US colleges could face a $70,000 fee for international students to work after graduation

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US colleges could face a $70,000 fee for international students to work after graduation

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Harvard University students wearing graduation gowns stroll former a bookstore near the Harvard University evidence in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US, on Thursday, May 29, 2025.

The DHS has projected a new regulation that power necessitate US colleges to pay a fee for their global students' OPT activity authorization. Bloomberg/Getty Images

US colleges power shortly have to fork out prosperity to assistance their global graduates district jobs in the US.

The Department of Homeland Security announced a projected regulation on Wednesday that would necessitate schools to pay fees before recommending F-1 students for Optional Practical Training.

OPT is a impermanent activity authority for jobs connected to a student's site of study. It mostly allows eligible global graduates to activity in the US for up to a year; those alongside eligible STEM degrees can search a 24-month extension.

If it goes through, the recommendation would necessitate US schools to pay $70,000 for a student's first OPT advice and $30,000 for any extension.

"Optional Practical Training was never meant to be a rear entrance into the American workforce, a subsidy for cheap labor, or a award for those who equivalent the system," a DHS spokesman stated in the release. "DHS is upskilling OPT to necessitate abroad students to validate their value to employers."

An ICE spokesman stated in an emailed declaration to Business Insider that the DHS has encountered additional employers, schools, and students "engaged in schemes to utilize current regulations for fraudulent purposes."

The agency is seeking community comment on the recommendation until November 9 before imposing any changes. If implemented, the collected fees would be deposited in the US Treasury, DHS stated in the release.

This proposal is the latest move by the Trump Administration to clamp downward on abroad endowment and defend American workers. Over the former year, multiple guideline changes have targeted workers on H-1B visas, a non-immigrant activity visa for skilled abroad workers.

Last September, President Donald Trump signed an administrator command requiring US companies to pay $100,000 for all new H-1B application. This order was struck down by a national fairness in June.

A few months later, in August, the DHS issued a new proposal for a $103,265 fee for new H-1B petitions. This has not yet gone into effect.

International students have already been caught up in the administration's visa guideline changes. In July, the DHS announced a new regulation that prevents students on the F-1 visa from staying in the US for additional than 4 years, despite of the dimension of the visa holder's course. This rule, too, was temporarily blocked in September by a national judge.

Aditi is a news newsman at Business Insider’s Singapore bureau. She covers hustle civilization and the forthcoming of work, focusing on how AI and innovation are reshaping jobs, careers, and workplaces.She earlier worked for The Straits Times, anywhere she wrote breaking news stories for the Singapore desk. She studied communications and endeavor at Nanyang Technological University. 

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