The United States will add eight new fields of study for international students seeking to gain practical work experience in America, according to an announcement in the Federal Register. The new fields will be added to STEM OPT (science, technology, engineering and mathematics Optional Practical Training). The announcement provides more international students an opportunity to work in the United States, at least temporarily, at a time when Canada and other nations are seeking to lure away high-skilled foreign nationals.
A Federal Register Notice
In a Federal Register notice scheduled to be published on July 12, 2023, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced they are “amending the DHS STEM Designated Degree Program List by adding eight qualifying fields of study.” The list determines which degrees are eligible for international students in F-1 status to qualify for a 24-month extension of Optional Practical Training in a STEM field. OPT allows for 12 months of practical training.
In January 2022, the Biden administration announced in a Federal Register notice that it would expand eligibility for STEM OPT by adding 22 qualifying fields of study, including cloud computing, anthrozoology, climate science, mathematical economics and others. The public can nominate fields to add to the degree program list. Educators note many international students would not come to America without OPT and the ability to gain practical work experience in their field, including the potential later to obtain H-1B status and an employment-based green card.
The Trump administration threatened to eliminate or add new restrictions to OPT and STEM OPT, placing an action on the DHS regulatory agenda. That uncertainty and new restrictions on H-1B visas likely increased the number of international students applying to attend schools in Canada and elsewhere.
At Canadian universities, the number of Indians enrolled as international students increased by 182% between the 2016/17 and 2019/2020 academic years. The number of Indians immigrating to Canada has tripled since 2013.
The Fields Of Study
The Federal Register notice lists the eight fields of study added to the DHS STEM Designated Degree Program List:
– Landscape Architecture: “A program that prepares individuals for the independent professional practice of landscape architecture and research in various aspects of the field. Includes instruction in geology and hydrology; soils, groundcovers, and horticultural elements; project and site planning; landscape design, history, and theory; environmental design; applicable law and regulations; and professional responsibilities and standards.”
– Institutional Research: “A program of study that prepares an individual to be an institutional researcher at a postsecondary educational institution. Includes instruction in data analysis, data-driven decision-making, data mining, higher education administration and organization, research methods, and statistics.”
– Mechatronics, Robotics, and Automation Engineering Technology/Technician: “A program that prepares individuals to apply basic engineering principles and technical skills in the support of engineers to the design, development, and operational evaluation of autonomous, computer-controlled, electro-mechanical systems. Includes instruction in computer and software engineering, control engineering, electronic and electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, and robotics.”
– Composite Materials Technology/Technician: “A program of study that prepares individuals to apply basic engineering principles and technical skills in support of engineers and other professionals engaged in the development, manufacture, and use of composite materials in aircraft technology, automotive technology, boats, medical prostheses, and wind turbines. Includes instruction in computer-aided design and drafting, composite materials and processes, composite maintenance, composite manufacturing, composite repair, material science, and mold manufacturing and production.”
– Linguistics and Computer Science: “A program that focuses on the relationship between computer and human language and computational techniques applied to natural language. Includes instruction in computer programming, human languages, linguistic analysis, logic, natural language processing, semantics, machine learning, psycholinguistics, software engineering, and syntax.”
– Developmental and Adolescent Psychology: “A program that focuses on the scientific study of the unique stages of psychological growth and development of individuals from adolescence to adulthood. Includes instruction in cognitive and perceptual development, emotional development, personality development, the effects of biological maturation on behavior, theories of cognitive growth and related research methods, testing and assessment methods for different age levels, research on child and adolescent behavior therapy, and the psychology of aging.”
– Geospatial Intelligence: “A program that prepares individuals to analyze security and intelligence problems using a geographic perspective by relating human actions to cultural, political, economic, social, and physical landscapes. Includes instruction in aerial photography analysis, cartography, geographic information systems (GIS), physical geography, remote sensing, spatial programming, and quantitative methods in geographic research.”
– Demography and Population Studies: “A program that focuses on the systematic study of population models and population phenomena, and related problems of social structure and behavior. Includes instruction in population growth, spatial distribution, mortality and fertility factors, migration, dynamic population modeling, population estimation and projection, mathematical and statistical analysis of population data, population policy studies, and applications to problems in economics and government planning.”
STEM OPT On A Firm Legal Footing
Expanding the fields eligible for STEM OPT follows favorable court actions for universities and international students that placed the program on a solid legal footing. In April 2023, a federal judge ruled in favor of the Department of Homeland Security’s regulation to allow the spouses of H-1B visa holders to work. The judge cited an earlier decision that affirmed the legality of the STEM OPT rule.
Save Jobs USA’s primary argument was Congress never gave DHS the authority to provide work authorization to H-4 spouses and other foreign nationals. “But as the D.C. Circuit has recently explained, that contention runs headlong into the text of the INA, decades of Executive-branch practice, and both explicit and implicit congressional ratification of that practice,” according to District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan’s opinion. “The Circuit’s analysis in Washington Alliance of Technology Workers v. United States Department of Homeland Security is directly applicable to this case.”
The D.C. Circuit “squarely rejected” the argument that “DHS lacked statutory authority to authorize employment” as part of Optional Practical Training after an international student graduates from school, noted the judge.
The Canadian government recently announced it would allow up to 10,000 H-1B visa holders to gain open work permits of up to three years to work for employers in Canada. The Biden administration’s decision to increase the fields of study eligible for STEM OPT is a small step aimed at retaining highly skilled individuals in the United States.
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