Many graduating seniors overseas are currently left stranded.
Trump's administration has been hinting that they would suspend OPT.

OPT (Optional Practicum Training) is something you work your international student ass off for 4 years while paying (most likely) full tuition just to apply to, to work for one more year in the United States, and for STEM students, is the window for a 2 year extension, and potentially the building of the rest of their lives.

Since most of us had no housing options or family to go to in the U.S. after getting evacuated from our schools amidst the Coronavirus pandemic, many had to leave without applying for the OPT. Archaically, the OPT can only be applied for while you are physically in the US, and via mail only.

This is a big deal because for many of us are left wondering if we should accept leaving the friends, chosen family, and professional opportunities we've built over four years of our young adult lives, or if we should risk our health travelling back to the US to apply for this visa which may never be granted, now that USCIS has closed their offices until early June.

We understand that the sentiments behind these policy changes are to preserve American jobs for Americans, especially in a time when unemployment has reached unfathomable heights. However, the truth is that the jobs that most get OPT for are those that have a surplus of unfilled job openings, in the STEM fields, which have not been hit by coronavirus as severely, and which create jobs and value for Americans too.

Since there is only a short window left for students to apply for OPT, we ask for three things:
1) Do not suspend OPT.
1)a) if you need to, suspend the recipient's OPT's so that students can access them if they were wiped out before, and make it so that they can apply after their degree conferral.
2) For it to be possible to apply for the OPT online from overseas, with whatever paperwork can be accessed, which can be amended later.
3) For the time for which one can start employment to be flexible, even months and years into the future according to when individuals can overcome international travel restrictions to come back to the U.S.

Please sign, and share this with any international students and friends who have benefitted from the invaluable multicultural exchange of international students in their lives.