OPT Fraud In US: 10,000 Foreign Students In Radar

Article by Kumar Published on: 7:56 pm, 21 September 2026

The United States immigration control authorities have been very rampant when it comes to curbing illegal immigration. In fact, the restrictions on the work permit visas and related extensions have been intensified drastically after the start of the Trump administration.

Now, the ICE system that was commissioned by President Trump to identify illegal immigrants has busted a massive fraud operation involving the abuse of the famous OPT program. This optional practical training program is used to extend the work permit visa and largely abused by the foreign students and workers.

The ICE has established in principle that several of these OPT program operators have been providing false employer address details. The buildings that were listed in this training program were found to be vacant and empty when the authorities inspected them.

According to the latest establishment from the ICE, many of the employers have major red flags, such as facing lawsuits, no employment records, offshore payroll claims, and suspicious money trials.

HSI agents have visited problematic OPT employer work sites in Virginia, Texas, Georgia, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Florida. Most of them turned out to be fraud operations, looting the U.S. economy.

Foreign students are allegedly entering false addresses and employer names into the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS). More than 10,000 international students are now suspected to be at serious risk of federal consequences.

For instance, there are companies that listed only three employees, but in reality, they were operating with more than 500 foreign students claiming to work there.

“The company’s representatives were unable to answer basic questions about the business and deferred HR managers in India.” The investigation revealed. It should be a matter of time before the Trump administration starts federal action against these companies and foreign students, so the tide could get that much tougher for the Indian folk too.