Amid the heated discussions on H-1B visas, US President-elect Donald Trump’s supporters are now on to the Optional Practical Training (OPT) programme.

OPT is a temporary employment programme that allows international students to work temporarily in the US after graduation.

Eligible students can apply to receive up to 12 months of OPT employment authorisation before completing their academic studies (pre-completion) or after completing their academic studies (post-completion). However, all periods of pre-completion OPT will be deducted from the available period of post-completion OPT.

Criticising the scheme, US Tech Workers group wrote on X, “The OPT programme is a guest worker scheme disguised as an internship for foreign students. Universities are selling work permits instead of education. Created illegally like DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), Trump should end OPT to protect American college grads from unfair competition”.

The critics have been debating over skilled worker immigration ahead of Trump's inauguration on January 20.

Notably, Indian students constitute more than 25% of the over one million foreign students studying in the US, according to a November 2023 Open Doors report.

The number of Indians who travelled to the US for higher education increased by 35% and resulted in an all-time high of 2,68,923 students in the academic year 2022-23, the report said.

The OPT programme stands as a very crucial scheme for Indian students as in 2023-24, about 97,556 Indian students i.e. 29% of all Indian students in the US were enrolled in OPT, up from 69,062 in the previous year, as per media reports.

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