​​Court Gives Obama Administration Extension in STEM OPT case

A Federal judge gave the Obama Administration until May 10, 2016 to complete a rulemaking that properly establishes the STEM Optional Practical Training (OPT) program. This means that former F-1 students with a OPT work permit can continue employment beyond February 12, and Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) can continue to accept OPT applications through that date.

In August of 2015 Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle struck down OPT, saying DHS did not comply with the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) when it expanded the program without public notice and comment process. The judge ruled in a lawsuit brought by Washington Alliance of Technology Workers in defense of several American technology workers who had been displaced by foreign workers under OPT.

When established, OPT gave foreign students at U.S. universities an opportunity to work for 12 months in the U.S. after graduation. In 2008, the Bush Administration expanded the OPT program by giving foreign students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics curricula the ability to work for up to 29 months after graduation.

Judge Huvelle had originally given USCIS until February 12, 2016 to establish a new rule under APA procedures. DHS proposed a rule on October 19, 2015 that received over 50,000 public comments. Earlier this month, the Administration filed for an extension, asking for an additional 90 days to fully respond to comments as the judge required.

Without an extension, tens of thousands of foreign OPT workers would have lost their work permit after February 12.

Read more at National Law Review.