Wikimedia Commons A U.S. District Court judge issued an opinion last week upholding a program important to many in higher education that allows international students to stay and work in the U.S. after they graduate in a field related to their area of study. Nearly a quarter million people participate in the optional practical training program, or OPT, which allows international students to work in the U.S. for up to three years after graduating while staying on their student visas. The regular OPT program provides for one year of postgraduation work authorization, while the STEM OPT extension enables graduates who earned degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields to stay for an additional two years.