Over 69,000 Indian students face deportation risk as US tightens OPT unemployment rules

A wave of uncertainty has swept across the international student community in the US as thousands of students on the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program have started receiving warning letters from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The letters threaten termination of their SEVIS records and potential deportation due to alleged violations of employment reporting rules.This enforcement action significantly impacts Indian students, who form the second-largest group of international students in the US. According to the Open Doors Report for the 2022-23 academic year, there were 270,000 Indian students in the US, with nearly 69,000 of them participating in the OPT program.

These students now face the risk of losing their legal status due to administrative lapses in reporting employment details.Stricter OPT enforcement leads to legal consequencesAt the heart of the issue is the strict enforcement of existing OPT unemployment rules. OPT regulations allow international students to remain unemployed for up to 90 days during their 12-month OPT period. Those on a STEM-OPT extension are granted an additional 60 days.

Students are required to update their employment status on the SEVIS portal within 10 days of any change, including a new job, job loss, or change in work location.As reported by the TNN, immigration attorney Snehal Batra of NPZ Law Group said, “The recent ICE letters indicate that a student’s SEVIS record will be terminated if there is no employer information listed. This means the student either failed to report the OPT job on time or exceeded the allowed unemployment period.”

Batra added that, in the past, SEVIS records were not typically terminated automatically for such violations, but under the current administration’s strict approach, students can fall out of status more easily.Letters mirror past policy under Trump-Pence administrationThe wording in the current ICE letters reportedly mirrors those issued in 2020 during the Trump-Pence administration. As per the TNN, experts note a visible uptick in the number of such letters now being sent, indicating renewed focus on enforcement under the Trump presidency.

A sample letter viewed by the TNN states, “Because there is no employer information in your SEVIS record, you are accumulating unemployment days and may have exceeded the permissible period of unemployment.

” The letter further warns students to correct their SEVIS records within 15 days or face immigration proceedings.Schools and DSOs under pressureTraditionally, compliance with SEVIS reporting was managed by the Designated School Officials (DSOs).

However, as per immigration lawyer Jath Shao, quoted by the TNN, “ICE has been going in and terminating people who have accumulated more than 90 days of unemployment.” He added that in some instances, the failure to update SEVIS was due to delays by DSOs, though US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has reinstated student status once records were corrected.Advisories issued and guidance to studentsThe NAFSA: Association of International Educators has issued a special advisory, urging DSOs to monitor ‘Accrued unemployment days’ alerts and to actively follow up with students nearing their unemployment limits.

It also reminds students to promptly update employment details via the SEVIS portal or through their school DSO.Poovi Chothani, managing partner at LawQuest, advised, as reported by the TNN, that students nearing their limit should consider legal alternatives such as leaving the US, enrolling in a new program, or applying for a different visa status like B-2.Batra also recommended, “Students should maintain written records of all employment, including employer name, job title, dates of work, hours, and supervisor details,” which could support future visa or status change applications, as noted by the TNN.