U.S. schools make millions offering degrees doubling as work visas: report

NEW YORK, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) — A few dozen little-known U.S. schools have been offering a specialized graduate program that functions, essentially, as a two-year work visa in disguise, reported Bloomberg News on Thursday.
By exploiting a federal on-the-job-training rule, foreign people can work full time while completing most classes online and showing up in person only a few times a year, noted the report.
“For schools, these programs, known as Day 1 CPT, are a way to make money from an increasingly chaotic immigration system. The odds of winning the annual lottery for a long-term skilled-worker visa have grown longer in recent years, as highly educated professionals flock to the U.S. while lawmakers keep the supply capped,” it said.
That leaves tens of thousands of white-collar employees scrambling for alternatives, said the report, adding that a record 24,000 foreign graduate students were enrolled in schools offering Day 1 CPT — or curricular practical training — as of fall 2022, and at typical prices, tuition probably topped 240 million U.S. dollars. ■