The cost for international students to remain and work in the United States after graduation may be set to rise significantly.
According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, the Trump administration is considering charging a fee of up to $100,000 for international students to work in the U.S. after graduation through the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program.
A $100,000 threshold, a new hurdle at the first step of staying in the U.S. after graduation
OPT is a vital channel for international students in the U.S. to gain legal work experience after graduation.
Under current regulations, eligible F-1 international students can typically apply for an OPT work permit for up to 12 months; graduates in STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) may also apply for an additional 24-month extension, allowing them to work in the U.S. for up to 36 months.
For many international students, OPT is not just a work experience, but a crucial transition from student status to professional status.
Currently, the conventional path taken by many international students is: Study Abroad — OPT — H-1B Work Visa — Employment-based Green Card.
According to data cited by The Wall Street Journal, approximately 419,000 foreign graduates worked in the U.S. through OPT in 2024. For a long time, OPT has also been a key factor in the U.S. attracting international students and global talent.
Once a $100,000 fee is added, the cost and difficulty of this path to staying in the U.S. will increase significantly.
With costs rising sharply, both students and employers will need to re-evaluate
For international students who have just graduated and have not yet established a stable income, $100,000 is clearly not a typical application fee.
If the fee is borne by the students themselves, it represents a massive additional expense on top of years of tuition, housing, and living costs. For average families of international students, this could directly alter their children's career choices after graduation, or even force some students to give up on working in the U.S.
If the fee is borne by employers, companies will be more cautious when hiring international graduates.
Especially for fresh graduates just entering the workforce, they usually have not yet accumulated irreplaceable work experience. When a company has to bear an additional $100,000 cost for an OPT employee, they may prioritize hiring domestic U.S. job seekers who do not require immigration status processing.
Therefore, once this policy is implemented, it will affect not only international students but also U.S. universities that rely on international enrollment, as well as a large number of technology, finance, and engineering companies that recruit international graduates.
More alarming than the $100,000 is the uncertainty of temporary status
For international students, the real risk is not just a suddenly increased fee, but the fact that the entire path to staying in the U.S. after graduation is highly dependent on temporary status.
F-1 is a student status, OPT is a time-limited work permit, and H-1B relies on employer support, job requirements, and visa quotas. Even if a student graduates from a prestigious university, studies a popular major, and successfully secures a job offer, they still face issues such as whether they can be employed in time, whether the employer will support their application, whether they can obtain an H-1B quota, and whether the position can remain stable in the long term.
Academic qualifications and ability determine whether one can get a job offer, while status affects whether that job can be stable and continuous.
“Study Abroad — OPT — H-1B — Green Card” may seem like a complete path, but in reality, it requires passing multiple policy and status checkpoints in succession. As long as one link changes, the entire family's education, employment, and long-term plans for staying in the U.S. could be disrupted.
Plan your status in advance to gain the initiative for further studies and employment
For families who clearly want their children to study, work, and live in the U.S. in the long term, status planning should not wait until after graduation, when OPT expires, or when job hunting is hindered.
Compared to the OPT and H-1B paths that are highly dependent on employers, EB-5 investment immigration aims for U.S. permanent resident status, does not require participation in the H-1B lottery, and does not rely on a specific employer to maintain status.
Especially under the new EB-5 law, rural EB-5 projects are exempt from visa backlogs and have priority processing advantages; the “concurrent filing” policy allows applicants who are in the U.S. with legal status and no visa backlog to file Form I-526E and Form I-485 simultaneously, quickly obtaining a Combo card to achieve legal residency and employment eligibility. This means that the applicant's future study and career choices can reduce their reliance on OPT expiration dates, H-1B lotteries, and single employers.
The $800,000 window is closing; status planning should be done sooner rather than later
The current EB-5 policy dividends will not last forever. As reserved quotas continue to be consumed, the risk of invisible backlogs is emerging; the minimum investment amount may also be increased from $800,000 to $900,000-$950,000 or even higher on January 1, 2027, and the grandfather clause will expire on September 30.
For families with clear plans to stay in the U.S., the earlier they evaluate, the more opportunities they have to seize the current window. Rather than waiting to respond passively after OPT is further tightened, H-1B applications are hindered, or the EB-5 investment threshold is raised, it is better to seize the current $800,000 investment threshold and the protection window of the grandfather clause to complete the evaluation and start preparations as soon as possible.
Currently, WorldWay holds two high-quality EB-5 projects: “Deer Valley · Snow Ridge Mansion” and “Marriott · Royal Lake Resort”, which can be combined with different families' status needs, financial arrangements, and plans for going to the U.S. to provide more project options. The policy window is closing, and opportunities need to be seized proactively.
For inquiries in mainland China: 400-138-2929, Hong Kong, China Customer Service Center: (852)2802 8798