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The Department of Homeland Security is proposing a $70,000 fee for an international student’s first Optional Practical Training recommendation and $30,000 for subsequent participation, with universities—not students or employers directly—responsible for paying the government under the proposed rule.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.
WASHINGTON — The Department of Homeland Security proposed sweeping new fees Wednesday for the Optional Practical Training program, potentially requiring U.S. colleges and universities to pay $70,000 before recommending an international student for an initial period of employment and another $30,000 for subsequent participation.
The proposal represents a dramatic increase in the cost of participating in OPT, a longstanding program that allows certain foreign students with F-1 visas to work temporarily in jobs related to their fields of study.
Under the proposed rule, the $70,000 charge would apply the first time a Student and Exchange Visitor Program-certified institution recommends an F-1 student for any form of OPT, whether before or after graduation.
Any later OPT recommendation would carry a $30,000 fee. That includes the additional 24-month extension available to qualifying graduates in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields.
The advance Federal Register notice makes an important distinction: the fees would legally be imposed on the participating educational institution, not directly on the student or a particular employer. The school would have to pay the applicable fee before its designated school official could enter the OPT recommendation into the federal Student and Exchange Visitor Information System.
For a STEM graduate who first completes standard post-graduation OPT and then receives a STEM extension, the combined fees could total $100,000.
The proposal is not currently in effect.
DHS is publishing it as a notice of proposed rulemaking, meaning the agency must first receive and consider public comments before deciding whether to issue a final rule. If finalized in its current form, the new charges would begin 60 days after publication of the final regulation.
“Optional Practical Training was never meant to be a back door into the American workforce, a subsidy for cheap labor, or a prize for those who game the system,” a DHS spokesperson said.
“DHS is upskilling OPT to require foreign students to justify their worth to employers. American workers should not have to compete against a program that has been turned into a pipeline for cheap foreign labor.”
DHS said the fees are intended “to combat fraud, strengthen the integrity of the immigration system, and protect U.S. workers.”
OPT allows F-1 students to receive temporary employment authorization for practical training directly related to their major area of study.
Students can generally receive up to 12 months of OPT, while graduates with eligible STEM degrees can seek an additional 24-month extension, potentially allowing them to work for three years after graduation.
The program has become an important route into the U.S. workforce for international graduates, particularly in technology, engineering and other highly skilled occupations. It also frequently serves as a bridge between graduation and employer sponsorship under the H-1B specialty-worker visa program.
Critics of OPT have long argued that the program can give employers financial incentives to hire foreign graduates instead of American workers.
Unlike most American employees, F-1 students working through OPT are generally exempt from Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes while they remain nonresident aliens for federal tax purposes, potentially reducing employment costs in some circumstances.
The Trump administration has increasingly focused on those economic incentives as part of a broader effort to reshape employment-based immigration.
DHS said the proposed fees are intended partly to force educational institutions to make more selective decisions before recommending students for employment.
The department’s own economic analysis anticipates that the charges could substantially reduce participation.
Using recent participation figures, DHS estimated that roughly 194,554 students could participate in regular OPT and another 95,384 in STEM OPT under a high-participation scenario. It acknowledged that schools could become significantly less willing to recommend non-STEM students if doing so requires paying $70,000 for just one year of work authorization.
Under the proposal, an institution would pay $70,000 the first time a student enters OPT, regardless of whether that initial period occurs before or after graduation.
If the same student later sought another period of OPT, the institution would pay $30,000.
For example, DHS said that if a student first used pre-completion OPT while still attending school and later sought post-completion OPT, the institution would owe $70,000 for the first period and another $30,000 for the second.
The fee would not be triggered merely because a student changed employers. Instead, it would attach to the school’s decision to recommend a new period of OPT.
The proposal would also prevent U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services from granting employment authorization until the applicable OPT fee had been paid.
Schools could seek refunds in limited circumstances if a student had not yet received the employment authorization document associated with the payment, but once authorization was issued the fee generally would not be refundable.
Students currently pay a much smaller fee when filing Form I-765 for employment authorization. The present filing charge is roughly $500, depending on filing method and applicable USCIS rules.
The proposed OPT charge would be separate from that employment-authorization application fee.
The administration’s move follows its effort to impose a $100,000 fee on certain new H-1B visa applications.
That policy has faced extended litigation. Federal courts have blocked versions of the H-1B charge after finding procedural or legal problems with its implementation, even as the administration has continued pursuing higher fees through additional regulatory action.
The OPT proposal is likely to draw similar legal and political scrutiny.
Universities and employers that rely heavily on international graduates are expected to argue that six-figure costs could sharply reduce access to the program, discourage foreign students from attending American universities and make it more difficult for companies to recruit specialized graduates.
DHS, by contrast, argues that the current system has become too easy to use as an alternative employment channel and that substantial fees will help ensure OPT is reserved for training opportunities the government considers sufficiently valuable.
The proposed regulation is scheduled for formal publication in the Federal Register on Oct. 8.
Until a final rule is issued and takes effect, the existing OPT system and current fee structure remain in place.
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