$100,000 Shock: 6 Key Facts About Trump’s New Foreign Student Work Fee Plan

$100,000 Shock: 6 Key Facts About Trump’s New Foreign Student Work Fee Plan for the OPT program. Just as international students and their families were catching their breath after a bruising few years of US immigration policy changes, a new proposal is threatening to upend the path from an American degree to an American job.

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According to a Wall Street Journal report, the Trump administration is weighing a plan that would require international graduates to pay a staggering $100,000 fee to work in the United States after completing their studies.

The move targets Optional Practical Training, or OPT — a work authorization program that has, for decades, served as the crucial bridge between graduating from a US university and starting a career there.

Nothing has been formally announced, and the White House has stopped short of confirming the plan outright.

But the mere suggestion has already rattled students, universities, and employers around the world, particularly in India, which sends more students to the US than any other country.

Here’s a clear, complete breakdown of what’s being proposed, why it’s surfacing now, and who stands to lose the most.

$100,000 Shock: 6 Key Facts About Trump’s New Foreign Student Work Fee Plan

1. What Exactly Is Being Proposed

A person familiar with internal discussions told reporters that the administration is considering charging international graduates $100,000 for permission to stay and work in the US after finishing their degree.

A White House official responded to questions by saying there was no imminent policy change — notably, without denying that the idea was under consideration.

If it goes ahead, the fee would apply specifically to OPT, effectively pricing a large share of foreign graduates out of one of the few realistic pathways into the US job market.

Administration officials have reportedly argued that OPT is vulnerable to visa fraud and status overstays, and that tightening it serves a legitimate enforcement purpose.

What Is OPT, and Why Does It Matter?

Optional Practical Training allows students on F-1 visas to work in roles connected to their field of study once they graduate.

Most graduates are eligible for up to one year of work authorization, while students in STEM fields — science, technology, engineering, and mathematics — can extend that to three years.

For many international students, OPT isn’t just a short-term work permit.

It’s the on-ramp to an H-1B skilled-worker visa, which many hope will eventually lead to permanent employment and long-term settlement in the US.

Losing easy access to OPT would effectively narrow that pathway before it even begins.

2. How Many People Are Actually on OPT

The scale of the program is significant. Data from the Institute of International Education shows nearly 300,000 international students were on OPT as of last fall, accounting for roughly a quarter of all foreign students in the US.

Separately, official figures cited by the Wall Street Journal put the number of international graduates working through OPT in 2024 at around 419,000 — underlining just how central this pathway has become to the broader international education ecosystem.

3. Why India Has the Most to Lose

India sent 363,019 students to the United States during the 2024–25 academic year, according to the Institute of International Education’s Open Doors report — making it the single largest source of international students in the country.

Of that group, roughly 39% were using OPT, meaning an estimated 1.4 lakh (about 140,000) Indian graduates are currently working in the US through the program.

A $100,000 fee would land on top of tuition and living costs that, for many Indian families, already run into tens of lakhs of rupees.

For a large share of prospective students, that additional cost could make the entire proposition of studying in America — and staying on to work afterward — financially out of reach.

4. Why This Is Surfacing Now: The H-1B Court Setback

This proposal doesn’t exist in isolation. It comes just weeks after the Trump administration hit a legal roadblock over a separate $100,000 fee it had tried to impose on certain H-1B visa applicants.

A federal appeals court in Boston recently declined to let the administration enforce that charge while litigation continues, after technology companies argued the fee would sharply restrict their access to skilled foreign talent.

Following that setback, the administration reportedly narrowed the H-1B fee framework to apply only to certain professionals entering the US directly under that visa category.

The newly reported OPT proposal targets an entirely different group — students who are already studying at American universities and are seeking permission to work after they graduate, rather than workers applying for H-1B visas from abroad.

Critics see it as a parallel route toward the same broader goal: making it significantly more expensive for foreign nationals to work in the US.

5. What It Could Mean for Students, Universities, and Employers

The ripple effects of a $100,000 OPT fee would extend well beyond individual students.

US universities rely heavily on international enrollment, since foreign students typically pay full tuition and contribute significantly to campus budgets.

A steep drop in enrollment driven by post-study work uncertainty could hit university finances hard.

Employers would feel it too. American technology and financial services companies frequently use OPT as an informal recruiting pipeline, hiring graduates directly from campus before eventually sponsoring them for H-1B visas.

A fee of this size could shrink that pipeline considerably, pushing companies to look elsewhere for entry-level skilled talent.

A Possible Shift Toward Other Destinations

Perhaps the most consequential effect would be on where students choose to study in the first place.

Faced with a steep, uncertain path to post-study work in the US, more prospective applicants may start looking toward countries such as Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, or Germany — all of which currently offer comparatively simpler and cheaper post-study work options.

For US universities competing globally for talent and tuition revenue, that shift could prove costly over time.

6. Is This Actually Happening? What We Know So Far

For now, nothing is final. The proposal has not been formally announced, and administration officials have deliberately avoided confirming or denying its details publicly.

It remains, at this stage, an internal deliberation reported through anonymous sourcing — significant, but not yet policy.

That said, the fact that this follows so closely on the heels of the H-1B fee dispute suggests the administration remains committed to reshaping how foreign nationals access the US labor market, even after facing legal pushback on one front.

Universities, immigration attorneys, and prospective students are watching closely for any formal rule-making that would turn this reported plan into enforceable policy.

Reactions So Far

Unsurprisingly, the reported proposal has drawn sharp criticism online, with many questioning whether a fee this size would simply push talented graduates — and the economic value they bring — toward competing countries instead of keeping them in the US.

Universities and employer groups that depend on the OPT pipeline are likely to lobby hard against any formal version of this rule if and when it is proposed through official channels.

Conclusion

Whether or not this $100,000 OPT fee ever becomes official policy, its mere emergence signals where US immigration policy may be headed next: from work visas held by employed professionals to the students who are meant to become tomorrow’s skilled workforce.

For international students — and especially the hundreds of thousands from India who form the backbone of America’s foreign student population — the proposal adds yet another layer of uncertainty to an already complicated calculation about where to invest years of study and tens of thousands of dollars in tuition.

Nothing is confirmed yet, and prospective applicants have no immediate reason to change their plans.

But if this proposal does eventually take shape as formal policy, it could mark one of the most significant shifts yet in how, and whether, international graduates build their careers in the United States.

Also Read: Trump Imposes $100,000 H-1B Visa Fee: Impact on Indian Tech Workers and US Companies

Also Read: US OPT programme explained: How Trump’s $100,000 fee could hit international students