Thousands of international students in the US on post-graduation Optional Practical Training (OPT) are receiving warning letters from the country's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), threatening termination of their SEVIS records and potential deportation over employment reporting issues, according to a report by TOI’s Lubna Kably.The core of the issue lies in the reporting of employment status within the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS). OPT regulations grant students a maximum of 90 days of unemployment during their twelve-month program. Another 60 days are available to those undertaking the STEM-OPT program for an additional two years.ALSO READ: US pauses new student visa interviews amid plans for social media screening“The recent ICE letters indicate that an international student’s SEVIS record will be terminated if there is no employer information listed on the SEVIS portal. This signifies that the student did not report the OPT job on time or went over the allowed unemployment period, either of which can result in a termination of OPT status and initiation of removal proceedings,” Snehal Batra, managing attorney at NPZ Law Group told TOI.ALSO READ: US embassy warns Indian students: If you skip classes your student visa may be revoked“This is a pretty big change for F-1 students. In the past, SEVIS did not usually terminate SEVIS records automatically for exceeding 90 days of unemployment. But now, with tighter rules, students could accidentally fall out of status for failure to report,” she added.As per immigration attorneys, OPT reporting rules require SEVIS to be updated within ten days of any change, be it a new job, new work site location, or loss of employment.ALSO READ: Trump’s USCIS nominee targets OPT, raising alarms among Indian students in USA copy of such a letter, seen by TOI 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. If you have been employed during your OPT time, you must correct your SEVIS record. Please contact your Designated School Official (DSO) or utilize the SEVIS Portal to update your information. Failure to take corrective action may result in the initiation of immigration proceedings to remove you from the United States."This letter imposes a strict 15-day deadline on international students to update their SEVIS records from the date of issuance. Failure to comply will lead to the termination of their SEVIS status, potentially resulting in consequences like deportation. Indian students represent a large portion of the international student population in the US. According to the Open Doors Report for the 2022–23 academic year, there were 2,70,000 Indian students in the country, including 69,000 enrolled in OPT programs. As a result, many Indian students have been affected by these notices.According to ‘NAFSA: Association of International Educators’, the wordings of the letter are identical to those issued in 2020 under the Trump-Pence administration. However, according to education and immigration experts, this time there appears to be an uptick in the number of letters that are being issued.“Traditionally, it’s been the school’s DSO that tracks SEVIS compliance, but since ICE administers the SEVP, they have been going in and terminating people who have accumulated more than 90 days of unemployment during their OPT,” Jath Shao, founder of an immigration law firm told TOI.“It is crucial to have employment, paid or unpaid, that is related to the major you graduated from. You must also promptly report your employment or unemployment to your school’s DSO. We have seen some cases where DSOs failed to timely update graduates’ employment status in SEVIS, but USCIS has reinstated the students’ status upon correction of the record,” pointed out Shao.The gravity of the situation has prompted NAFSA: Association of International Educators, to issue a special advisory. It recommends that DSOs should diligently monitor the ‘Accrued unemployment days’ alerts. This alert highlights students who have accrued unemployment days and shows their employment status as of the date the list was generated. Designated School Officials (DSOs) are encouraged to proactively reach out to students with a high number of unemployment days and remind them to update their employment details via the SEVIS Portal or directly through their DSO.(With TOI inputs)
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