International students who participate in OPT programs are required to update the SEVP portal with the employment information (Check out the related blog posts below for OPT/STEM OPT reporting requirements). SEVP analyzed the data of 2019 and released 2019 Top 200 Employers for OPT and STEM OPT Students.
To see which companies have been employers for OPT and STEM OPT students respectively, I broke down the data and created three tables- Top 10 OPT employers, Top 10 STEM OPT employers, and Top 10 OPT and STEM OPT employers. As it is the most latest data as of December 2020, it can be referred to by F visa students who seek employment opportunities in the U.S. for 2020 and 2021.
This blog post provides some insights not only about 2020 industries that tend to hire international students but also about employment opportunities that students should avoid to keep their visas valid in the long run.
Related blog post 1: How to write your OPT is “directly related to” major
Related blog post 2: Important STEM OPT reporting requirements
Related blog post 3: 15 students are arrested; OPT reporting requirement
Contents
- Top 10 OPT employers
- Top 10 STEM OPT employers
- Top 10 OPT and STEM OPT Employers
- Top 10 CPT Employers and Top 20 U.S. schools by the number of international students
Top 10 OPT employers
Below is the list of top 10 OPT employers by the number of hired international students through the OPT program. As you can see, most companies are well-known, multinational companies. On the other hand, there were not so well-known companies as well and I got to know that there are a few allegedly fake companies on the list. According to the investigation done by the Department of State and The U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) and NBC news, fake companies made OPT students pay in lieu of false employment letters.
Some of the examples of fake companies are AZTech Technologies LLC (ranked 1st), Integra Technologies, LLC, and Masswell Development Group, Inc. (ranked 4th). Students who submitted the false employment update based on the false job offer letter resulted in visa revocation, meaning their F visas were no longer valid. Therefore, it is important for students to engage in valid employment in order to keep their F visa status valid. As you can assume, engaging in false employment could have negative impacts on your future immigration benefits.
Another interesting employer on the list is Arizona State University (ASU). Given that higher education institutions are exempt from the H-1B lottery, it is also a great idea to look for college and university jobs.
| Employer Names | # of students participating in OPT in 2019 | Industry | Headquarter Location | Website |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AZTech Technologies LLC | 734 | Industrial Manufacturing | Wilmington, DE | www.aztechtechnologies.us (Not available) |
| Amazon | 569 | e-commerce | Seattle, WA | https://www.amazon.jobs/en/ |
| 268 | Internet-related services | Mountain View, CA | https://careers.google.com/ | |
| Masswell Development Group, Inc | 263 | Domestic Business | Flushing, NY | N/A |
| Robert Half | 252 | Staffing agency | Rochester, NY | https://www.roberthalf.com/ |
| Deloitte | 215 | Professional services (audit, tax) | London, UK | https://www2.deloitte.com/ |
| Microsoft Corporation | 191 | Technology | Redmond, WA | https://careers.microsoft.com/us/en/ |
| 185 | Social Media advertising | Menlo Park, CA | https://www.facebook.com/careers/ | |
| Arizona State University | 181 | Higher Education | Tempe, AZ | https://universitycollege.asu.edu/jobs |
| Intel Corporation | 174 | Semiconductors | Santa Clara, CA | https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/jobs |
Top 10 STEM OPT employers
In terms of STEM OPT employers, among the top 10 employers, two companies – AZTech Technologies LLC (ranked 10th), Integra Technologies (ranked 7th)- were reported for fake employment fraud. Other than two companies, employers tend to be big, well-known, and tech-focused companies.
Related blog post 1: 2020 STEM CIP CODE; If my major is newly added, can I apply for STEM OPT?
Related blog post 2: Important STEM OPT reporting requirements
Related blog post 3: STEM OPT eligibility, process, required documents
| Employer Names | # of students participating in STEM OPT in 2019 | Industry | Headquarter Location | Website |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon | 2,431 | e-commerce | Seattle, WA | https://www.amazon.jobs/en/ |
| 955 | Internet-related services | Mountain View, CA | https://careers.google.com/ | |
| Microsoft Corporation | 700 | Technology | Redmond, WA | https://careers.microsoft.com/us/en/ |
| Intel Corporation | 690 | Semiconductors | Santa Clara, CA | https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/jobs |
| Deloitte | 676 | Professional services (audit, tax) | London, UK | https://www2.deloitte.com/ |
| 612 | Social Media advertising | Menlo Park, CA | https://www.facebook.com/careers/ | |
| Integra Technologies LLC | 575 | Semiconductors | Wichita, KS | https://www.integra-tech.com/ |
| Apple, Inc | 378 | Computer hardware & software | Cupertino, CA | https://www.apple.com/jobs/us/ |
| IBM | 373 | Technology | Armonk, NY | https://www.ibm.com/us-en/employment/ |
| AZTech Technologies LLC | 368 | Industrial Manufacturing | Wilmington, DE | www.aztechtechnologies.us (Not available) |
Top 10 OPT & STEM OPT employers
Lastly, the table below shows the top 10 employers by numbers of OPT and STEM OPT students in total. In general, the top 10 employers provide tech-related services and products. Most of the employers below can be found in the Top 10 OPT employers list which can be interpreted that the tech industry tends to hire more international students than other industries.
| Employer Names | # of students participating in OPT and STEM OPT in 2019 |
|---|---|
| Amazon | 2,813 |
| 1,123 | |
| AZTech Technologies LLC | 1,057 |
| Deloitte | 822 |
| Microsoft Corporation | 817 |
| Intel Corporation | 790 |
| Integra Technologies LLC | 721 |
| 708 | |
| Apple, Inc | 463 |
| Walmart | 441 |
This blog post had a look at top OPT and STEM OPT employers. If you would like to know more about the OPT program in details, click the related blog posts below:
Related blog post 1: 7 types of eligible F1 visa OPT works
Related blog post 2: Must-know 4 eligibility for student visa OPT
Related blog post 3: F1 OPT freelance work requirements
Related blog post 4: Can I file the I-765 OPT application outside the US?
Top 10 CPT employers
Would you like to learn more about the top 10 U.S. companies that have hired international student interns? You might also wonder which universities have the most number of international students and which countries have sent the most students to the United States. Check out the following blog posts based on the SEVP’s recent report.
Related blog post 1: 2021 Top 10 employers for CPT students
Related blog post 2: Top 20 US college and university by number of F visa students
Related blog post 3: Which nationalities got STEM OPT approved the most?
To read all the articles about CPT and OPT information, click CPT/OPT page. To learn more about STEM OPT and F-1 visa information, click the STEM OPT and F-1 visa info page respectively.
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