Trump Mulls Fee For Students
If you’re an international student — or a parent planning to send your kid to study in the US – then this is for you.
This is about something called OPT. Basically, right now if you’re an international student who graduates from a US university, you’re allowed to work there for one to three years afterwards.
For most students on F-1 visas, it’s work for up to one year in their field of study after graduation, while those in STEM courses can work for up to three years.
It’s how a lot of Indian students end up working at big tech companies or banks in the US after college, and often it’s the stepping stone to getting a proper H-1B work visa later.
Now the government is reportedly floating the idea of putting a $100,000 price tag on that. This development comes on the back of developments in September, when the US government already raised the fee for new H-1B visa applications to $100,000. So if this OPT idea goes through too, you’re looking at two separate $100K tolls — one to work right after graduating, and another one later if you want the full work visa.
Here Are Some Reactions
And the reaction online has been sharp. Jeremy Neufeld, who tracks immigration policy, put out a detailed breakdown arguing this could effectively kill OPT altogether — and he’s putting a number on the damage: A sustained one-third decline in foreign STEM graduates entering the US labour force would shrink the high-skill STEM workforce by 6.2% overall and by 11.5% at the PhD level. Over a decade, that would cut annual US GDP by $240 billion to $481 billion, comparable to losing an entire mid-sized state’s economy.
The Trump admin is considering a $100k fee on OPT, which would essentially end the program.
Three important points to bear in mind:
1. This would make the H-1B program less-skilled and less-paid. Recent grads from US universities (i.e., the OPT pipeline) are more highly paid… https://t.co/Na692FRuPq
— Jeremy Neufeld (@JeremyLNeufeld) July 30, 2026
Another framed it even more simply — he says this basically makes America’s biggest pipeline for foreign STEM talent unusable overnight, because barely any employer is going to pay $100,000 just to hire a fresh graduate
The Trump Admin is charging schools $100k for international students to have work authorization on OPT—America’s largest recruiting pipeline for foreign STEM talent. This makes the program nearly unusable. Few schools will pay a $100k fee for a random employer. https://t.co/bfUU300UQl
— Sam Peak ???????????? (@SpeakSamuel) July 30, 2026
One higher-ed voice, had a great way of putting the scale of this in perspective — he compared it to a restaurant charging more for parking than for the actual meal. His point being, OPT is a tiny slice of US higher ed overall, but this fee is wildly disproportionate to that scale.
This policy would be like a restaurant charging more for parking than for the meal — disproportionate and misdirected. @WSJ reported that US is considering imposing US$100,000 on international students transitioning from student visa to OPT (Optional Practical Training). To put… pic.twitter.com/54rI5ZR10g
— Dr Rahul Choudaha (@RahulChoudaha) July 31, 2026
To be clear — nothing’s decided yet. This is the Wall Street Journal reporting that it’s being discussed internally, based on people familiar with the talks. The White House hasn’t confirmed it, but they also haven’t shot it down — they just said there’s no immediate change coming.But if you’re a student, or a parent thinking about sending your kid to the US for college, this is exactly the kind of thing you want to be watching. Because the whole “study in the US, work for a few years, build a career there” plan just got a lot more expensive — at least on paper, for now.
Read Also: Donald Trump weighs $100,000 fee for foreign students to work post graduation