The Trump administration is weighing a $100,000 fee on international students who want to work in the United States after graduation, a change that would land on roughly 300,000 people currently working on Optional Practical Training.
What Happened
The Wall Street Journal reported on July 31, 2026 that the administration is considering a $100,000 charge for international students seeking to work in the U.S. after finishing their degrees, most likely applied through the Optional Practical Training program, known as OPT. Forbes and the Korea Times reported the same development that week.
According to Forbes, the Department of Homeland Security is weighing the fee as part of a broader package of changes to OPT regulations. Nothing has been formally proposed. No rule text has been published, and no effective date exists.
Why the Number Matters
OPT lets F-1 students work in a field related to their degree for up to 12 months after graduation, with a 24-month extension available to STEM graduates. For most international graduates it is the bridge between a U.S. degree and a U.S. job, and often the runway to an H-1B petition.
As of last fall, an estimated 300,000 international students were working on OPT, about a quarter of the total international student population in the United States, according to figures cited in reporting by the Economic Times and summarized by the law firm Cyrus D. Mehta and Partners.
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A charge of that size would be, by a wide margin, the largest fee ever attached to a student work authorization in the United States.
Who Would Be Affected
F-1 students planning post-graduation work, STEM graduates counting on the 24-month extension, and the employers who hire from that pipeline: startups, hospitals, research labs, engineering firms, and financial companies. Universities whose international enrollment depends on post-study work opportunities would feel it too.
Reporting has not clarified whether the fee would fall on the student, the employer, or either party.
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What This Means for You
Do not change plans based on a news report. Nothing has been proposed, no rule text exists, and no effective date has been set.
A fee of this size would almost certainly require notice-and-comment rulemaking and would draw immediate litigation. That is not speculation: a federal court vacated the administration’s $100,000 H-1B payment requirement, and on July 24 the First Circuit refused to revive it while the appeal proceeds.
If you are on OPT or plan to apply, file on time and keep your status clean. The most reliable protection against a future rule is being properly in status under the current one.
Track the Federal Register. Any formal proposal would publish there first, with a public comment period before anything takes effect.
Talk to your designated school official and an immigration attorney before making decisions about graduation timing, job offers, or a change of status.
Employers should model the cost now. If your hiring plan depends on OPT conversions, scenario planning is cheaper before a rule drops than after.
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This article is for general information only and is not legal advice.
What Comes Next
Watch two things: whether DHS publishes an OPT rulemaking package, and how the H-1B fee litigation resolves. The court’s reasoning in that case, that the payment amounted to an unauthorized tax, is the clearest available signal of how a $100,000 OPT fee would fare in court.
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