TRUMP ADMINISTRATION PUTS $70,000 PRICE TAG ON INTERNATIONAL STUDENT WORK ACCESS

October 8, 2026

The Trump administration has proposed a sweeping new fee structure that could dramatically raise the cost of post-study work opportunities for international students in the United States, with the Department of Homeland Security seeking to impose a $70,000 charge on educational institutions for each student entering the Optional Practical Training programme for the first time.

Under the proposed rule, colleges and universities would have to pay $70,000 when recommending an F-1 international student for initial OPT, while a subsequent OPT recommendation would attract an additional $30,000 fee. OPT currently enables international students to obtain practical work experience in employment connected to their field of study after completing their academic programme.

International students are generally permitted to undertake up to one year of OPT after graduation, while graduates of eligible science, technology, engineering and mathematics programmes can receive an additional 24 months, allowing qualifying STEM students to remain in the programme for up to three years.

The administration has justified the proposed charges as part of a broader effort to tackle what it describes as fraud and abuse within the OPT system and to strengthen immigration enforcement. Homeland Security has also argued that the F-1 student visa was designed primarily for education rather than as a route into long-term employment, while characterising the OPT system as a potential channel for low-cost foreign labour.

The proposal could place substantial financial pressure on American universities that depend on international enrolments and could also affect businesses that recruit international graduates, particularly in technical and STEM-related fields. Critics of the proposed change have warned that making international student employment significantly more expensive could discourage overseas talent and undermine the contribution of international graduates to American innovation and workforce development.

The proposed rule is therefore poised to become another major point of contention in the Trump administration's wider restructuring of international student and foreign-worker policies, with universities, students and employers facing the possibility of a dramatically more expensive pathway from American higher education into the US workforce.