foreign students in the United States.