The Department of Homeland Security has proposed a rule that would require schools certified to host international students to pay a $70,000 fee before recommending an F-1 student for initial Optional Practical Training, and a $30,000 fee for any subsequent OPT recommendation, including extensions for students in science, technology, engineering, and math fields. A student who pursues both standard post-completion OPT and a STEM extension could trigger fees totaling $100,000 across two separate recommendations.
The release carries a release date of October 7, 2026, and the underlying Federal Register notice states it is scheduled for publication on October 8, 2026, which would open a 30-day public comment period on the substantive rule, running through approximately November 9, and a separate 60-day comment period tied to a related paperwork requirement. The fee structure is not in effect. It is a notice of proposed rulemaking, meaning DHS must review public comments before deciding whether to finalize, revise, or abandon the plan, and current OPT and STEM OPT regulations continue to govern recommendations and applications in the meantime.
What DHS Announced
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, operating within DHS, issued the proposal under Docket No. ICEB-2026-0100 and Regulatory Identifier Number 1653-AB01, formally titled 'Optional Practical Training Fees.' The document identifies itself as a notice of proposed rulemaking, a formal step in federal rulemaking that precedes any final, binding regulation.
The core of the proposal is straightforward: schools certified under the Student and Exchange Visitor Program, known as SEVP, would owe $70,000 the first time a designated school official recommends an F-1 student for OPT, and $30,000 for any subsequent OPT recommendation the school makes for that student, a category that explicitly includes STEM OPT extensions.
How OPT Currently Works
Optional Practical Training is temporary employment authorization tied to an F-1 student's field of study. Existing regulations allow eligible students to work under OPT if the employment relates directly to their major, provided they first receive a recommendation from their school's designated school official, known as a DSO, and then separately apply for employment authorization with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, or USCIS.
Students can use OPT before finishing their academic program or after completing it, and eligible students may receive up to 12 months of OPT at each education level. Those earning degrees on DHS's STEM-designated list may qualify for an additional 24-month extension beyond the standard 12 months, nearly tripling the available work authorization period for qualifying graduates.
Payment Mechanics Under the Proposal
The proposed rule places the payment obligation on the school, not the student or a specific employer. A SEVP-certified school would have to pay the applicable fee before its designated school official could recommend a student for OPT inside the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, known as SEVIS, and before the student could apply to USCIS for employment authorization.
USCIS would decline to grant employment authorization to any F-1 student whose school had not paid the required fee. Collected funds would go to the Treasury of the United States rather than remaining with DHS or SEVP for direct programmatic use.
Why a Single Student Could Trigger Both Fees
Because the $30,000 fee applies to 'any subsequent OPT' recommendation and STEM extensions are recommended separately from initial post-completion OPT, a student who first receives standard post-completion OPT and later qualifies for the 24-month STEM extension would generate two separate recommendation events. That sequence produces the $70,000 initial fee plus the $30,000 subsequent fee, for a combined $100,000 tied to one student's academic and employment path.
DHS's Stated Rationale
DHS frames the fees as a response to fraud and abuse identified by SEVP, which oversees school certification and student tracking through SEVIS. The agency points to patterns including problematic worksites and what it calls 'pay-to-stay' visa schemes, arrangements DHS characterizes as exploiting OPT's connection between academic study and work authorization.
A DHS spokesperson quoted in the announcement described OPT as never intended to function as 'a back door into the American workforce, a subsidy for cheap labor, or a prize for those who game the system,' and said the agency is 'upskilling OPT to require foreign students to justify their worth to employers.' DHS states the fee is also meant to push schools toward greater oversight and selectivity before recommending students for OPT.
Legal and Regulatory Basis DHS Cites
The Federal Register document traces DHS's authority to provisions including the Immigration and Nationality Act's definition of F-1 status, a records-and-reporting section of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, and DHS's broader statutory mission to ensure the nation's economic security is not diminished by immigration-related programs. It also cites existing regulations in Title 8 of the Code of Federal Regulations that already govern designated school officials' roles, including updating SEVIS records and certifying employment authorization.
The document notes that federal statutes have historically said little about defining practical training itself, leaving agencies broad latitude to shape the program through rulemaking since at least 1991, including a 2008 rule that first extended STEM OPT and a 2016 rule that expanded the STEM extension to its current 24-month length.
What Has Not Changed
Nothing about current OPT or STEM OPT eligibility, duration, or application procedure changes as a result of this announcement. Designated school officials may continue recommending eligible students for OPT, and students may continue applying to USCIS for employment authorization under the existing framework without any fee resembling the proposed $70,000 or $30,000 amounts.
