The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has proposed charging universities and colleges $70,000 for each international student they recommend for the post-study work scheme Optional Practical Training. STEM OPT extension periods, like any other subsequent period of OPT, would carry a further $30,000 fee. Optional Practical Training (OPT) is the programme that lets F-1 students work in the US after their studies. The proposed rule was released on 7 October 2026 and scheduled for publication in the Federal Register on 8 October.
The fee would be paid by the US institution certified under the Student and Exchange Visitor Program before its designated school official enters the OPT recommendation in the student record system. The proposal says schools may pass the cost on to students or to employers.
What the proposal says
- Issuing agency: US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, part of DHS (RIN 1653-AB01; docket ICEB-2026-0100).
- Fees: $70,000 for a student’s first period of OPT, before or after completion of studies; $30,000 for each subsequent period.
- Scale: DHS says 194,554 F-1 students received OPT work authorisation and reported working in calendar year 2024, up from 160,627 in 2023, and 165,524 were on STEM OPT by 2024. About 6,186 schools were certified as of June 2026.
- Money: fees would go to the US Treasury as miscellaneous receipts, not to ICE.
- Timing: comments are due 30 days after publication. A final rule would take effect 60 days after its own publication and apply to recommendations dated on or after that date.
DHS believes that this fee is necessary to place the United States’ interests first and protect American workers.
US Department of Homeland Security, Optional Practical Training Fees, notice of proposed rulemaking
DHS argues that practical training has become a route for students to avoid the annual cap on H-1B work visas, and cites fraud cases. It says that without the fee it may shut the programme down entirely. Sector bodies including NAFSA and the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration have criticised the proposal, and NAFSA said it would mobilise members to comment, The PIE News reported. The proposal does not estimate how many students would be deterred, and the document does not break OPT numbers down by nationality.
Post-study work scheme: Optional Practical Training, STEM OPT extension and the rules now
OPT predates the proposal by decades and runs through the same student record system the fee would attach to. An F-1 student first asks the designated school official at their institution for a recommendation, which the official records in SEVIS, the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, before endorsing the student’s Form I-20. The student then applies to US Citizenship and Immigration Services on Form I-765 and cannot start work until the agency issues its work permit card, Form I-766, according to Study in the States, the DHS information site for international students.
Students can apply for 12 months of OPT at each level of education, so a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree can each carry a year of work rights, the DHS site says. Before graduation the training is capped at 20 hours a week while classes are in session, and it must relate directly to the student’s course of study. Standard OPT is limited to one year in aggregate, with a possible two-year STEM OPT extension for eligible science, technology, engineering and mathematics graduates, according to the analysis published by NAFSA, the association of international educators.
Who pays, and how the money moves
NAFSA’s analysis of the text sets out the mechanics. The school recommending OPT would have to pay the fee before making the recommendation, and would be responsible for paying it and attesting that it has done so, although DHS says the school may arrange where the funds come from. A separate proposal would add functionality to SEVIS so that designated school officials can record confirmation that the fee has been paid.
The design ties the charge to the machinery of the post-study work scheme. Optional Practical Training, STEM OPT extension recommendations and the certification of schools all sit inside the Student and Exchange Visitor Program, which gives DHS a single point at which payment can be checked before a student’s application ever reaches US Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Why it matters in the UK, India and the Gulf
The proposal lands as other destinations also tighten. In the UK, sponsored study visa applications from main applicants fell 19% to 352,500 in the year to September 2026, according to Home Office figures published on 8 October. In India, Education Minister Pralhad Joshi told the FICCI Higher Education Summit in New Delhi on 9 October that India has a real opportunity to become a preferred education destination as several countries make it harder for foreign students, Business Standard reported. In the UAE, enrolments rose 15% in 2025-26 to more than 218,000, according to government figures reported by Times Higher Education on 6 October.
Since then: publication, deadlines and first reactions
The rule was published in the Federal Register as scheduled on 8 October 2026, at 91 FR 64566. Publication started the clock: comments on the main rule are due by 9 November 2026, and a separate 60-day comment period on the associated information collection, which covers the SEVIS payment records, runs until 7 December 2026, according to NAFSA, which has opened a portal to help members prepare submissions.
On 9 October the American Immigration Council published an analysis by Aaron Reichlin-Melnick describing the proposal as “exorbitant new fees on universities”. It noted that the rule’s own estimate of annual public costs runs from $32 million to more than $8 billion, which it called “a staggering range”, and that the fees would not apply to students who already hold a school recommendation when any final rule takes effect. The Council expects court challenges once the rule is finalised, pointing out that a separate $100,000 fee on H-1B petitions has already been blocked by two federal courts.
The Council also cited survey and modelling work suggesting the fee would change behaviour: one estimate it quoted put the possible loss of university revenue at up to $4 billion a year, and a survey it cited found 80% of affected students would reconsider staying in the US if a six-figure fee applied. None of those figures comes from DHS. Whatever the comment file produces, the price of the post-study work scheme Optional Practical Training, STEM OPT extension included, is now a live question for every US admissions office recruiting abroad.
What it means
TED analysis:
- For UK recruiters: post-study work is part of the US offer to international postgraduates, including those from India. If the fee is adopted and passed on, the UK Graduate route becomes relatively more attractive, even after its cut to 18 months for applications from January 2027.
- For Gulf and Indian campuses: universities in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and India’s new foreign campuses can pitch lower total cost and fewer visa risks. Times Higher Education’s reporting attributes the UAE’s recent growth mainly to the expansion of diplomas, so diverted demand from the West is not yet visible in the data.
- For US partners of Indian and Gulf institutions: joint programmes that end with a US year and OPT would need repricing. Partners should model the fee before the comment period closes.
- What to watch: the final rule, legal challenges and whether US institutions absorb the fee or pass it to students or employers.
