The Trump administration may be working to further limit international students’ opportunities in the US. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reports that “according to people familiar with the matter,” the government “is considering attaching a $100,000 price tag on international students’ ability to work in the US after they graduate from an American university.”

The hefty fee would apply to post-study Optional Practical Training (OPT) placements. Post-study OPT is the work stream that allows students who complete a minimum four-year bachelor’s degree to gain one to three years of work experience related to their field of study, and it often serves as a bridge from F-1 student status to at least three years in a formal position with a US employer on an H-1B visa. Three-year OPT is reserved for students with STEM degrees.

More than 294,000 students participated in OPT in 2024/25 – representing about one in four international students in the US. This was a 21% increase over the previous year.

Any move to limit access to OPT will upend foreign students’ estimation of the return on investment for study in the US. A recent Chronicle of Higher Education survey found that 8 in 10 international students would not choose to study in the US if they could not access OPT.

Nothing is certain yet

A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson confirmed that the fee is under discussion, but it stressed in a statement to the paper that “no policy should be considered final until it is formally announced.” It is not clear yet who would have to pay the $100,000 OPT fee – students, universities, or employers.

OPT under fire

For decades, international students were permitted to stay in the US for as long as their study journey required, including three years of OPT participation, under a rule called Duration of Status, or D/S.

But a 2025 administration proposal to put fixed limits on international students’ legal status in the US will become a rule in September 2026. International students will have to leave after four years unless they submit, and are approved for, an extension by immigration officials.

This makes a potential $100,000 OPT fee even more off-putting to international students. Not only will they need to submit a request to US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to stay in the US for longer than their length of their degree – with no guarantee they will be approved – but the $100,000 fee would make it even less likely that they would (1) be hired (if the fee were levied on employers) or (2) afford to be hired (if students themselves had to pay the fee).

If at first you don’t succeed …

It is quite possible that the government views a steep OPT price tag as a satisfactory equivalent to its September 2025 proclamation requiring employers to pay a $100,000 fee to sponsor a foreign worker for an H-1B visa. That ruling was later blocked in court. The administration submitted an appeal to reverse the decision, but a federal court rejected the appeal on 24 July 2026.

If the administration were to push through the $100,000 fee for OPT submissions, it could achieve the same goal as the as-yet unsuccessful H-1B fee of blocking a huge proportion of international graduates and skilled foreign workers from employment in the US.

Brain drain from the US is already happening

The potential for brain drain is real. The WSJ notes: “Advocates contend that without OPT, most international students would be forced to leave the country immediately after graduation, pushing them to take the skills they gained at American universities to foreign markets.”

Destinations such as Germany, France – and the US's great-power rivals China and Russia – are already benefitting from lower student demand for the US. All these countries – and several more alternative destinations – are building their foreign enrolment at the same time as new international student commencements in the US (as well as in Australia, Canada, and the UK) decline.

The impact on universities and employers

International students’ contributions are vital to STEM-based sectors and to US innovation in general. For example, a 2025 Silicon Valley Index report found that 66% of technology workers in the region are foreign born.

The potential impact on Indian and Chinese enrolments

If enough Indian and Chinese students decide to stay away from the US, it could be a devastating revenue hit for many US colleges. More than half (53%) of all international students in academic programmes or OPT in the US are Indian or Chinese.

Doctoral-degree-granting institutions would be especially affected. Consider:

• Eight in 10 Indian students studying in the US in 2025 – and nine in 10 Chinese students – are enrolled at a doctoral college.
• Of 57,800 PhDs granted to all students in the US in 2023, 19,400 (34%) were awarded to F-1 international students, nearly half of whom (44%) were Chinese or Indian.
• Chinese and Indian students received nearly one-sixth (15%) of all PhDs awarded by US institutions in 2023.

It isn’t too dramatic to say that R&D innovation in the US would be significantly affected by a major fall-off in Indian and Chinese demand.

The Indian and Chinese flow of OPT students to US employers would also be severely impacted:

• Of all Indian students in the US in 2025, 40% were in OPT. This represents a near doubling of the proportion the previous year.
• Of all Chinese students in the US in 2025, 23% were in OPT.

Change is coming

Whether or not a $100,000 OPT fee comes into being, what is certain is that the Trump administration is currently considering new rules for OPT. There are few details at present, but new OPT rules are slated for introduction in February 2027. The government has indicated only that it will “amend existing regulations to address fraud and national security concerns, protect US workers from being displaced by foreign nationals, and enhance the Student and Exchange Visitor Program’s capacity to oversee the program."

Lawsuits highly likely

Multiple lawsuits arose to fight the H-1B fee, and the fee has been declared unlawful. As of this writing, US employers do not have to pay the fee to hire international students or foreign skilled workers.

Litigation is already in process to contest the fixed admission rule set to come into force on 15 September 2026.

As reported by Forbes, “legal consultations have left experts questioning the administration's lawful authority to impose a $100,000 OPT fee.”

For additional background, please see:

• “US regulatory agenda for 2026 aims to end ‘duration of status’ and introduce Optional Practical Training and H-1B reforms”