STEM OPT Fraud
Post (source):
International students, carefully vet the recruiters who reach out to you on social media.
I just talked with a client who graduated last year. Apparently multiple (not one, not two, but several) companies tried to recruit her on social media for OPT employment. Including on LinkedIn! But these companies aren’t offering the jobs they claim they’re offering. Instead, they offer "training" and a platform to circulate resumes out to other companies to get meaningful project work. No salary. No official job duties.
These companies can never fulfill the requirements for OPT. And especially not STEM OPT.
But they make it sound like they are giving you a real job, with a real offer letter. These companies are devious and prey on students’ willingness to get training and practical experience.
They say “you put in the work and then you will see results”.
It’s an idea that makes sense when you’re a recent grad with no experience working in the real world. But it will get you in trouble.
My client got a job offer from one of these companies. Luckily, she only stayed 2 months. This time is well within the 90 days’ max unemployment period, so we can explain to USCIS that she still maintained status even if that time can't count as work. She’ll be fine.
But the company? Apparently they are still in business a year later. And now they want to charge $$$ for any prior “employee” that wants a letter from them describing the employment arrangement. Letters that USCIS asks for. Letters that will get the OPT worker in BIG trouble.
All the focus in the immigrant community right now seems to be on the employers that the FBI has already caught, and the enforcement against individual F-1 visa holders that is occurring years later. But this kind of fraud is still happening in earlier stages right now. Expect to see more enforcement actions against more and more companies in the future.
These fraudsters aren’t going away anytime soon. Be careful.
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This post is by Amber G. Davis. She started her career working at a boutique immigration firm before moving on to two different large immigration firms (one of which is one of the largest immigration firms in the world). She’s advised numerous high-tech companies of all shapes and sizes, from startups to top ten Fortune 500 companies, and from nonprofits to companies in the IPO process. She now runs Waypoint Immigration USA, representing only individual employees for EB-1A, EB-2 NIW, O-1, etc. and is well-known on LinkedIn with 7.7K+ followers.
Want to get in touch with Amber? You can reach her at amber.davis@waypointimmigration.org or through a LinkedIn connection note (Amber’s LinkedIn profile).
