Tech group backs foreign students’ visa option

A group that lobbies for tech companies, including Google, Facebook and Apple, has voiced its support for a little-known visa program that helps foreign students in the U.S. join the high-tech workforce and is facing a legal challenge.

The Information Technology Industry Council, a trade group based in Washington that represents dozens of hardware, software and service firms, filed a motion Thursday in federal court in support of the Optional Practical Training program, better known as OPT. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers also were part of the motion.

After student visas run out, international students are eligible to pursue work related to their degrees for a 12-month OPT period. That also allows them to remain in the country as they enter the lottery for an H-1B visa or pursue other avenues to keep working. Only 85,000 H-1B visas are granted to for-profit companies every year; the government received 236,000 applications in 2016, the recent peak.

Those who train in science, technology, engineering or mathematics — fields known as STEM — have an edge on their peers. In 2008, the Bush administration first began allowing students with STEM

degrees on OPT to stay in the U.S. and work for another 17 months. In 2016, the Obama administration extended that to 24 months. The longer period effectively gives technical graduates two more shots at the H-1B lottery. The motion defends the extension period, which the Trump administration has signaled it wants to roll back.

Unlike the H-1B program, OPT has no limit on the number of students who can qualify and doesn’t require an employer’s sponsorship. The San Francisco and San Jose metro areas are among the top landing spots for graduates in the OPT program, according to Pew Research.

Critics called the expansion a “shadow” guest worker program that attempts to get around caps on other visa types. Others say the two-year extension helps address what the tech industry characterizes as a shortage of workers with specific skills.

In its motion, the ITIC described the program as a “crucial bridge” between a graduate’s student visa and more “durable” immigration status.

Without the two-year extension, “the great majority of these highly skilled, American-educated students would be unable to remain in the U.S. and would therefore leave the country, taking their know-how with them,” the motion said.

Patrick Duffy, head of global relations and workforce policy at Intel, said in a statement that eliminating the extension would be “devastating” for the Santa Clara company’s recruiting efforts. Intel currently has 1,100 employees on OPT who did not win this year’s H-1B lottery.

In 2016, the Washington Alliance of Technology Workers, a union representing tech workers, sued the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the program, to block the extension. Last year, a U.S. district court ruled against the union, which is also known as WashTech. WashTech appealed and the litigation is ongoing. Thursday’s motion was filed as part of the appeal process.

WashTech believes international students working in the U.S. after graduation increase competition for jobs for its members. The complaint cited examples of members who had applied unsuccessfully for jobs at companies that also sought extensions for workers under OPT. One member “applied to Microsoft for computer programming jobs three times,” but the Seattle company still made “at least 100 applications for OPT extensions,” instead of hiring U.S. workers, WashTech said.

The union also alleged that DHS exceeded its authority in awarding work-permit extensions to people in the country on student visas. After finishing their degrees, foreign students are no longer students, the union said. The district court concluded that argument was inadequate; an appellate court disagreed, reversing the ruling in June.

The government was expected to file a motion Thursday to dismiss WashTech’s complaint, with ITIC filing a brief in support of the government’s position.

The fight over OPT highlights an irony for the current administration: While President Trump is seeking to roll back immigration programs expanded under President Barack Obama, government agencies must defend themselves in ongoing litigation against those programs.

In December, the government released a new regulatory agenda that proposes undoing the STEM OPT extension. That change, too, could face legal challenges from supporters.