The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)
recently made subtle changes to its eligibility definitions for
companies seeking to employ STEM OPT F-1 visa holders. The
subtle changes have major implications for employers, including
staffing companies and companies that place employees off-site.
F-1 students who have earned degrees in science, technology,
engineering, or math (STEM) may be eligible for a 24-month
employment authorization extension pursuant to Optional Practice
Training (OPT). USCIS was formerly silent on whether eligible
students could be placed off-site during employment, but permitted
the placement as long as the employer showed that it would oversee
and supervise the student-employee in its off-site training, among
other requirements. However, USCIS's recent change to the
STEM OPT extension eligibility now explicitly prohibits assigning
the student-employee to work off-site for a third party, even if
the third-party is the
