There Is No $100,000 OPT Fee. Here Is What Is Actually True

For two weeks international students have been reading that working in the United States after graduation is about to cost six figures. The reporting behind that panic is real. The fee is not, at least not yet, and the difference matters enormously if you are deciding whether to file for work authorization this fall.

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What Was Actually Reported

On July 30, 2026, the Wall Street Journal reported that the administration is weighing a $100,000 fee tied to Optional Practical Training, the program that lets F-1 students work in their field after graduation. That is sourced reporting about an idea under internal discussion at the Department of Homeland Security. It is not a proposed rule, it is not a final rule, and no agency is collecting anything.

Analysis followed from Forbes contributor Stuart Anderson and from higher education trade outlets including Higher Ed Dive and ICEF Monitor. All of them describe the same object: a discussion, not a regulation.

The basic terms remain unsettled. Nobody has said whether such a fee would fall on the student, the university or the employer, whether it would cover all OPT or only the STEM extension, or whether it would apply to new applications, renewals, or both.

Why Immigration Lawyers Doubt It Would Survive

There is a close precedent, and it did not go well for the government. A presidential proclamation issued September 19, 2025 imposed a $100,000 fee on certain H-1B petitions. A federal judge struck it down on June 8, 2026, reasoning that the executive branch had effectively imposed a tax, which is Congress’s power rather than the president’s. The administration appealed and a federal court rejected that appeal on July 24, 2026.

An OPT fee created the same way would run straight into the same argument. Agency fees generally have to bear some relationship to the cost of providing the service, and $100,000 bears no resemblance to the cost of adjudicating a Form I-765.

A fee built through notice-and-comment rulemaking would stand on firmer procedural ground, but that path takes months and invites public opposition on the record.

Who This Affects

F-1 students planning post-completion OPT or a STEM OPT extension, the universities and designated school officials who recommend them, and the employers who use OPT as their main pipeline into H-1B sponsorship. It also lands on students already absorbing the end of duration of status, a separate change that gives F-1 holders fixed admission periods rather than open-ended stays.

The practical harm right now is not the fee. It is the uncertainty. Students are deferring job offers, employers are hesitating on OPT hires, and admissions offices are fielding questions they cannot answer.

What This Means for You

There is nothing to pay. If anyone asks you for money to cover an OPT fee, a reservation, or a place in line, it is a scam. Fraud follows headlines, and international students are a favorite target.

Do not restructure your OPT timeline around reporting about an idea. File your Form I-765 on your normal schedule, within the window your designated school official confirms, and keep your I-20 recommendation current.

If a rule is ever published, it will appear in the Federal Register with an effective date and, in most cases, a public comment period. That is the moment to act, and comments from students and universities do get read.

Watch two sources rather than social media: the Federal Register and your school’s international student office. Your DSO will know before your group chat does.

This article is for general information only and is not legal advice.