ICE Reports Widespread Fraud in Student Visa Work Program

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said Tuesday that one of the country's student visa programs is riddled with fraud. The agency reported that the Optional Practical Training program, known as OPT, was intended to give foreign students who have completed their degrees a chance to remain in the U.S. for up to two extra years while completing internships or entry-level jobs in their fields of study.

Instead, officials said the program has become a workaround to the regular immigration system. Businesses have claimed to host hundreds of students for training, yet when authorities visited the sites, none of the students were present at the reported job locations.

In some cases, the students fabricated opportunities while in others unscrupulous firms sponsored foreign students for supposed training and then placed them at other businesses. Agents found bogus addresses listed as hosting hundreds of foreign OPT students.

One employer in northern Texas visited by officials claimed to be hosting only three OPT students even though its own paperwork indicated it was hosting 500. In another instance, officials visited an employer listed as hosting 150 foreign workers and found only a single student employee present, with the employer unable to answer questions about the others.

"We are uncovering evidence of organized fraud that spans national and international borders," said Todd Lyons, ICE's acting director. He described the activity as a blatant attack on the American people but spoke in generalities, saying he could not discuss ongoing investigations.

Lyons added that some of the specific scams will soon be publicized. The OPT program was created during the George W. Bush administration. Backers at the time said it was a waste to let those who had just graduated from U.S. colleges leave the country, while those favoring stricter immigration policy questioned the need for additional foreign competition for American jobs.

Lyons said that when it was created, OPT was envisioned to cover a limited number of people. The program saw a major expansion under the Obama administration. By 2024, there were 418,781 foreign students authorized to work under OPT. Two-thirds of OPT students are from Asian nations, with India and China topping the list.

Businesses are exempt from paying some payroll taxes on OPT employees. This creates a financial incentive for companies to hire the foreign students over American workers, according to the report.