How to Support International Students Under Trump and COVID

If you know someone who has to leave the country because of unemployment, here’s how you can help.

The pandemic hits everyone hard, but harder on immigrants and especially international students. Here’s a summary of what it’s like to go through the United States’ work visa system right now:

Graduating into a pandemic is no fun. The unemployment rate in May 2020 stood at 13.3%. Chances are, class of 2020 grads won’t be able to find a job until they can move out of their parents’ basements when the pandemic is over (when will that be? 2022?)

Worse still, with Trump announcing yet another Executive Order banning foreign workers, many international students are forced to abandon their career plans. Claiming “risk to the U.S. labor market,” the administration issued its second visa suspension order in two months.

What does the Executive Order mean for international students in the United States? There are two common paths for international students to work in this country: OPT (Optional Practical Training) and H1-B (work visa):

OPT

• Valid for 12 months after graduation (3 years for STEM)
• No upfront cost for employers
• Must start working within 90 days of graduation
• Job has to be related to the field of studies

H1-B

• Work permit for workers in specialty occupations — jobs that have a minimum requirement of a Bachelor’s degree
• A lottery system, with a ~33% selection rate
• Requires employer sponsorship, workers cannot apply on their own
• Costs employers upwards of $1700 to apply

International students who wish to work in the United States often use OPT for the first 12 months after graduation, then transition to H1-B if their employers are willing to sponsor the application.

OPT Limits

OPT is usually the stepping stone for international students to start a career in the United States. However, there is one tricky detail. OPT only allows up to 90 days of unemployment, meaning 2020 grads will have to start working by fall 2020; if not, their OPT gets revoked and these grads get deported.

Can they drive an Uber or deliver grocery for Instacart? No. OPT requires grads to get a job that is directly related to their major area of studies. Can they volunteer to be research assistants for their professors? No. Many universities have implemented a school-wide hiring freeze due to COVID-19, limiting professors’ ability to take on RAs, even unpaid volunteers.

Even if 2020 grads have already lined up employment before the pandemic, chances are their employers are postponing start dates, many of which are pushed back until January 2021. With more than 90 days before they could start work, these grads are scrambling to find OPT-eligible jobs amidst the pandemic to maintain their OPT status.

H1-B Limits

If 2020 grads wish to stay in the United States after a year post-graduation, they will need to find employers who are willing to sponsor an H1-B visa.

H1-Bs are expensive. Filing an H1-B application costs employers anywhere from $1700 to $7000 plus attorney fees. Therefore, large employers like banks, law firms, and Silicon Valley giants are the ones that depend on H1-B workers heavily. Start-ups and non-profits rarely sponsor H1-B for foreign workers. Finding an employer who is willing to spend that kind of money during COVID is extremely difficult. On top of that, 2020 grads will need to find an employer before April 2021 to enter the annual lottery for 2021–2022.

Ah, yes — getting an H1-B also depends on luck. It is a lottery system that selects only 1/3 of applicants each year. Last year, the selection rate was 32%, 65000 out of 210,011 applicants “won the lottery”.

So what happens if one is not selected? They leave their jobs in the United States and head back to their home countries. If they are lucky, their employer might be willing to transfer them to an overseas office for a year before entering another H1-B lottery (only large employers do this, for obvious reasons). However, due to COVID, it is rumored that some companies that are traditionally supportive of H1-B applicants will lay off employees who don’t win the lottery this year.

Why Should You Care?

Although the latest Executive Order does not immediately impact students who already got OPT or H1-B, judging from the administration’s trend of tightening immigration, more visa suspensions in the coming months are not unlikely. Further restrictions not only affect 2020 and 2021 grads, but they also affect up to 525,000 foreign workers whose livelihood has long depended on the availability of the H1-B.

Advocating for international students does not undermine the difficulties American workers face. Although the Trump administration claim that foreign workers are displacing American jobs, many critics point to the opposite:

“Putting up a ‘not welcome’ sign for engineers, executives, IT experts, doctors, nurses and other workers won’t help our country, it will hold us back,” said Chamber President Thomas Donohue in an interview with the Washington Post. “Restrictive changes to our nation’s immigration system will push investment and economic activity abroad, slow growth, and reduce job creation.”

Immigration improves the economy, not the other way around. Legal immigrants create businesses, spend money on American products and services, pay taxes, and generate economic activities.

I’m also acutely aware of the privilege that many international students enjoy as they are able to afford an education in this country. I’m writing this only to point out the awkward juncture many international students are facing right now — an unexpected product of a pandemic and an administration who is good at capitalizing on a pandemic that is in no way part of these students’ calculus.

Many international students who chose to study in the United States, despite the hefty tuition, made a calculated decision to do so because they relied on the hopes of building a career here, like many of our ancestors who immigrated here for the promise of the American dream.

What You Can Do

• Sponsor Visa Applications: If you have the power to influence employment decisions, I encourage you to consider hiring foreign workers. The power to innovate depends on the diversity and inclusivity of our workforce.
• Take Volunteers: Even if your organization cannot sponsor visas, consider taking 2020 grads who are on OPT as volunteers. If your organization has work that relates to their field of studies, their volunteering time can count as “employment.” By volunteering, OPT students can avoid deportation under the 90-day unemployment rule.
• Vote: If you have the right to vote, vote for representatives who support immigration policies that align with your beliefs.
• Raise Awareness: If your workplace employs foreign workers and you have found their contribution valuable, I ask that you help raise awareness of these concerns that are unfamiliar to most Americans.

Disclaimer: I am not an immigration attorney and this is NOT legal advice. All opinions are my own.