Fewer international students are enrolling in U.S. universities but the Trump administration plans a new regulation that would actually make coming to school in America less attractive than it is today. Timely research from an economist concludes the fear that international students working on Optional Practical Training (OPT) would take away jobs from U.S. professionals is unfounded.
International students can work 12 months on OPT and an additional 24 months on STEM OPT if the students earn degrees in science, technology, engineering and math fields. Other countries, such as Canada, already have more welcoming policies than the United States for permitting international students to work after graduation. It’s one reason Canada has been attracting more foreign students than ever before, while the enrollment of such students in the U.S. has been falling.
“Our version of OPT (known as the Post-Graduation Work Permit Program) is far more generous than the U.S. equivalent,” Peter Rekai, an immigration attorney with Rekai LLP in Toronto, told me in an interview. “Canada allows 3-year open work permits after graduating from any full-time degree or diploma course of at least 2-years length and a graduate who can get ‘skilled’ work of any kind for a least one year’s duration will qualify for the Express Entry [for permanent residence] application process and be competitive.”
In contrast, in the United States, restricting or eliminating OPT or STEM OPT is on the Trump administration’s DHS regulatory agenda. Such a regulation could happen in either 2019 or 2020. A description of the future regulation states: “ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] will propose this rule to improve protections of U.S. workers who may be negatively impacted by employment of nonimmigrant students on F and M visas.” Whether U.S. workers are harmed by foreign students on Optional Practical Training is addressed in a new study.
Madeline Zavodny, an economics professor at the University of North Florida (UNF) in Jacksonville, conducted research that analyzed new data covering a 9-year period (2008 to 2016) on foreign students with STEM majors approved for OPT and STEM OPT. Zavodny concluded, “The results indicate that the OPT program does not reduce job opportunities for American workers in STEM fields.” Zavodny, a former economist in the research department of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, examined the impact of foreign students on U.S. STEM workers through labor market analyses that included degree, occupation and geographic area and discovered foreign students are actually associated with lower unemployment rates among U.S. STEM workers.
The National Foundation for American Policy study found:
- “There is no evidence that foreign students participating in the OPT program reduce job opportunities for U.S. workers. Instead, the evidence suggests that U.S. employers are more likely to turn to foreign student workers when U.S. workers are scarcer.
- “The relative number of foreign students approved for OPT is negatively related to various measures of the unemployment rate among U.S. STEM workers. A larger number of foreign students approved for OPT, relative to the number of U.S. workers, is associated with a lower unemployment rate among those U.S. workers.
- “Analysis of the data show unemployment rates are lower in areas with larger numbers of foreign students doing OPT as a share of workers in STEM occupations. Comparisons at the state level likewise show a negative relationship.”
Zavodny also reviewed the economic literature on foreign-born professionals in science, technology, engineering and math fields. “Areas with more foreign-born STEM workers have higher patenting rates, faster productivity growth and higher earnings among U.S. natives, among other positive outcomes,” according to Zavodny. “The OPT program is an important way for the U.S. to attract and retain foreign talent. STEM workers are essential to continued robust economic growth, and other countries have stepped up their attempts to recruit them. The OPT program is a small but important way the United States attracts STEM students and enables them to contribute to the U.S. economy after graduation.”
Michelle Zatlyn, who came to America as an international student from Canada, co-founded a billion-dollar company because of Optional Practical Training. “The best thing the U.S. government has done on immigration is OPT to allow international students a chance to stay and work for a time after graduation,” Zatlyn once told me in an interview. “It allowed me to work with Matthew [Prince] on the business plan that helped create the company.”
After graduating from Harvard Business School, Michelle Zatlyn used the 12 months of OPT to co-found Cloudflare with fellow Harvard student Matthew Prince and his friend Lee Holloway. The company set up a unique network to provide enhanced security and services that now support millions of websites and internet properties. Today, Cloudflare has more than 800 employees and is valued at $1 billion.
Recent data show it would be unwise to take for granted that outstanding students across the globe will come to America without regard to U.S. government policies. “The number of international students from India enrolled in U.S. graduate level programs in computer science and engineering declined by 21%, or 18,590 fewer graduate students, from 2016 to 2017,” according to an analysis of government data.
Many people around the world believe America is the greatest place to live, raise a family and build an exciting career. It is wrong to assume that international students who come to the United States to pursue the American Dream are doing so at the expense of U.S. workers. The research shows international students should be welcomed as contributors to American society and our economy.
