Missouri Senator Eric Schmidt said OPT students are working in restaurants, janitorial service companies.
Senator Eric Schmidt, who has been speaking out against the optional practical training program that foreign students receive at the end of their courses, just revealed some surprising facts from his state of Missouri as he once again demanded that the practice be ended as it is harming American students. This OPT has provided a legal pathway from colleges to chambers for centuries, and students on F1 visas can easily get their status changed to H-1B once they get on the right track. Missouri Senator Eric Schmidt said that ICE has given him the figure that there are 4430 OPT visas in Missouri alone and many of them are working in jobs they should not be working in. The senator said a local Ethiopian restaurant applied for a STEM OPT employee, another OPT employee works for a janitorial services company. “OPT jobs *must* be directly related to the student’s major field of study. And if you’re a STEM major, you get *3 years of work authorization.* Not only that, OPT holders are exempt from FICA taxes – a >15% tax subsidy for employers. Given this, and given that foreigners using the OPT may be desperate for work, it should be no surprise that the OPT is often Abuse is rampant. I found cases of foreign students working in restaurants, bars and as janitors providing services that have no connection to a student’s field of study,” Schmidt said. “Employers who clearly need, degree-related, high skills include: A local Ethiopian restaurant, which applied for a STEM OPT employee last year (three years long). It’s a highly reviewed restaurant but why does it need a recent graduate STEM major? And why not hire an American?”“Another OPT employee works for a small janitorial services company. This doesn’t seem like a natural fit. OPT often cuts white collar work, but it is also cutting blue collar workers by flooding the market with recent graduates looking for any type of employment.”“Not only that, but a cadre of shady consultants and vigilante NGOs are taking advantage of the OPT, teaching foreign students how to game the system. And some are even using foreign student labor to train the import of more foreign students and workers,” the senator said, citing the example of Vitendo4Africa, which offers classes on green card applications. “The bottom line: OPT is not a student training program. It is a backdoor job program for foreign nationals at the expense of Missouri families and American graduates who are still struggling to find work. USCIS, it’s time to shut it down. Missourians first. Americans first,” the senator wrote.