The Department of Homeland Security proposed a rule on Wednesday that would require American colleges and universities to pay 70,000 in fees the first time they recommend an international student for Optional Practical Training, and 30,000 for each subsequent recommendation, including the 24-month extension available to STEM graduates.
The fees will be paid by the school, not the student or the company hiring them. An institution certified under the Student and Exchange Visitor Program would be subject to the charge every time it recommended an F-1 student for any kind of OPT, before or after graduation.
OPT is a program that allows international students to work for up to 12 months after they graduate in their field of study. It's the primary pathway between earning a U.S. degree and working on an H-1B work visa, especially in technology and engineering. More than 294,000 students took advantage of the program last academic year, 2024-25, according to the President's Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration.
A DHS spokesperson argued that OPT was never intended to be "a back door into the American workforce," a subsidy for cheap labor, or a reward for people who exploit the system, and that the department is retooling the program to require foreign students to demonstrate their value to employers.
The department's official account on X responded to our Insider Wire post about the proposal by saying the days of Americans being priced out of the workforce by cheap foreign labor were over, and that creating financial incentives to hire foreigners over Americans is at odds with the competition that makes the country great.
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That last point refers specifically to the exclusion of students on OPT, and the companies that hire them, from Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes, a total of 7.65 percent of wages paid by each party. For years critics of the program have argued that the exclusion amounts to a direct cost savings for foreign-hiring employers, to the detriment of American workers.
Forbes contributor Stuart Anderson, who researches immigration policy, pointed out that DHS offered no evidence that practical training was harmful to American workers, or why universities would pay six-figure fees rather than simply refusing to recommend students.
Immigration lawyers predicted the rule will face litigation. The administration's 100,000 H-1B fee is currently halted pending further court action, and DHS has also proposed a 103,265 fee to file H-1B cap petitions. One practitioner said he expected the OPT rule to have no better luck in court.
Higher education associations say the fee will dramatically cut access for students, discourage international students from enrolling, and make it more difficult for businesses to hire specialists. Fanta Aw of NAFSA stated that the fee structure compounds the uncertainty international students are already facing.
The rule is proposed, not statutory. It only comes into force 30 days after publication in the Federal Register where the public can comment on it, and it can be amended, delayed, or enjoined before that time.
Students who are already approved for OPT and before any final rule is put in place will not be charged.
The proposal dropped on the day before Vice President JD Vance announced the suspension of Microsoft, Adobe, and six outsourcing companies from the federal green card certification program, and the start of Labor Department investigations into nine universities for hiring international students.
