Indian students among 10,000 foreign students under ICE radar over alleged OPT fraud

An officer firing non-lethal munition while facing protesters during a crack down, Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Los Angeles. Pic/AFP

The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said it has identified 10,000 foreign students, including several from India, who claim to be working for highly suspect employers by misusing the Optional Practical Training (OPT) component of their visas.

OPT allows foreign nationals who enter the United States on a student visa to work in the US for 12, or in some cases 24, months.

It also allows students to transition to an H-1B visa sponsored by employers.

Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, acting Director of ICE Todd Lyons said the OPT component of the student visa programme has "become a magnet for fraud" and has been the subject of many investigations by the Department of Homeland Security.

"We've encountered cases involving espionage, biological threats, intellectual property theft, visa and employment fraud, and even scams targeting elderly Americans, all perpetrated by individuals abusing their status as students," Lyons said.

"Our nation will not tolerate security threats originating from the foreign student programme," Lyons said.

Lyons and other officials outlined how federal investigators conducted site visits, identifying, among other things, cases where OPT beneficiaries were being "managed" by employees based in India, in violation of a provision of the programme requiring US training and direction.

Lyons said the OPT programme, which was unveiled during the George W Bush administration, had anticipated only a few thousand beneficiaries to receive training before returning home.

"Instead, OPT ballooned into an uncontrolled guest worker pipeline with hundreds of thousands of foreign students working in the United States. As the programme's size has exploded, so has the fraud," he said.

Lyons dubbed the OPT fraud a blatant attack on the goodwill of the American people, who generously allow foreign nationals access to their education system.

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