USA OPT Program 2025: You could have your US degree and get into your dream job and apply all the things you have just learned in the classroom. And that is what the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program has done to thousands of international students, particularly the Indian students. Yet this pathway to American work experience is already being threatened, with new regulations and laws proposed such as the Fairness for High-Skilled Americans Act 2025 have the potential to reduce the program or even make it non-existent.
Know the US Optional Practical Training (OPT) program to foreign students: how it operates, beneficiaries, what OPT is, the mechanics of its operation, why it is important, what modifications could be in the future, new developments and what is at stake to international students- more so in 2025 and beyond.
What Is the USA OPT Program 2025?
OPT allows full-time F-1 visa students to temporarily work in the US in a position that is directly related to their major. There are two main kinds:
- Pre-completion OPT: Employment is available as long as classes are being taken, after 1 year of full-time enrollment.
- Post-completion OPT: It is possible to work after graduation, either in a part-time position (at least 20 hours per week) or a full-time position.
When receiving the graduate degree of STEM (science, technology, engineering, math), the graduates are allowed to use that degree to prolong their OPT to 24 more months, making the maximum 36 months.
Why OPT is Important?
OPT offers a career catapult, foreign students receive hands on American work experience and network and in most cases, transitioning to H-1B work permissions. Before sponsoring the new grads, the US employers have a chance to test-drive them. Opt enables high-caliber students worldwide to come to universities as they often view it as a step towards an American career. Student numbers using OPT increased 21% in 2024-25, even as total international enrollment declined, as its distinctiveness became apparent.
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How Is OPT Changing in 2025-2026?
Some of the recent developments may transform or eliminate OPT, The Fairness for High-Skilled Americans Act of 2025 is aimed at the OPT and it argues that it robs Americans of jobs and also enables businesses to pay low wages. They are considering eliminating FICA tax exemption on the use of OPT, and this will raise cost to both students and employers.
The department of homeland security is pressing towards enhanced supervision, fraud prevention, and closer correlation to the student training goals. In case the new law is adopted, F-1 students will be deprived of the on-the-job training alternative, and will have to exit the US immediately after graduation or find employment beyond the borders of the country.
What If OPT Ends or Shrinks?
Cessation of OPT would sever the connection between US study and US jobs. The biggest group of OPT students would be Indian students, who would not have as much opportunity to remain in America and thus damage their career opportunities. Companies of US would be deprived of a reliable means of locating and hiring skilled graduates. Researchers caution that this would be detrimental to innovation, cost the economy billions and render US colleges less competitive to the most talented minds globally.
Information about international students
You need to complete one full time academic year in order to apply to OPT. It is accessible to students of all disciplines; STEM has extended eligibility. It is not a simple rubber stamp, you have to submit to USCIS and the regulations keep on being changed. Without an OPT, CPT or full work visa, you are not allowed by law to work on most jobs in the US.
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Regular F-1 to OPT to H-1B Route
Generally, foreign students pursue on an F-1 visa, to work on an optional program, then to work on an H-1B work visa through an annual lottery process. The most recent changes to the H-1B do not require outliers to file applications which may already be in the US to pay a filing fee of 100,000, but conditionally only after obtaining F-1 status and possibly the optional opt. Alterations in OPT would render this trendy migration route extremely difficult to numerous graduates.
The Optional Practical Training program is not merely the paperwork but a life changing initiative to hundreds of thousands of students and a talent pipeline to the US business. The dream of most future graduates would be blocked by new regulations or the expiration of the OPT and also undermine the status of America as the United States best place to study and work. In the meantime, in case you want a US degree, follow the immigration news and prepare your course of action well.