Skilled Worker Program Under Microscope

WASHINGTON—Americans have become familiar with the H-1B visa, a skilled worker program that has sparked heated debates among conservatives.

But there’s a key feeder for the visa that many Americans may not know—one that is meeting increased scrutiny from Congress ahead of possible changes from the Trump administration.

Optional practical training (OPT) allows foreign nationals on student visas to work in the United States before or, in many cases, after they have completed their studies. Although some have touted its provision of skilled labor, concern has grown about the potential displacement of American tech workers by the program, which has grown to more than 400,000 participants as of 2024.

Letters between Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) and former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem suggest it could be changed soon.

Here’s how optional practical training could change and why some think it should.

How OPT Works

There’s no cap on participants in the program, which emerged and expanded over many presidential administrations with no involvement from Congress.

Companies that hire its beneficiaries generally save on payroll taxes as well as Social Security and Medicare contributions.

“That comes to a significant amount of money,” Ira Mehlman of the Federation for American Immigration Reform told The Epoch Times.

That work period in their area of study can last up to three years in the case of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) optional practical training.

In June 2025 House testimony, Alex Nowrasteh of the Cato Institute described optional practical training as a link in a chain of benefits and legal statuses that ultimately enable foreign students to become skilled American workers.

Kevin Lynn of U.S. Tech Workers told The Epoch Times that Americans are generally unaware of STEM optional practical training because it was created through regulation, not Congress.

“There was no kind of debate on this anywhere,” he said.

The Pipeline Widens

The modern story of optional practical training begins in 1992, when George H.W. Bush’s administration introduced a program that enabled those visa holders to work for one year after graduation.

The program broadened further in 2008, when George W. Bush’s administration created STEM optional practical training and made other changes that liberalized the benefit. President Barack Obama lengthened the maximum duration for STEM degree holders to 36 months.

Ahead of its Bush-era growth, Microsoft was among the tech giants lobbying heavily for more high-skilled immigration.

Then-Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff cited the testimony of Microsoft’s Bill Gates in the 2008 rule expanding optional practical training.

The number of workers authorized for optional practical training has ballooned. It increased from 154,522 in 2007 to 418,718 in 2024, according to an analysis from the Congressional Research Service.

Between 2020 and 2024, 35 percent of its participants came from India, and 24 percent from China.

The Debate

Optional practical training defenders say it helps the United States retain top technical minds, making the country more innovative and competitive.

Critics worry about swelling participant numbers at a time of high unemployment for some recent American STEM graduates and layoffs in the tech industry.

Researchers from the Mercatus Center at George Mason University have defended the benefit, citing studies that did not link it to unemployment among American STEM workers.

“The United States has been one of the leading recruiters of global talent, and ending the program would undermine this advantage and impose costs on the American economy,” Liya Palagashvili and Jack Salmon wrote.

Yet relatively high unemployment rates among recent American STEM graduates have caused concerns about the rule’s effects.

Nearly 8 percent of recent computer engineering graduates, 7 percent of recent computer science graduates, and 6.6 percent of recent physics graduates were unemployed as of 2024, according to the latest available statistics from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Tech sector layoffs against the backdrop of artificial intelligence’s growth have made the landscape even more daunting for young American STEM workers.

Meanwhile, lawmakers’ concerns about foreign student espionage in the United States, including by students linked to the Chinese Communist Party, have mounted in recent years.

“Foreign STEM students often take tech jobs that give them access to sensitive technologies,” Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) warned in March 2025 floor remarks.

—Nathan Worcester; Stacy Robinson

BOOKMARKS

The federal government is suing Minnesota over a policy that allows boys to compete in girls’ sports if they identify as the opposite gender. “The Trump administration does not tolerate flawed state policies that ignore biological reality and unfairly undermine girls on the playing field,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement on Monday.

A judge in Minnesota tossed out a DOJ lawsuit against the state’s policy that allowed illegal immigrants to pay in-state university tuition rates. U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez pointed out that the policy didn’t discriminate against American citizens, since anyone could get those tuition rates by attending a Minnesota high school for three years, or similar methods.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the United States is carrying on clandestine talks with some members of the Iranian leadership. “I’m not going to disclose to you who those people are, because it probably would get them in trouble with some other groups of people inside of Iran,” Rubio told ABC News’ “Good Morning America.” 

Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) is asking Florida Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D) to resign following her conviction by an ethics panel last week. It is “very important that both parties be consistent in punishing ethical lapses inside their own teams,” Himes said. 

President Donald Trump said he doesn’t object to other countries, including Russia, sending oil to Cuba despite U.S. sanctions. “I told them, if a country wants to send some oil into Cuba right now, I have no problem with that, whether it’s Russia or not.”

—Stacy Robinson