If your company employs international graduates through Optional Practical Training or STEM OPT, the enforcement climate changed materially on May 12, 2026. ICE announced it had identified more than 10,000 fraud cases across OPT employers nationwide, describing findings of empty buildings listed as worksites, residential addresses registered for hundreds of foreign workers, and cross-border organized fraud networks. Acting ICE Director Todd M. Lyons closed the press conference with a direct statement: “More actions are forthcoming.”
At the same time, a proposed rule published by DHS in August 2025 would eliminate the Duration of Status framework for F-1 students and replace it with fixed admission periods, Extension of Stay requirements filed directly with USCIS, and increased immigration officer oversight at defined intervals. If finalized as expected in September 2026, this rule changes the administrative obligations of every employer who hires on OPT or STEM OPT.
This guide is written for HR professionals, hiring managers, legal and compliance teams, and any employer who sponsors or employs F-1 workers. It covers what the enforcement actions mean for you today, what the proposed rule changes about your process going forward, and what a defensible compliance posture looks like right now.
Part One: The Enforcement Reality Right Now
What ICE Is Looking For
The May 12 press conference was not just a news event. It was a signal about the criteria ICE is using to identify bad actors, and those criteria have implications for legitimate employers too.
ICE investigators flagged employers based on the following patterns. Review each against your own records.
Worksite address mismatches. Employers listing a corporate headquarters or registered agent address as the student’s worksite when the employee actually works remotely from a different state or from home. Under OPT regulations, the worksite must be a legitimate place of employment. If your OPT employee works from home full time, the address on file with SEVIS through the student’s DSO should reflect their actual work location, not your company’s billing address.
No employment activity at listed worksites. ICE conducted physical site visits and found locked doors, empty buildings, and addresses with no evidence of any employees working there. If your company has a listed worksite that is a shared office, coworking space, or satellite location, make sure the employee is actually performing work there on a documented basis.
Disproportionate headcounts at single addresses. Multiple F-1 students listed as employees at a single residential or small commercial address was a primary flag. If your company uses a registered business address that is a suite in a larger building, confirm that the headcount registered at that address is proportionate to the actual size and function of your operation.
No verifiable employment relationship. Fraudulent schemes often involved employers receiving payments to list students as employees without any actual work being performed. The consequence for legitimate employers is that ICE may scrutinize any OPT arrangement where the compensation, job duties, or organizational reporting structure are difficult to document.
What a FDNS Site Visit Looks Like
The Fraud Detection and National Security (FDNS) unit within USCIS conducts unannounced site visits to verify employment conditions. While FDNS visits have historically focused on H-1B employers, the May 12 press conference makes clear that OPT employer sites are now actively in scope.
During a site visit, an FDNS officer will typically arrive unannounced, present credentials, and ask to speak with HR or a supervisor. They will verify that the employee named in immigration records actually works at the location, that the job duties match what was described in any immigration filing, that the employee is being paid as documented, and that the worksite conditions are consistent with the employment described.
You are not required to allow entry without a warrant, but cooperation is generally advisable. What you should never do is coach employees on what to say before or during a visit, allow anyone to provide false information, or provide documentation you know to be inaccurate.
The single best preparation for a site visit is accurate, current records maintained before any officer arrives.
Part Two: Your Current OPT Compliance Obligations
Understanding What OPT Actually Authorizes
OPT is employment authorization granted to F-1 students that allows them to work in a job directly related to their field of study. The authorization is issued by USCIS in the form of an Employment Authorization Document (EAD). The student’s DSO at their university tracks and reports their employment through SEVIS.
As an employer, your core obligations under the current framework are:
I-9 verification. You must complete Form I-9 for every OPT employee. For OPT workers, the EAD is a List A document. You must record the EAD number and expiration date, and you must reverify employment authorization before the EAD expires. Failure to reverify is one of the most common I-9 violations among OPT employers, and it is enforceable even when the employment relationship is otherwise legitimate.
