DHS Proposes $70,000 Fee for International Students Entering U.S. Work Program

Today’s Focus

The Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday proposed a $70,000 fee for international students who want to work in the United States after graduation through the Optional Practical Training program, according to reporting from The Associated Press carried by PBS NewsHour.

Under the proposed rule, colleges and universities would pay the $70,000 charge for each new student entering OPT, plus a $30,000 fee for each renewal. OPT currently allows F-1 visa holders to work in jobs tied to their degree for one year after graduation, with science, technology, engineering and math graduates eligible for an additional two years.

A DHS spokesperson told Fox News that the program “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.” The agency framed the fee as a way to force foreign students to “justify their worth to employers.”

Fox News reported that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has identified more than 10,000 cases of alleged visa fraud inside OPT. The agency says the fee structure is aimed at reducing what it calls a pipeline for low-cost foreign labor.

Fanta Aw, CEO of NAFSA: Association of International Educators, criticized the proposal in a written statement to the AP. Aw said pushing international students out of the U.S. workforce would damage American innovation, economic growth and the pipeline for high-demand STEM roles.

The rule is a proposal, not a final regulation, and will go through a public comment period before taking effect. It is the latest in a series of Trump administration moves tightening legal immigration channels, including student visas, H-1B workers and refugee admissions.

The Debate

Supporters argue

The Trump administration frames OPT as a loophole that lets employers hire foreign graduates instead of Americans. The DHS spokesperson quoted by Fox News said the program had become “a pipeline for cheap foreign labor” and said the fee would force employers to prove a foreign hire is worth the cost.

Jonathan Fahey, a former acting ICE director, told Fox News that the 10,000-plus fraud cases ICE has flagged inside OPT show the program needs tighter controls, not expansion. Supporters point to the fact that OPT workers and their employers are exempt from Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes, which conservative analysts argue creates a roughly 15% wage advantage over hiring a U.S. graduate.

Groups backing stricter immigration enforcement, including the Center for Immigration Studies, have long argued that OPT was created through regulation rather than by Congress and now functions as a de facto guest worker program larger than H-1B. In that view, charging universities a fee reflects the real cost of a program that supporters say has grown beyond its original educational purpose and now competes directly with recent American graduates for entry-level technical jobs.

Critics argue

University leaders and business groups argue the fee would price most schools out of the program entirely. Fanta Aw of NAFSA told the AP that “driving away the talents, perspectives, and aspirations of international students will only hurt American innovation, economic growth, workforce development, and global leadership.”

Higher education groups note that international students paid an estimated $43.8 billion into the U.S. economy during the 2023-2024 academic year, according to NAFSA data cited widely in trade press. Smaller colleges and public universities say absorbing a $70,000 charge per student is impossible, and that the cost would effectively kill OPT for everyone outside a handful of elite private schools.

Tech industry representatives argue the policy would push graduates toward Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia, countries that have expanded post-study work rights to recruit the same talent. Democratic lawmakers, including members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, have said the proposal is part of a broader effort to shrink legal immigration without congressional approval, which they argue should be the branch setting visa policy.

What the experts say

Nonpartisan research suggests OPT is substantially larger than its better-known cousin, the H-1B visa. The Pew Research Center reported that roughly 540,000 foreign students were approved for OPT work authorization between 2004 and 2016, and participation has grown sharply since.

A 2022 study by economists Michael Clemens of George Mason University and Jennifer Hunt of Rutgers University, published through the National Bureau of Economic Research, found no evidence that OPT participants displace U.S. workers in STEM fields, and some evidence of complementary effects that raise wages for native-born coworkers. The Government Accountability Office in a 2024 report identified weaknesses in how ICE tracks OPT students once they begin work, but did not quantify fraud at the scale ICE now cites.

The National Foundation for American Policy, a nonpartisan research group, has documented that international graduates founded or co-founded roughly a quarter of billion-dollar U.S. startups. Historical comparison is also relevant: when the United Kingdom eliminated its post-study work visa in 2012, international enrollment at UK universities fell for three consecutive years before the policy was reversed in 2019.

By the Numbers

$70,000: proposed DHS fee for each new OPT work authorization, per the Associated Press.

$30,000: proposed fee for each OPT renewal, according to the DHS rule summary reported by Fox News.

3 years: maximum post-graduation OPT work period for STEM graduates under current rules, per PBS NewsHour.

10,000+: OPT fraud cases ICE says it has identified, according to Fox News.

$43.8 billion: economic contribution of international students to the U.S. during the 2023-2024 academic year, per NAFSA.

540,000: approximate number of foreign students approved for OPT between 2004 and 2016, according to Pew Research Center analysis of federal data.

25%: share of U.S. billion-dollar startups with at least one immigrant founder who first came as an international student, per the National Foundation for American Policy.