Student and Exchange Visitor Program: DHS Needs to Assess Risks and Strengthen Oversight of Foreign Students with Employment Authorization
Highlights
What GAO Found
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a component of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has not identified or assessed fraud or noncompliance risks posed by schools that recommend and foreign students approved for optional practical training (OPT), in accordance with DHS risk management guidance. ICE's Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) officials consider OPT to be a low-risk employment benefit for foreign students because, in part, they believe foreign students approved for OPT do not have an incentive to jeopardize their legal status in the United States. However, SEVP has not determined potential risks in OPT. Further, officials from the Counterterrorism and Criminal Exploitation Unit (CTCEU), ICE's investigative unit, and ICE field agents GAO interviewed have identified potential risks involving OPT based on prior and ongoing investigations. For example, ICE field agents identified cases where school officials recommended OPT for foreign students to work outside of their major areas of study, which is not allowed under ICE regulations. In response to a June 2012 GAO recommendation, ICE has taken initial actions to identify risks across SEVP-certified schools but has not identified and assessed OPT risks or determined the extent to which potential OPT risks will be part of its efforts to assess risks SEVP-wide. Further, SEVP has not coordinated with CTCEU, including obtaining and assessing information from CTCEU and ICE field offices regarding OPT risks, as part of its efforts. Identifying and assessing OPT risks, in coordination with CTCEU, could better position SEVP to manage risks in OPT.
ICE has not consistently collected the information and developed the monitoring mechanisms needed to help ensure foreign students comply with OPT requirements, thereby maintaining their legal status in the United States. Foreign students can participate in OPT while attending classes and after graduation for up to 12 months; students studying in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics fields may be eligible for an additional 17 months (29 months total). However, ICE does not have complete information on which foreign students approved for OPT are actively working and whether employment is related to their studies, per ICE regulations. For example, GAO's analysis of ICE data on students engaged in all types of OPT indicates that 38 percent (48,642 of 126,796) of student records do not contain an employer's name. Furthermore, the data do not include the date on which students granted authorization began working. ICE does not require that students and school officials report this information. Without these data, ICE cannot determine whether students with employment authorization are working in jobs related to their studies and not exceeding regulatory limits on unemployment. Collecting and monitoring complete information on foreign students approved for OPT would better position ICE to determine whether these students are maintaining legal status in the United States.
This is a public version of a For Official Use Only/Law Enforcement Sensitive report that GAO issued in January 2014. Information DHS deemed sensitive has been redacted.
Why GAO Did This Study
As of November 2013, about 100,000 of the approximately 1 million foreign students in the United States were approved to participate in OPT—an employment benefit that allows foreign students to obtain temporary work in their areas of study during and after completing an academic program. ICE is responsible for certifying schools; monitoring foreign students and schools, including their compliance with OPT requirements; and enforcing immigration laws for those that fail to comply.
GAO was asked to review the management of OPT. This report examines the extent to which DHS has (1) identified and assessed risks associated with OPT, and (2) collected information and developed monitoring mechanisms to help ensure students comply with OPT requirements and maintain their legal status. GAO analyzed ICE regulations and policies and data on schools that recommend and foreign students approved for OPT, as of August 2013. GAO interviewed ICE and USCIS officials, including those from 7 of 26 ICE field offices selected based on factors such as OPT-related fraud investigations. Interview results cannot be generalized, but they provided insights about OPT risks.
Recommendations
GAO recommends that ICE, among other things, identify and assess OPT-related risks and require additional employment information from students and schools. DHS concurred with the recommendations.
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement | To strengthen ICE's efforts to develop and implement a process to identify and assess risks in SEVP, the Director of ICE should direct SEVP, in coordination with CTCEU, to identify and assess potential risks in OPT, including obtaining and assessing relevant information from CTCEU and ICE field offices. |
As of September 2016, SEVP had identified some risks posed both by schools that recommend foreign students for OPT and by foreign students approved for OPT, and has been coordinating with CTCEU to identify and assess additional potential OPT risks. As of June 2016, SEVP had incorporated its OPT-related risk indicators and additional, CTCEU-identified risk indicators in its broader risk assessment process. SEVP plans to re-rank the risk indicators on an annual basis and solicit CTCEU for input on any additional OPT risk indicators at that time. Identifying and assessing OPT-specific risks based on various factors, including risk information from CTCEU, could better position ICE to determine actions to help prevent OPT-related noncompliance and fraud and to address such noncompliance and fraud when they occur.
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| United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement | To better ensure designated school officials' (DSO) and students' compliance with OPT requirements, and strengthen efforts to identify and assess potential risks in OPT, the Director of ICE should direct SEVP to require that pre-completion and 12-month post-completion OPT students report to DSOs, and DSOs record in Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), students' employer information, including the employer's name and address. |
In February 2014, we reported on the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Student and Exchange Visitor Program's (SEVP) management of optional practical training (OPT) (GAO-14-356). We reported that ICE regulations and policy state that designated school officials (DSO) are responsible for reporting any changes in employers of OPT-approved foreign students in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS). However, we reported that ICE regulations do not specifically require that students report and DSOs provide students' initial employer information in SEVIS. Consequently, we recommended that SEVP require that pre-completion and post-completion OPT students report to DSOs, and DSOs record in SEVIS, students' employer information, including any employer's name and address. In December 2015, SEVP released an updated version of SEVIS that requires completion of employer and employer address fields for each OPT-approved student record, and produces a report that notifies DSOs of any student with approved OPT that does not have employer information included in his or her record. Additionally, SEVP issued a notice of the SEVIS changes that informs DSOs of this new SEVIS requirement. Requiring DSOs to report foreign students' initial employer name and address in SEVIS should help ensure that ICE consistently collects information needed to oversee OPT requirements.
