The Trump administration is proposing a sweeping overhaul of a popular program that allows international students to work in the United States, calling for a new $70,000 fee for an F-1 student’s initial participation in Optional Practical Training and $30,000 for each subsequent period of training.

Under the Department of Homeland Security proposal unveiled Wednesday, the fees would formally be paid by colleges and universities certified under the Student and Exchange Visitor Program before a school could recommend an international student for OPT. The proposal would permit institutions to recover the expense from the student or an employer, potentially leaving foreign graduates facing an enormous new cost to work in the United States.

The fees represent a dramatic escalation from the current system and could fundamentally change how American universities, international students and employers use OPT, which has long served as a bridge between studying in the United States and entering the American workforce.

Optional Practical Training allows eligible F-1 students to take jobs directly related to their fields of study while enrolled or after completing their academic programs. Most graduates can receive up to 12 months of post-completion OPT, while students with qualifying science, technology, engineering and mathematics degrees can seek an additional 24-month STEM extension.

The proposed rule would require a $70,000 payment when a student is recommended for an initial period of OPT and $30,000 for any subsequent OPT recommendation, including a STEM extension. The payment would have to be made before the school’s designated official could issue the recommendation.

DHS says the extraordinary fees are intended to combat what the department describes as widespread fraud and abuse within OPT while protecting American workers from foreign labor competition.

In announcing the proposal, DHS described the program as a “pipeline for cheap foreign labor.”

The department argues that OPT has expanded far beyond its original purpose of providing temporary practical training connected to a foreign student’s education and has increasingly become a pathway for employers to hire foreign graduates at the expense of American workers.

The administration says the fees would force schools to evaluate more carefully whether participation in OPT is warranted and would discourage institutions, students and employers from using the program improperly. DHS also says the revenue would help offset the substantial costs associated with investigating fraud and enforcing OPT requirements.

The scale of the proposal could have enormous financial consequences. More than 400,000 international students have participated in OPT in recent years, with foreign graduates playing a particularly significant role in technology, engineering and other STEM-related industries.

Universities that recruit heavily overseas could also feel the effects. International students frequently pay full tuition and have become an important source of revenue for many American institutions, while the ability to obtain work experience after graduation has been a major attraction for students deciding whether to study in the United States.

Critics immediately warned that imposing fees of $70,000 and $30,000 could make the program effectively unusable for many students and schools and could push talented foreign students toward universities in other countries.

Fanta Aw, CEO of NAFSA, an organization representing international educators, argued that OPT provides valuable hands-on experience to foreign graduates while supplying workers to American industries that need highly trained employees.

“Driving away the talents, perspectives, and aspirations of international students will only hurt American innovation, economic growth, workforce development, and global leadership,” Aw said in a written statement.

The proposal is the latest in a series of moves by President Donald Trump’s administration aimed at tightening the rules governing foreign students and foreign workers in the United States.

In 2025, federal authorities abruptly terminated the immigration records of thousands of international students in a government database, triggering a wave of lawsuits and court rulings questioning aspects of the administration’s actions.

The administration subsequently moved to replace the longstanding “duration of status” system for international students with fixed periods of admission, a change that would generally prevent students from remaining in the United States for more than four years without receiving additional federal authorization. Universities objected that many legitimate academic programs, particularly doctoral programs, routinely take longer than four years to complete.

A federal court blocked that rule from taking effect in September, handing the administration a setback in its effort to impose tighter controls on international students.

The OPT proposal also arrives amid a broader battle over employment-based immigration. The administration has sought major changes to programs used by American companies to employ foreign workers, arguing that immigration programs should not be used to undercut wages or replace American employees.

The new OPT rule is only a proposal and will not take effect immediately. The regulation is scheduled for publication in the Federal Register on Thursday, Oct. 8, after which the public will have 30 days to submit comments on the rule itself. A separate 60-day period applies to comments concerning its information-collection requirements.

DHS must consider the public comments before issuing a final regulation, and the eventual rule could differ from Wednesday’s proposal. Universities, international-education organizations and business groups could also mount legal challenges, potentially delaying or preventing implementation.

If ultimately adopted substantially as proposed, however, the new fees would represent one of the most dramatic changes ever imposed on the OPT system, forcing universities to decide whether recommending an international student for American employment is worth a $70,000 initial price tag.

{Matzav.com}