Job duty alignment. The position must be directly related to the student’s major field of study. This is not a formality. If an OPT employee with a degree in computer science is performing administrative or clerical work unrelated to that field, they are at risk of a status violation and you are at risk of employing someone without valid work authorization.
Reporting obligations through the student. OPT workers are required to report changes in their employment to their DSO within a defined timeframe. As an employer, you are not directly filing these reports, but you are responsible for communicating material changes promptly to the employee so they can comply. This includes changes in worksite address, significant changes in job duties, and termination of employment.
Tracking EAD expiration dates. This is your responsibility, not USCIS’s and not the student’s DSO’s. Build a calendar system or use your HRIS to flag EAD expiration dates at least 90 days in advance. If a STEM OPT extension is pending, understand the 180-day EAD auto-extension rule and how to document continued work authorization during that period on the I-9.
STEM OPT Specific Requirements
STEM OPT carries additional obligations that many employers underestimate.
To sponsor a STEM OPT extension, your company must be enrolled in E-Verify and in good standing. This is a hard requirement with no exceptions.
You must complete a formal training plan with the student using the USCIS-approved format. This is not a job description. It is a structured document that outlines specific learning objectives, performance evaluation criteria, and how the position will provide the student with practical training in their STEM field. It must be signed by both the employer and the student.
You must conduct a formal evaluation of the student’s progress at the midpoint of the STEM OPT period and at the end. These evaluations must be completed and reported to the DSO. Failure to conduct evaluations is a compliance gap that can affect the student’s status.
You must notify the student’s DSO within five business days if the student’s employment is terminated for any reason, including resignation. This is a strict timeline and one that HR systems should be built to trigger automatically.
Part Three: What the Proposed Rule Changes for Employers
The Shift from Duration of Status to Fixed Admission Periods
Under the current system, an F-1 student’s lawful status is tied to their maintenance of student status, not to a date on their I-94. This means your OPT employee’s I-94 shows “D/S” rather than a specific date. As long as they maintain their EAD and comply with OPT requirements, they are in status.
Under the proposed rule, every F-1 student will be admitted for a fixed period: the length of their program as listed on their I-20, not to exceed four years, plus a 30-day departure period. After that, the student must file an Extension of Stay application directly with USCIS and receive approval before they can remain in the United States in F-1 status.
This changes your I-9 and employment tracking obligations in a fundamental way.
What changes on the I-9. Currently, when an OPT employee presents their EAD, you record the EAD expiration date and reverify at that point. Under the proposed rule, you will need to track not only the EAD expiration but also the fixed admission period end date reflected on the I-94. If a student’s I-94 expires before their EAD, they are no longer maintaining lawful status even if the EAD is technically valid. Employment after the I-94 expiration without an approved EOS would constitute unauthorized employment.
What changes for EOS-pending employees. The proposed rule includes an automatic employment authorization extension of up to 240 days for F-1 students who have timely filed an EOS application and whose I-94 has expired. During this period, the student’s expired I-94 combined with a USCIS receipt notice is considered sufficient documentation. You will need to understand how to document this correctly on the I-9 and how to track the 240-day outer limit.
What changes for program extensions. Under the current system, a DSO can extend a student’s program end date in SEVIS, and that extension effectively extends the student’s authorized stay. Under the proposed rule, a DSO recommendation alone is no longer sufficient. The student must apply to USCIS for an EOS, and USCIS has discretion to approve or deny based on the merits of the application. If the EOS is denied, the student must immediately depart the United States. Employment after a denial is unauthorized employment, and continuing to employ that individual creates significant liability for your company.
What changes for graduate-level hires. The proposed rule prohibits F-1 students at the graduate level from changing programs at any point during their studies. If you hire an OPT employee who was recently enrolled in a graduate program, verify that their OPT authorization is tied to the degree they actually completed and that they have not transferred to a different program after receiving OPT authorization. A mismatch here is a status violation.