The proposal also does not alter the separate cap-gap regulations, which automatically extend status for some F-1 students with pending H-1B petitions, a framework the Federal Register document describes as last amended in 2024 and otherwise left intact by this proposal.
The Comment Process and Timeline
DHS states it will accept public comments on the substantive rule from October 8 through November 9, a roughly 30-day window beginning the day of Federal Register publication. A separate, longer 60-day comment period applies specifically to the information-collection component governed by the Paperwork Reduction Act.
Members of the public are directed to submit comments through the Federal eRulemaking Portal, following instructions published with the Federal Register notice itself. DHS says that after the comment period closes, it will review submitted comments and materials and may revise the rule based on that feedback, leaving the final content, scope, and timing of any eventual rule undetermined on the current record.
Who Would Feel the Impact
The fee obligation would fall directly on SEVP-certified schools and their designated school officials, who would need to arrange payment before making any OPT recommendation. F-1 students seeking initial or subsequent OPT, including the STEM extension, are the population whose work authorization applications would be blocked if a school's fee went unpaid.
DHS's announcement also references employers who use OPT and STEM OPT labor, framing the broader policy goal as protecting American workers from competition tied to the program, even though the fee itself attaches to the school's recommendation rather than to any individual employer.
Open Questions During the Comment Period
The proposal leaves unresolved how schools would finance six-figure fees and whether those costs would be passed along to students through tuition or fee increases, or to employers through altered hiring arrangements. DHS's own framing acknowledges the rule could still be revised after comments are reviewed, meaning the final fee amounts, structure, or effective date are not fixed by this notice.
The verified record does not include the complete text of the notice beyond the excerpted sections, any public comments submitted in response, or any judicial review of the proposal. How the rule's reception compares to past disputes over large immigration-related fees is not addressed in DHS's own materials.
Clinch Law Legal Analysis
Sources
This article provides general information and does not constitute legal advice. Immigration outcomes depend on individual facts and current law.
DHS has proposed, but not yet implemented, a rule that would require SEVP-certified schools to pay a $70,000 fee before a designated school official recommends an F-1 student for initial Optional Practical Training, and $30,000 for any subsequent OPT recommendation, including STEM OPT extensions. A student pursuing both standard post-completion OPT and a STEM extension could trigger fees totaling $100,000 across the two recommendations. The rule is scheduled for Federal Register publication October 8, 2026, with a 30-day comment window closing roughly November 9, and a separate 60-day comment period for the Paperwork Reduction Act information-collection component. Nothing changes for current OPT holders or pending applications today; USCIS continues adjudicating under existing regulations until any final rule takes effect.
Legally, this is a notice-of-proposed-rulemaking under the Administrative Procedure Act, not a final rule, so DHS must review comments and could revise or abandon the fee structure before any effective date. DHS frames the fee as program-integrity enforcement tied to its authority over SEVP-certified institutions and fraud concerns identified in the proposal. The strongest competing read is that assigning a six-figure, non-employer-specific fee to a work-authorization benefit functions as a de facto barrier to OPT access for most students and schools, inviting the same type of arbitrary-and-capricious and statutory-authority challenges other high immigration fees have faced. Whether the fee survives comment, whether it is reduced, and how schools would pass costs to students or employers all remain unresolved until a final rule publishes.
Questions Clients Are Asking#
Is the $70,000/$30,000 OPT fee in effect right now?
No. DHS announced this as a proposed rule on October 7, 2026, scheduled for Federal Register publication on October 8, 2026, with a 30-day public comment period running through roughly November 9. The rule is not yet final and has no effective date; current OPT and STEM OPT rules continue to apply until DHS issues a final rule.
Who would actually pay the proposed OPT fee — the student, the school, or the employer?
Under the proposed rule, the SEVP-certified school must pay the fee before a designated school official recommends a student for OPT in SEVIS, and before the student can apply to USCIS for employment authorization. The fee is not tied to a specific employer and applies whenever a school recommends a student for any type of OPT.
Could a single STEM OPT student end up costing $100,000 in fees?
The proposal sets a $70,000 fee for a student's initial OPT recommendation and a separate $30,000 fee for any subsequent OPT recommendation, which includes STEM OPT extensions. A student who receives both an initial post-completion OPT recommendation and a later STEM extension recommendation would trigger both fees.
How can the public comment on this proposed rule, and will DHS have to respond to objections?
DHS states it will accept comments on the proposed rule from October 8 through November 9, with a separate 60-day comment period for the Paperwork Reduction Act section. The public is directed to the Federal Register notice for submission instructions. DHS states it will review properly submitted comments after the period closes and may revise the rule based on that feedback.