For decades, the math for Indian students heading to the United States was fairly simple: take out an education loan, earn a STEM degree, secure a job through the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program, and eventually obtain an H-1B visa to pay off the debt. A new policy, however, may soon break this equation.
According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, the Donald Trump administration in the US is planning to attach a $100,000 fee to the OPT program itself. The OPT programme allows foreign graduates to work for one to three years on their student visas in areas directly related to their studies. If implemented, this may bar thousands of international graduates from working in the US, altering the appeal of American universities for global talent.
This follows an initial push to heavily tax H-1B visas, which was struck down by a US court. According to news agency PTI, around 419,000 foreigners were working on OPT in 2024. Without OPT, most international students would be forced to leave the US immediately after graduation, taking the skills they gained at American universities to foreign markets.
The report added that in addition to the H-1B and student visas, officials at the State Department are also weighing attaching a $1,00,000 bond on applicants for green cards outside the US, redeemable only after they move to the US and become citizens.
The proposal is still under discussion at the DHS and has not been formally announced or approved by the White House. A DHS spokesperson noted that the department is continually exploring tools to "protect the integrity of our legal immigration system."
The OPT program is a temporary work authorisation. Under current rules, graduates can work for up to 12 months, while STEM graduates can apply for a 24-month extension, allowing a total of 36 months of employment.
For many international students, particularly Indians, OPT is the primary draw of an American education. It allows graduates to gain practical experience, earn a US salary to help offset tuition costs, and serves as a crucial stepping stone before an employer sponsors them for longer-term visas like the H-1B.
Indians make up nearly one-third of all international students in the US and most of them rely heavily on educational loans that can take up to a decade to clear.
The proposed $100,000 fee hurts the Return on Investment (ROI) for these degrees. Students already stretch their budgets for US tuition and living costs. Adding a $100,000 premium just for the right to work may make the financial proposition mathematically difficult for most. If employers are forced to pay, they may restrict hiring to only the absolute top tier of international graduates, leaving the vast majority out.
"The charge would exceed the first-year gross salary of most STEM master's graduates. No Indian lender underwrites a loan against a debt the borrower must pay before earning anything. Whether the fee falls on the student or the employer, and the reporting does not say which, the effect at the entry level is the same: the position does not get created," said Rajiv S. Khanna, Managing Attorney at Immigration.com.
"This is not really a story about a $100,000 fee. It's a story about whether the return a US education promises Indian families still holds," added Sanjay Laul, Founder of MSM Unify.
This follows a controversial attempt by the Trump administration to impose a similar $100,000 fee on H-1B visa applications. That initial H-1B fee proclamation, signed last September, faced massive pushback from tech companies who argued it would cut off access to skilled foreign workers. Last week, a federal appeals court in Boston blocked the administration from enforcing the H-1B fee.
The reported pivot to target the OPT program may be a direct response to that legal defeat, shifting focus from foreign professionals entering directly on H-1B visas to the graduates already studying within the United States.
Khanna said that the $100,000 fee does not select for talent but for family wealth.
"The graduate whose family can write that cheque stays. The one who topped a national examination and borrowed every rupee does not," he said.
Laul said that roughly 4.2 lakh international graduates use OPT every year, disproportionately in STEM, and they aren't a marginal contributor to the US economy.
"They're nearly $43 billion of it, supporting more than 3.55 lakh American jobs. Make it prohibitively expensive for that talent to stay and work, and the cost doesn't stop at the student. It shows up in university enrollment, in research labs, in the companies that have quietly built hiring pipelines around exactly this group," he said.
Some education consultants have predicted that if the OPT fee is implemented, the impact will be immediate: a sharp decline in Indian students opting for US STEM programs. Students will likely pivot to alternative markets like Canada, the UK, Germany, or Australia, where post-graduation work pathways remain accessible.
With six in ten US colleges already reporting a fall in international student applications due to ongoing policy turbulence, the OPT fee could decimate international enrollment, fundamentally altering the financial landscape of American higher education.
No, as of now, it is not formally announced by the US. Khanna said that this measure would face “serious legal obstacles,” and the H-1B fee litigation shows those obstacles are real.
“But students and families should plan on the assumption that American immigration policy will remain unstable through at least 2027. That means keeping the post-study work rules of two or three destinations under active review rather than committing to one, tracking the September 15 duration of status changes closely if already in F-1 status, and treating any program whose financial case depends entirely on three years of OPT as a concentrated risk rather than a plan,” he said.
Arshdeep Kaur is a Senior Content Producer at Mint, where she reports and edits across national and international politics, business and culture‑adjacent trending stories for digital audience. With five years in the newsroom, she strives to balance the speed and rigor of fast‑moving news cycles and longer, context‑rich explainers. <br><br> Before joining LiveMint, Arshdeep served as a Senior Sub‑Editor at Business Standard and earlier as a Sub‑Editor at Asian News International (ANI). Her experience spans live news flows, enterprise features, and multi‑platform packaging. <br><br> At Mint, she regularly writes explainers, quick takes, and visuals‑led stories that are optimized for search and social, while maintaining the publication’s standards for accuracy and clarity. She collaborates closely with editors and the audience team to frame angles that resonate with readers in India and abroad, and to translate complex developments into accessible, high‑impact journalism. <br><br> Arshdeep's academic training underpins her interest towards policy and markets. She earned an MA in Economics from Panjab University and holds a Post‑Graduate Diploma in Broadcast Journalism from the India Today Media Institute (ITMI). This blend of economics and broadcast storytelling informs her coverage of public policy, elections, macro themes, and the consumer‑internet zeitgeist. <br><br> Arshdeep is based in New Delhi, where she tracks breaking developments and longer‑horizon storylines that shape public discourse.
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