Our client's OPT employer from over a decade ago, Findream LLC, was later exposed as part of a massive federal visa fraud scheme. When he applied for a new employment authorization document, USCIS issued a Request for Evidence (RFE) demanding he prove that decade-old employment had actually happened — on a fixed, non-extendable deadline. We built the record, met the deadline, and won approval. Here's the case, and what it means for the many other F-1 students carrying the same exposure on their SEVIS records.
Our client earned a master's degree in computer science from a Midwestern university and was approved for post-completion OPT in 2014. That September, he began an internship-based role with Findream LLC, reporting the employment to his Designated School Official as required, before later moving on to full-time employment elsewhere and continuing to build his career through a STEM OPT extension. In 2019, Findream's owner pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiracy to commit visa fraud, admitting she had sold fabricated employment records to thousands of F-1 students. Our client had no part in and no knowledge of that fraud.
More than a decade later, in June 2025, he filed a new Form I-765. USCIS reviewed his SEVIS history, flagged the Findream connection, and in August 2025, issued a Request for Evidence: to prove that the decade-old employment had actually happened. He had just 87 days to respond, on a deadline the regulations do not allow USCIS to extend. A standard employer letter would carry no weight, since the employer itself had already been proven fraudulent in federal court, and the stakes went well beyond the pending application — a finding that his original OPT rested on fabricated employment could have unraveled his entire immigration history since. Facing that deadline, he sought out the Law Offices of Sabrina Li after learning of the firm's track record securing approvals for numerous other F-1 students accused of OPT fraud.
We built and filed a response addressing every concern USCIS raised in November 2025. Seven months later, in June 2026, USCIS approved the application, issuing a new EAD and closing out a connection that had clouded our client’s record for over a decade.
Findream is not an isolated case. Federal investigators and outside researchers have identified a whole category of similarly structured “pay-to-stay” employers that followed the same template: advertise OPT compliance and job placement to international students, collect a fee, and issue paperwork for work that was thin or nonexistent. USCIS continues to work backward through SEVIS records tied to these companies years after they shut down — and new entities following the same pattern keep surfacing.
Companies identified in the original wave of investigations :
More recently identified entities following the same pattern:
This list is not exhaustive, and USCIS continues to identify additional entities fitting the same pattern.
This is not a closed chapter from 2019. On May 12, 2026, Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons announced that Homeland Security Investigations had identified more than 10,000 F-1 students connected to “highly suspect employers” — a figure drawn just from the top 25 OPT-employing companies, which officials called only “the tip of the iceberg.” Investigators conducted site visits across eight states, including Texas, Georgia, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, Virginia, and Florida, and reported finding empty buildings, locked doors, addresses with no actual lease, and what officials termed “phantom employees” — students authorized to work who never appeared at the businesses listed as their employers. In one case officials described, a company that claimed to employ only a handful of workers was linked to more than 500 OPT students in federal records.
Officials have said additional enforcement actions are forthcoming. For F-1 students, the practical takeaway is the same one this case illustrates: a SEVIS employer connection does not need to be part of a decade-old prosecution to become a problem. New enforcement sweeps are actively expanding the universe of employers under scrutiny right now, and a record that looks fine today can be flagged tomorrow.
Not everyone connected to these companies knew what they were paying for — but some did, and USCIS often has no reliable way to tell the two apart from the SEVIS record alone. Rather than sort out intent case by case, the agency's approach has been to treat any connection to one of these employers as grounds to demand independent proof that the underlying employment actually happened, on any application, at any point, no matter how long ago the employment occurred.
Check the notice for your exact response deadline — it cannot be extended, regardless of the reason. USCIS treats a partial response as a request for a decision on the existing record, so this is a one-shot filing, not something to submit piece by piece.Contact an immigration attorney immediately.
You are at elevated risk of an RFE or Notice of Intent to Deny on any future filing — new OPT applications, STEM OPT extensions, H-1B petitions, and green card adjustments alike — whether the company is from the original wave or one of the more recently identified entities. USCIS may treat the connection as evidence your employment wasn't genuine, and a finding to that effect can follow you into every later immigration filing, not just the one currently pending.
No. USCIS can and does revisit SEVIS records from a decade or more in the past. There is no point at which a “pay-to-stay” employer connection becomes too old to raise.
It can factor into the analysis, but good faith alone does not resolve the issue. USCIS still expects the applicant to affirmatively demonstrate that the underlying employment was genuine, using evidence independent of the employer itself.
Both. In May 2026, ICE announced it had identified more than 10,000 F-1 students connected to suspect OPT employers as part of an active, expanding nationwide investigation, separate from the original Findream and Sinocontech prosecutions. Officials have indicated more enforcement actions are coming. A clean record today does not guarantee your employer won't be flagged in the next wave.
Don't wait for USCIS to raise it. Addressing a known connection proactively — before an RFE or NOID arrives — puts you in a stronger position than responding after the fact under a fixed deadline.
Yes. A finding — at any point, in any proceeding — that OPT employment was fabricated can create violations that carry forward into every future filing.
The Law Offices of Sabrina Li represents F-1 students, STEM graduates, and international professionals nationwide in OPT and STEM OPT matters, RFE and NOID responses, and cases involving both legacy employer fraud connections and the current, expanding 2026 enforcement wave. Immigration law is federal, and we represent clients in every state.
If your SEVIS record reflects employment with Findream, Sinocontech, or any of the companies listed above — even years or a decade in the past — or if you've already received an RFE or NOID related to that employment, the deadline is running whether you act on it or not. Contact the Law Offices of Sabrina Li at (213) 375-8096 or info@sabrinali.law.
Phone: (213) 375-8096
Email: info@sabrinali.law
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