DHS has now turned to OPT. In a proposed rule published October 8, 2026, ICE would require schools to pay $70,000 for every F-1 student who receives initial OPT, and another $30,000 for any subsequent OPT period, including the 24-month STEM extension. If the school doesn’t pay, the DSO can’t enter the OPT recommendation in SEVIS, and USCIS won’t approve the EAD.
Do the math. In the typical case, post-completion OPT followed by a STEM extension, that comes to $100,000 per student. It can go higher. The $30,000 applies to each subsequent OPT recommendation, not just STEM. A student who used pre-completion OPT, then post-completion OPT, then a STEM extension would generate $130,000. DHS is also asking for comment on charging the full $70,000 again when a student moves up to a higher degree.
The $100,000 figure should sound familiar. It’s the H-1B proclamation fee a federal court vacated in June, and it’s within a few thousand dollars of the $103,265 cap-subject H-1B fee DHS proposed in August (I covered that one here). The administration keeps landing on the same number through different doors.
What the proposal actually does
-
The school pays, not the employer or the student. But DHS says outright that schools can pass the cost to F-1 students, to all students, or to employers.
-
It applies to pre-completion OPT as well as post-completion OPT.
-
It isn’t tied to an employer. Changing jobs doesn’t trigger a new fee, but every later OPT recommendation (including STEM) does.
-
Refunds are narrow. The school can request one only if the student never received the EAD or extension, the DSO has to withdraw the recommendation first, and SEVP’s decision is final.
-
The money goes to the Treasury as general receipts. ICE doesn’t keep it.
DHS’s justification is fraud (shell employers and “pay-to-stay” schemes), program growth (more than 194,000 students working on OPT in 2024), and the claim that OPT undercuts U.S. workers because there is no recruitment requirement and no FICA withholding. It then goes a step further: without these fees, DHS says it “may shut down the program entirely.”
Why this is a problem
Be realistic about what happens if this is finalized. Very few schools will write a $70,000 check per student. Some will pass it to students, which prices out nearly everyone. Some will try to pass it to employers, which only works for companies willing to spend six figures before they’ve even entered the H-1B lottery. Most will simply stop recommending OPT. In practice, this works less like a fee and more like a way to end OPT without formally rescinding it.
I also think the rule is vulnerable. A charge that isn’t tied to the cost of any service, isn’t kept by the agency, and is set high enough to deter use looks a lot more like a tax than a fee. I fully expect a legal challenge to the rule if this becomes final and based on experience it seems unlikely that this rule would survive a legal challenge.
What has NOT changed
This is a proposed rule, not a final rule and therefore nothing has changed. As proposed, the fee wouldn’t apply until 60 days after a final rule is published, and it attaches when the DSO enters the OPT recommendation in SEVIS. That’s the real protection: a recommendation entered before the effective date shouldn’t be charged, and an existing EAD won’t be charged retroactively. But a student already on OPT who requests a STEM extension after the effective date will likely be charged something, and the proposal doesn’t say how much this will be. Most likely it will be the $70,000.00 fee. This is also separate from the F-1 duration-of-status rule that a court blocked in September.
What students and employers should do now
Students eligible for OPT or a STEM extension should not wait. Post-completion OPT can be requested up to 90 days before the program end date, and a STEM extension up to 90 days before the current OPT EAD expires. Get the recommendation into SEVIS and the I-765 on file under the current rules. The catch is the STEM extension. A student can’t request it earlier than 90 days before the current EAD expires, so anyone whose OPT runs past the eventual effective date may not be able to beat the fee.
Employers should identify every F-1 employee and map out timing now, especially anyone who needs to be in the March 2027 H-1B registration. Between this, the H-1B fee proposal, and the proposal to eliminate the 60-day grace period, the F-1 to H-1B path is clearly under attack.
As always this is a fluid situation. Expect comments, a final rule following by a lawsuit and hopefully a quick decision by a judge blocking the rule.
If you have any questions regarding the proposed OPT fee or how it could affect your immigration status or workforce, please contact Chris Prescott at cprescott@psbplaw.com.