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| United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement | To better ensure DSOs' and students' compliance with OPT requirements, and strengthen efforts to identify and assess potential risks in OPT, the Director of ICE should direct SEVP to develop and distribute guidance to DSOs on how to determine whether a job is related to a student's area of study and require DSOs to provide information in SEVIS to show that they took steps, based on this guidance, to help ensure that the student's work is related to the area of study. |
In February 2014, GAO reported that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had not consistently collected the information and developed the monitoring mechanisms needed to help ensure foreign students comply with Optional Practical Training (OPT) requirements, including ensuring that their OPT employment is related to their studies. Specifically, ICE had not provided guidance to designated school officials (DSO) to help determine and document whether a foreign student's job is related to his or her area of study, as required by ICE regulations. Therefore, GAO recommended that ICE develop and distribute guidance to DSOs on how to determine whether a job is related to a student's area of study and require DSOs to provide information in ICE's automated data system to show that they took steps, based on this guidance, to help ensure that the student's work is related to the area of study. In 2015 and 2018, ICE updated its automated data system to require that students report how their OPT employment would relate to their area of study. In March 2016, ICE issued a new regulation that, among other things, officials stated requires greater detail from foreign students and schools on the scope of OPT employment for those in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) programs, and how it is related to the earned degree. In September 2019, ICE issued further guidance to DSOs on factors to consider in determining a direct relationship between employment and a foreign student's area of study. The guidance addresses both OPT and STEM OPT extension opportunities. Specifically, the guidance states that foreign students are responsible for providing a description of how their practical training opportunity relates to their major area of study, which DSOs must review. In addition, through ICE's automated system or in a foreign student's file, DSOs are to document and retain the information provided by the students. Developing and distributing such guidance to DSOs should help provide ICE with the information it can use to oversee OPT requirements.
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| United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement | To better ensure DSOs' and students' compliance with OPT requirements, and strengthen efforts to identify and assess potential risks in OPT, the Director of ICE should direct SEVP to require that students report to DSOs, and DSOs record in SEVIS, students' initial date of employment and any periods of unemployment. |
In February 2014, we reported on the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Student and Exchange Visitor Program's (SEVP) management of optional practical training (OPT) (GAO-14-356). We reported that ICE policy provides instruction on how a student and designated school officials (DSO) may report and record dates of employment or unemployment in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS). However, we reported that ICE regulations do not specifically require that foreign students report to their DSOs when they begin working or that DSOs enter those corresponding dates of employment or unemployment in SEVIS. Consequently, we recommended that SEVP require that students report to DSOs, and DSOs record in SEVIS, students' initial date of employment and any periods of unemployment. In December 2015, SEVP released an updated version of SEVIS that requires DSOs to complete initial employment dates for each employer of OPT-approved foreign students. SEVIS uses the dates of OPT authorization and the actual initial employment dates entered by DSOs to calculate accumulated days of unemployment. Additionally, SEVP issued a notice of the SEVIS changes that informs DSOs of this new SEVIS requirement. Requiring DSOs to report foreign students' dates of employment in SEVIS should help ensure that ICE consistently collects information needed to oversee the OPT requirement that students do not exceed the permissible limit on unemployment.
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| United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement | To better ensure DSOs' and students' compliance with OPT requirements, and strengthen efforts to identify and assess potential risks in OPT, the Director of ICE should direct SEVP to develop and provide guidance to DSOs and USCIS on how much time constitutes 1 full academic year for the purposes of recommending and authorizing OPT. |
In February 2014, we reported on the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Student and Exchange Visitor Program's (SEVP) management of optional practical training (OPT) (GAO-14-356). We reported that ICE requires OPT to be authorized only for students who have been lawfully enrolled on a full-time basis in a SEVP-certified college, university, conservatory, or seminary for 1 full academic year. However, ICE regulations and policy did not define and SEVP had not provided OPT-specific guidance to designated school officials (DSO) on what constitutes 1 full academic year. Consequently, we recommended that SEVP develop and provide guidance to DSOs and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) on how much time constitutes 1 full academic year for the purposes of recommending and authorizing OPT. In October 2014, SEVP issued policy guidance for defining an academic year as it applies to various schools' sessions and the authorization of OPT, among other things, and shared this guidance with DSOs and USCIS online through the Study in the States website. Developing and providing guidance to DSOs and USCIS on a consistent definition of what constitutes 1 full academic year should help ICE better ensure that foreign students meet eligibility requirements for OPT.
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| United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement | To better ensure DSOs' and students' compliance with OPT requirements, and strengthen efforts to identify and assess potential risks in OPT, the Director of ICE should direct SEVP to develop and implement a mechanism to monitor available information in SEVIS to determine if foreign students are accruing more OPT than allowed by ICE regulations. |
Foreign students in the United States may be approved to participate in Optional Practical Training (OPT)--an employment benefit that allows foreign students to obtain temporary work in their areas of study during and after completing an academic program. According to SEVP officials, SEVP implemented two enhancements in SEVIS to address this recommendation. SEVP implemented the first SEVIS enhancement in October 31, 2014, which included measures to ensure STEM OPT students in "cap-gap" (applying for H1-B) were not counted as exceeding OPT accrual levels. SEVP implemented the second SEVIS enhancement in July 2015, which included improvements to allow SEVP and USCIS to view, in one location, all approved employment for each student. These two SEVIS enhancements should better help SEVP and USCIS to monitor available information in SEVIS to ensure that that foreign students approved for OPT do not exceed mandated limits on the amount of time they are approved for work.
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