A bipartisan bill, the “Keep Innovators in America Act” (H.R. 8013), would codify the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program for international students in the United States. Introduced on March 19, 2026, by Reps. Sam Liccardo (D-CA), Jay Obernolte (R-CA), and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), the bill is aimed at attracting and retaining U.S.-trained talent.
Rep. Obernolte said, “At a time of intensifying global competition, it is not in our national interest to educate the world’s most talented students in American institutions only to send them abroad to compete with us. This legislation ensures that we can retain top talent in critical fields on a temporary basis while strengthening American innovation and maintaining strong oversight and respect for our immigration laws.”
Benjamin Johnson, Executive Director of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), said that international students “contribute more than $40 billion annually to the U.S. economy and support hundreds of thousands of American jobs.” Scott Corley, Executive Director of Compete America, said the OPT program “has played a key role in sustaining America’s global technology leadership. For decades, OPT has helped ensure that the world’s best STEM [science, technology, engineering, and mathematics] students—educated at U.S. universities—can contribute to our economy, strengthen our workforce, and drive innovation here at home rather than abroad. At a time when the United States faces increasing global workforce competition in critical and emerging technology fields, maintaining and strengthening this pathway through statutory codification is an essential step toward keeping top talent in the United States and ensuring our economy, national security, and innovation ecosystem remain the strongest in the world.”
The “U.S. for Success Coalition,” a group of more than 50 organizations, supports the bill. Its endorsement list also includes the Compete America Coalition, Technet, the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI), FWD.us, AILA, the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, the Council of Graduate Schools, NAFSA: Association of International Educators, AIRC: The Association of International Enrollment Management, AIFS: American Institute for Foreign Study; the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, Global Detroit, EnglishUSA, Studyportals, the Alliance for International Exchange, TESOL International Association, and Shorelight, LLC.
