Optional Practical Training (OPT) allows graduates to gain valuable hands-on experience and begin contributing their education and training to the U.S. immediately. More than a million students from around the globe attended universities to obtain their higher education degrees and without OPT many would have to leave the U.S. in order to use their skills somewhere else.
The following resource, 5 Things to Know About Optional Practical Training (OPT) for International Students, provides an overview of OPT. The resource covers the following key areas/questions:
- Faced with limited immigration options, OPT is the primary way international graduates gain U.S. work experience and enter the jobs pipeline.
- International graduates of U.S. universities use OPT to live and work in the U.S. on a temporary basis.
- Americans benefit when international graduates stay and work in the U.S.
- Attacks on OPT are misguided and harmful.
- OPT is just one part of a complicated immigration system.
