Under a DHS proposal scheduled for publication on Thursday, US universities and colleges would have to pay $70,000 for an F-1 student’s first participation in Optional Practical Training (Photo: Reuters).
Under a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) proposal scheduled for publication Thursday, US universities and colleges would have to pay $70,000 for an F-1 student’s first participation in Optional Practical Training (OPT) and another $30,000 for a subsequent authorization, including the 24-month extension STEM graduates are eligible for. The maximum charge over the standard 36-month STEM OPT period would therefore be $100,000. The proposal is not yet in effect and is subject to public comment.
The legal obligation to cough up $70k OPT fee would fall on the university or other SEVP-certified school, not directly on the student. Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney made a similar proposal in 2012. And Trump himself, in 2024, went considerably further, saying: “You graduate from a college, I think you should get automatically, as part of your diploma, a green card.
Because they expect US work experience, may increasingly choose Canada, Britain, Australia or other destinations, but if universities — many already under financial strain amid dwindling foreign admissions — conclude that paying $70,000 per student is untenable, prospective students, especially those choosing expensive STEM graduate programs partly.
DHS nevertheless says schools could recover the cost from students, employers or other sources, which would effectively mean the nominally “school-paid” fee could ultimately become a charge on the student. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton backed versions of the idea of effectively “stapling” green cards to advanced STEM degrees. But as per the proposal, USCIS will not approve the student’s work authorization without payment. The new fee proposed by the Trump administration is not the end of foreign-student inflows — students can still study in America without OPT and many who are ready to return to their home countries as soon as they complete studies will still come. Ironically, it was not long ago that there was broad bipartisan enthusiasm for the US retaining foreign graduates, including from MAGA boss Donald Trump, whose administration is now tightening the screws on international students and foreign workers. He explicitly included two- and four-year colleges and junior colleges. For Indian students in particular, the message is stark: America may still welcome you into its universities, but the administration is proposing to make the transition from classroom to US workplace very expensive. Whether that protects American workers or drives some of the very talent America has spent years and billions of dollars educating to its competitors will be the central question of the coming years.