What to Expect in Terms of Timeline
The proposed rule is expected to be finalized and take effect in September 2026, with a 60-day transition window following publication of the final rule. DHS has proposed that students currently in the U.S. on D/S will be automatically transitioned to a fixed admission date based on their current I-20 program end date, capped at four years from the effective date.
For your workforce planning purposes, this means any F-1 OPT employee whose program end date or EAD expiration falls within the first year after the rule takes effect will be among the first cohort navigating the new EOS process. You should identify these employees now and plan for potential processing delays.
USCIS processing times for EOS applications have historically ranged from several months to over a year in periods of high volume. The transition from D/S to fixed admission periods will generate a significant spike in EOS filings. Build that delay into your workforce continuity planning.
Part Four: Building a Defensible Compliance Posture
The Immediate Audit You Should Conduct
Pull a complete list of every current employee authorized to work on OPT or STEM OPT. For each employee, confirm the following:
The EAD on file is current and unexpired. If it is within 90 days of expiration, initiate the reverification or STEM OPT extension process now.
The worksite address on file with the employee’s DSO matches where the employee is actually performing work. If your employee works remotely, the address reported to SEVIS should reflect their actual home address or designated remote work location, not a corporate headquarters they never visit.
The job duties in your records align with the employee’s field of study. If the role has evolved since the OPT authorization was granted, document the alignment or consult counsel about whether a correction or new authorization is needed.
Your I-9 records for OPT and STEM OPT employees are complete, accurate, and include properly documented reverification where applicable.
If you are sponsoring STEM OPT, confirm that your E-Verify enrollment is current, your training plans are signed and on file, and your midpoint and end-of-period evaluations have been completed and submitted on time.
The Process Changes You Should Make Before September 2026
Add I-94 expiration tracking to your HRIS alongside EAD expiration tracking. Under the proposed rule these are two separate clocks that both matter.
Build a notification trigger for STEM OPT employee terminations that alerts HR to notify the DSO within the five-business-day window. This should be automatic, not reliant on institutional memory.
Establish a relationship with an immigration attorney who can advise on EOS applications as they become necessary. Under the proposed rule, you will increasingly be in a position where an employee’s continued work authorization depends on a USCIS adjudication, not just an administrative update through their university. That is a materially different risk profile and one that warrants legal support.
Train your hiring managers on the basic requirements of OPT and STEM OPT. The most common compliance failures happen when a manager changes an employee’s role, moves them to a different office, or terminates them without understanding the reporting timelines involved.
Do Not Do These Things
Do not list a corporate headquarters as an employee’s worksite if they do not work there. This is the most direct trigger for the patterns ICE identified in its enforcement sweep.
Do not continue employing an OPT worker after their EAD expires without confirmed auto-extension documentation or a new EAD in hand.
Do not ignore a student’s notification that their DSO has flagged a status issue. A student in violation of their F-1 status does not have valid work authorization, regardless of what their EAD shows.
Do not attempt to coach employees or provide inaccurate information during an FDNS site visit. The legal consequences of obstructing an immigration investigation are significantly worse than any compliance gap the visit might have uncovered.
Part Five: The Strategic Question Every Employer Should Be Asking
The cumulative effect of the May 12 enforcement action, the proposed D/S elimination rule, the H-1B lottery restructuring, and the OPT application processing pauses for certain nationalities is a materially narrower pathway from F-1 student to long-term U.S. employment authorization.
The degree to OPT to H-1B to permanent residency sequence that has allowed American companies to build globally competitive teams over the past two decades is under structural pressure. This is not a reason to stop hiring international graduates. The talent remains exceptional and the legal pathway, though more complex, still exists. But it is a reason to approach international hiring with greater intentionality, better legal infrastructure, and longer planning horizons.
Companies that treat OPT as an administrative checkbox rather than a legally substantive authorization will face increasing exposure as enforcement intensifies. Companies that build robust compliance systems now will be better positioned to retain the international talent they have hired and to continue competing for the graduates they want.
