The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has announced a major crackdown on foreign students participating in the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program, uncovering widespread fraud involving fake and non-existent companies offering OPT jobs. Immigration attorney Emily Neumann confirmed that the practices described by ICE are very real, with empty buildings being listed as worksites for hundreds of students where no actual employees ever work.
Neumann noted that while most companies do not engage in these malpractices, they should now be cautious and ensure full compliance, as increased site visits are expected. She outlined three key areas for companies hiring OPT students to review immediately:
- Is your Form I-983 current? If the worksite, supervisor, or training description on file does not match what the student is actually doing, this discrepancy will be the first thing an investigator finds.
- Do the supervisors of STEM OPT students know their responsibilities? During a site visit, supervisor answers are compared against the signed form.
- Are you reporting terminations within five business days? This is a regulatory deadline, not a guideline.
Overall OPT Checklist
Students apply for OPT by filing Form I-765, and employers do not need to submit any petition for standard, non-STEM OPT. Employment must be directly related to the student's field of study, and this connection should be explainable in writing if requested. Students must report employment information to the Designated School Official (DSO) at the school that issued their Form I-20. Employers should be prepared to provide a written offer letter, job description, and, if asked, a letter explaining the link between the role and the degree. When OPT ends, the student must notify the DSO.
Irregularities Found by ICE
ICE discovered several irregularities during its investigation:
- Empty buildings, locked doors, and residential addresses listed as worksites for hundreds of students.
- Coordinated employer clusters in shared office complexes, where supposedly separate employers operated nearly identical websites and shared management personnel while denying any business relationship.
- A single owner establishing multiple OPT employer entities, allegedly to structure income, evade taxes, and obscure the true employment relationship.
- International financial patterns spanning multiple countries and bank accounts, missing employment records, and offshore (mostly India) human-resources or payroll arrangements.
- OPT workers never coming to work.
