International students could see a massive fee increase for OPT work visa

The Trump administration announced Thursday that it will no longer allow Microsoft, Adobe, and a handful of other companies to sponsor foreign workers for green cards — at least for now — accusing them of abusing the system and hiring foreign workers instead of American ones. It also announced an investigation into nine universities, accusing them of abusing the J-1 temporary student visa program.

Additionally, earlier this week, the administration proposed a new rule that would raise the fee for international students who want to stay in the U.S. and work temporarily after graduation through the Optional Practical Training program from about $500 now to $70,000.

More than half of international students stay and work after they graduate through the Optional Practical Training program.

“It's a really important bridge for international student graduates who want to stay and work in the United States,” said Julia Gelatt, associate director of the U.S. program at the Migration Policy Institute.

OPT allows them to extend their student visa and work for a year (or up to three, if they’re in science or tech) and build relationships with potential employers, she said.

“U.S. employers like to hire people that they know and like, especially if they're going to pay to sponsor somebody for a visa,” she said.

Under the proposed rule, universities would have to pay $70,000 per student for OPT.

“I imagine there would only be very few institutions who could even remotely entertain the notion of being able to cover that cost,” said Clay Harmon, executive director of AIRC: The Association of International Enrollment Management.

The option to stay and work after graduation is a big draw for a lot of international students.

“It tends to be a major factor in the sort of individual ROI calculations that a lot of students do about whether the cost of a U.S. degree ends up being worth it in the end for them,” Harmon said.

If OPT becomes hard to get, he added that it’s likely that even fewer students would choose to study in the U.S.